A TikTok user has gone viral after sharing his unfortunate experience on a two-hour flight. In the six-minute video, Nickfromohio says he was settling into his seat for the 5 am journey when he received a tap on the shoulder from a man requesting he swap seats with him so he could sit with his sons.
At the time, the two sons had yet to reach the seats next to Nick, so he had no idea what age they were. However, wanting peace and quiet in the morning, he politely refused.
As it turned out, the two sons were grown men, making the request somewhat unnecessary — a two-hour flight away from their father wouldn’t harm them, and, frankly, the trio should have been more organized when booking their trip.
They still wouldn’t relent in their request, and ultimately, the father became aggressive enough to be removed from the flight, while Nick got upgraded to first class for the inconvenience caused by the situation. Nick ends his video by telling viewers not to switch seats in such a situation, and the whole thing prompted a mixed response.
How did TikTok react?
Some users agreed with Nick, including Odion, an aviation industry worker. They said, “Flight attendant here. Don’t switch seats. They can talk to the gate agent before boarding.”
Another, called stopityourscaringme3579, suggested Nick should have said, “Your poor planning does not constitute an emergency for me. You’ll see him in Paris. Go sit down.” ssdibuy wrote, “”No” is a complete sentence.”
Others shared stories of only having switched seats due to financial incentives, with Amanda replying, “I switched seats once ONLY because the guy offered me $500 cash to switch,” and SanVerBri writing, “I switched seats once only because the guy offered me $100 so he could sit with his girlfriend.”
A few were less sympathetic, with cbickers2015 saying, “Apparently I’m the minority, but if I’m traveling alone, I will almost always switch with someone so they can keep their family together. I’m still getting from Point A to Point B regardless.” Faith also commented, “I’m clearly the odd one out on this but idk why people won’t switch for stuff like that. I’ll often switch seats. I’m always grateful when people do for me.”
Another user responded to Faith with a legitimate question: “bc if i booked early and paid for my specific seat why should i automatically give it to you because you asked?”
Meanwhile, Ricardo Marcus Moham wasn’t impressed with the length of the video and wrote, “This story took longer than the actual flight.”
This one clearly divides opinion and raises an interesting question about whether sticking to principles is always a good idea. For what it’s worth, this writer here is with Nick.