An American student is questioning his decision not to give up a premium airplane seat for a grieving mother.
Posting his moral quandary onto Reddit, user Ok-Abroad-7867 recalled a flight home he'd recently taken after completing an international exchange program.
As a gift to himself, he'd 'splurged' on more comfortable conditions for his 6-foot 3-inch frame.
However, prior to boarding, a mother approached him to ask if he wouldn't mind swapping seats - hers was in economy class - in order for her to sit next to her son. They were travelling for her dad's funeral.
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In the comment section of his anecdote, fellow Reddit users were fully in agreement that he did the right thing by rejecting her.
His post read in full: "I (23M) was on a 10 hour international flight heading home from my university exchange program. I had saved up for months to afford this trip, and with some extra money, I splurged on a premium economy seat so I'd have more legroom (I'm 6'3") and could actually sleep. This was a big deal to me I rarely treat myself.
"About 20 minutes before boarding, a woman (maybe mid-40s) approached me at the gate with a flight attendant. She asked me very politely if I'd be willing to swap my seat for hers in regular economy so she could sit next to her young son, who was seated beside me.
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"She told me she was flying home from her father's funeral and didn't want to be apart from her son during the flight. I asked where her seat was, and it was in the very back row, non-reclining, middle seat.
"I felt terrible, but I said no. I told her I understood her situation, but I paid extra for this seat, and I needed the space and rest after a long, emotional semester. She got teary-eyed and didn't argue just walked away. But I overheard her say to the flight attendant, 'I guess some people only care about themselves.'
"The flight went on. Her son (maybe 8 or 9?) was quiet the whole time, didn't even talk to me. After landing, another passenger tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'You could've shown some humanity.' Now I feel awful.
"I don't owe anyone my seat, but I keep wondering if I should've just done it."
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Pointing out the obvious way to go about things, one commenter wrote: "They could have moved her son back to her and given someone else the upgrade."
"Can't understand why her son didn't go to the back? What am I missing here?" echoed someone else.
"Honestly, sounds like she just wanted to stir something up. Some people care more about being right than just being reasonable," suggested a third user.
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Then came the more biting reactions, with a couple of people believing it to be an attempt at manipulating the system.
"She wanted the better seat. That's all," read one of them.
"She bought one upgrade and counted on her sob story pulling on heartstrings to finagle another upgrade. Otherwise they would have offered the upgraded seat to whomever the mom was sitting beside so that her son could sit with her. She and the flight attendant both could see that you physically needed the extra room THAT YOU PAID FOR!!! She is the only jerk in this situation," added another user.
Dan Seddon