Flight attendant reveals how she punishes those who don't swap seats

• Orlando-based flight attendant Mitra Amirzadeh shared her clever trick 
• Read More: Passenger SLAMS man who demanded she switch to his middle

For many years the heated debate surrounding travel etiquette and seat swapping has been a hot topic, with many refusing to give up their allocated seats so families could sit together.

However Orlando-based flight attendant Mitra Amirzadeh has now revealed how she punishes passengers who refuse to swap seats so parents travelling with young children can be together.

The savvy air hostess revealed her handy method for getting more obstinate passengers to swap always works like a charm.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, said: ‘I have said before, ”OK, so you’re going to watch the toddler? You’ll want their snacks and their colouring books then, because they’re going to need that”.’

She added that this usually motivates the passengers to move to another seat fairly sharply however she clarified that she very rarely intervenes in cases which don’t involve kids.

Orlando-based flight attendant Mitra Amirzadeh revealed how she punishes passengers who refuse to swap seats so parents travelling with young children can be together (stock image)

Mitra added: ‘The next time you feel yourself getting angry or getting frustrated that you’re not getting the seat you want, you need to remind yourself that you didn’t pay to pick your seat. Otherwise, you’d be in it.’

Mitra claimed the awkward confrontations over seat swapping occur during approximately 80 percent of her monthly flights.

It comes after a frequent flyer has revealed she refused to switch her window seat with an ‘entitled’ passenger who wanted to sit next to his wife.

The unnamed woman took to Reddit to share how she declined to move to a middle seat during an 11-hour flight from New York to Cairo, Egypt, so the man sitting next to her could sit beside his wife.

Her confession reignited a heated conversation surrounding airplane etiquette, just days after a woman revealed she refused to give up her spot so a 10-year-old boy could sit next to his family.

The anonymous woman shared her story on the social media platform as a way to rant about the man under a thread titled, ‘EntitledPeople,’ prompting others on the web to slam the man for asking someone else to switch to a lower-quality seat so he could be happy.

The post read: ‘This was a while back, but an excellent example of sheer entitlement. Flight from NY to Cairo, the seat configuration was three rows of seats. Two window and aisle on each side with four or five middle seats in the center.

‘I had a window over a wing. I chose the seat with sleep in mind many months in advance; while I do frequently travel I’m not going to pretend I often jet away to Egypt so this vacay was very planned out.

A frequent flyer has revealed she refused to switch her window seat with an ‘entitled’ passenger so he could sit next to his wife

‘I was settled into my seat when my aisle mate approached his and asked if I’d be willing to switch with his wife so the two of them could sit together.

‘The two of them seemed to be with a group of similar aged travelers; it appeared to me based on chatter that it may have been some kind of group tour (knowing the industry and that the organizers may have been negligent in seat assignments, I was absolutely willing to consider a swap if the seat was comparable).’

However, when she questioned if the seat was up to her standards, the man revealed that his wife’s seat was in the center of a row.

She declined to move and apologized to the man, adding that she would be staying in her assigned seat.

The woman added: ‘Instead of switching out with a middle seat person – who I’m sure would have been delighted to take an aisle – so he could sit next to his wife, he sits down in his seat and started arguing with me.’

She noted that the man blasted her for refusing to swap, adding that she would have no ‘view’ from where she was sitting so it’s better if she moved.

I just reply I plan to sleep against it and decline again. I’m trying to be pleasant, I’m a pleaser, and I’m stuck next to this guy.

‘He continues to bug me like the mosquito he may have been in a former life, and asked me, “If you had a husband, wouldn’t you want to sit with him?”‘

The man continued to make jabs at the frequent flyer, which caused her to become ‘totally irritated.’

She added: ‘I stated that I do “have a husband”, and if my husband and I were traveling together, I’d not only ensure our seats were assigned together, but if they weren’t, I’d give up my aisle and go sit with my spouse in the middle.’

The man then kept his mouth shut for the remainder of the trip and ‘pretended to ignore her existence.’

People flooded the comments and slammed the man for his behaviour.

One person said: ‘The “I try for a free upgrade” type of person is a regular on those flights. Never say yes, you invested time to get the seat (which he didn’t) and probably money (those middle seats are hard to sell and often cheaper)

‘Somehow they never want the free downgrade to be with their spouse.’

Another user added: ‘Those middle seats are the ones you get when you don’t pay for your seat choice at all.’

One person wrote: ‘I think people who don’t regularly travel for work don’t realize how rigid airplane seating is. They’re probably thinking it’s just like a bus.’

‘He grumbled throughout the flight….this is why I always bring earplugs,’ added someone else.

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