I’m Alex, 29, and I paid extra for a window seat on a 24-hour flight so I could rest. Before takeoff, a mom asked me to switch so her toddler could have the window. I politely said no—I’d paid for it and really needed the space.
She didn’t like that.
An hour later, her child had a full meltdown—screaming, kicking my arm, throwing toys everywhere. When I said he was hurting me, she laughed it off: “He’s just excited.”
Then she leaned over me and said, smirking, “Why don’t you switch now? You can’t be that selfish, right?”
That’s when I realized this wasn’t about kindness. It was entitlement.
I said no again.
By the end of the flight, my arm was bruised and I was exhausted, frustrated, and shaken. I kept wondering—where does empathy end, and where does tolerating disrespect begin? I paid for my seat. I didn’t pay to be bullied.
