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I was flying on a plane today and something happened that got me thinking about etiquette. Please let me know if I am way off base on this one...
So I board the plane, a 737, and have an aisle seat that I reserved. The person in the middle seat was petite lady probably in her 40s or early 50s. Shortly after stowing my stuff, I get a tap on my shoulder from a man who asks if I would switch seats with him so he can sit next to his wife - the petite lady in the middle. I asked where his seat was. He pointed to his seat that was 5 rows further back and a middle seat between two larger gentlemen.
I agreed and had a very uncomfortable 4 hour flight.
My topic of etiquette comes in because, as I was sitting in a crappy middle seat with no shoulder room, I thought about how rude it was for the gentleman to even ask me to switch seats in the first place.
It was rude because the second he asked me to switch, he made my flight uncomfortable regardless of my answer. Let me explain.
If I agree (which I did) I get an uncomfortable flight in a seat that I specifically booked early to avoid.
If I refuse to switch, I now am sitting next to a disappointed wife and the entire flight would probably be awkward and silent.
It was quite the dilemma. Refuse and sit in awkward silence uncomfortably. Agree and sit uncomfortably between two bigger guys.
Am I wrong? I feel I should never have been put in that situation to begin with. I feel it was rude to even ask such a thing.
Maybe Im just being a jerk.
What do you all think?