Featured Image Credit: TikTok/surya_garg
Topics: Travel, TikTok, Parenting, Social Media
Emily Brown
A plane passenger and TikTok user has sparked debate online after sharing her decision not to give up her seat to a mom traveling with her son.
As soon as you hear of this situation, it's easy to picture the scene: a woman sitting comfortably in her chair, settling in ready for the flight when she's approached by a stressed-out looking mom with a toddler in tow.
For whatever reason, the mom and toddler aren't sitting together, so the mom asks the woman to swap seats.
Though she probably could have taken better steps earlier to ensure she and her son were sitting together, it's not a totally unreasonable request, right?
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Well, what about if the son actually wasn't a toddler at all?
In her TikTok video, passenger Surya Garg asked viewers for their opinions as she explained that she'd typically be okay with giving up her seat if approached by a family with young kids.
"I remember people giving up their seats for me and my brother when I was younger so we could be next to our parents, I get it," she said.
However, Surya then continued: "Tonight, I not only got asked to give up my window seat, so that I could sit in a middle seat, but the quote-unquote family that asked me to do this was a mother and her son - her son had to be a minimum of like 16 or 17 years old.
"This mans was 6'4", talking on the phone to his girlfriend the entire time we were boarding."
Since Surya was already seated, she decided to politely decline the mom's request and explain to her that she'd paid extra for the seat.
This apparently didn't go down well with the mom, as Surya continued: "This woman makes the nastiest face at me I've ever experienced, sits down next to me in the middle seat [and] her son goes back to the middle seat he was assigned to."
The TikToker then claimed that the mom spent the whole flight 'muttering profanities' at her.
"Was I in the wrong here?" Surya asked.
Many viewers quickly weighed in to share their thoughts and there were a lot of people on Surya's side, with one viewer writing: "You are not wrong! And I’m a mom but of littles. We always plan and pay the extra to sit together however…"
"People should just buy their seats! Not giving up my window — that I paid for — for a middle seat!," another added.
However, other viewers stuck up for the mom in the situation, with one saying they would give up their seat '100% of the time'.
"As a parent we only have a solid 18 years before they go out on there [sic] own [...]," they added.
Another pointed out there may have been other factors to account for, saying: "l understand, sometimes though people have non-visible disabilities like my adult son, so in that case that would have been really helpful."
Surya's video has so far amassed more than 1.5 million views.