Plane Passenger Calls Out ‘Seat Stealer’ for Trying to Sit in 8D, Sends Them to Row 35 ArticlePure

A frequent flier is recounting how they shut down a “seat stealer” on their flight.

In a post on Reddit, the passenger — who says they fly almost every week for work — began by complaining about “the things people try to pull on flights these days” which they find “beyond annoying.”

“Always trying to take seats that are not theirs, holding up boarding or just being plain rude,” they wrote, before sharing a recent encounter with one such seat taker.

“She got all comfy in seat 8D with her mom I guess, so you would have thought it was her seat. Well lo and behold, the right seat owner comes up and of course says, excuse me, but you’re in my seat,” recalled the passenger, who was sitting in seat 8C at the time.

“The seat stealer then says ‘can you just move to my seat as I want to sit by my mother.’ The person [whose seat] it was asked what seat is it and the seat stealer says 35B,” they continued.

Overhearing all of this, the passenger said they interjected and blurted out, “Are you f—— serious?! Move to 35B from 8D? You’re crazy.”

The passenger wrote that the seat stealer then “got embarrassed as everyone started laughing at her” and the person in 8D said “no” to giving up their seat.

“So seat stealer had to get up and head to the back, glaring at me as she did so. As she glared, I told her, ‘You can glare at me all you want, but [you’re] still going back to 35B!’ ” the passenger continued, adding, “Felt good to put seat stealer in her place. Small victories matter!”

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In the comments of the post — which was titled “Seat taker gets comeuppance” — many shared similar stories of rude in-flight behavior they have witnessed and applauded the passenger for not letting the woman take the seat.

“I am proud of you for speaking up!” one Redditor wrote. “People like you who put entitled people in their place, is what the world needs more of.”

Someone else chimed in: “Not all heroes wear capes. Thanks for doing the work you do!”

Another person, who said they work as a flight attendant, added: “I LOVE kicking seat thieves back to their spot. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine.”

Several people wondered why the woman, if she was so keen to sit next to her mother, did not invite her own seatmate in row 35 to move up and take her mother’s seat, allowing the pair to sit together in the back. “If she wanted to sit by her mom that bad, she’d ask the guy in 35C if he wants to sit in row 8,” someone wrote.

One commenter argued that airline companies need to be more proactive with policies designed to prevent such behavior with seat changes.

“This is happening so frequently now that airlines should be addressing it up front,” they wrote. “Whether through public service announcements or printing it on the ticket…but the rule should be you sit in the seat that your boarding pass shows. They used to enforce that so if there was an incident they could identify people…but now in the age of flying being comparable to riding a transit bus, the rules diminish and chaos ensues.”

Another person added: “I wish airlines would quit nickel-and-diming us for things like seats — and then this wouldn’t be such a common occurrence.”