Sometimes it pays to be polite.
A primary-class passenger was shocked after an elderly lady offered him $100 to swap seats together with her on account of a psychological condition.
“She kept insisting she needed to do something nice for me,” the flyer said while recounting the “weird experience” in a Reddit post taking off online.
The Redditor had reportedly been taking a Delta flight from Boston to Atlanta on February 6 when he noticed an “elderly lady was having a tough time getting her bag within the overhead” so the sky samaritan decided to assist her.
When the passenger sat down in top quality, he noticed that he was next to her with the senior citizen in 1D and him in 1C — the aisle seat.
That’s when the aged flyer floated the bizarre proposition. “She immediately said she’d pay me $100 to swap seats because she feels claustrophobic within the window seats on this particular seat configuration,” they recalled.
Flabbergasted by the proposal, the passenger declined the dough but said he would “gladly switch at no cost” so long as she wouldn’t be bothered by him needing to get out from time to time.
Nonetheless, the girl insisted she needed to do something kind for him, but he said he “really didn’t care and just told her to pay it forward to another person.”
The elderly lady eventually relented and the pair reportedly spent the remainder of the flight talking about their families, careers and other topics, per the post.
Then, upon arrival at their destination, the grateful lady again attempted to pay her savior a Benjamin, finally prompting him to capitulate.
“I attempted to refuse again, but she told me to take it and provides it to my kids but to clarify to them how being nice to others can result in something nice in return,” he said. “I finally relented and took her money, but I probably won’t tell my kids that because then they’ll expect me to pay them anytime they do something nice.”
Redditors praised the unique poster for accepting the granny’s token of appreciation.
“Accept the gift — means more to [the] giver than the receiver,” said one, while one other wrote, “Yeah, in some unspecified time in the future saying no is definitely the rude thing to do.”
A 3rd gushed, “Sometimes I feel this manner — I’d somewhat compensate someone simply to feel ‘right.’ I don’t think you probably did anything improper taking the cash. She may need felt guilty for those who didn’t.”
The unique poster observed that his experience difffered from most “seat swapping” stories coming out of the friendly skies.
In one other instance of a switcheroo proposal gone awry, a Brazillian flier was publicly shamed by a mom for refusing to change seats together with her crying toddler.
Generally, flight experts agree that the choice is ultimately as much as the passenger getting asked.
“Nobody has the duty to change their seat, nor explain why they won’t switch,” declared California creator and etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall. “And the person making the request has no right to expect, or get indignant, once they don’t get their way.”
