She’s Talking About If You Should Agree To Change Your Seat On A Plane If Someone Asks You To

Emily Chan |

Apr 23, 2023

Ivan Kurmyshov - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

If you’ve ever flown on an airplane before, you have probably encountered someone who asked you to switch seats with them.

This may have left you feeling conflicted about what to do. One woman has a story all about this particular situation.

TikToker and Olympic athlete Cynthia Appiah (@cyndiesel) is talking about the topic of plane seats and whether or not you should give up your seat if someone asks you to. In her opinion, you are not entitled to switch seats, especially if you paid for yours.

A couple of years ago, Cynthia was flying from Toronto to Calgary, which is a flight she does quite often as a national team athlete.

And over the years, she has accumulated numerous points from flying with one particular airline. So sometimes, when she feels like splurging, she will pay for an upgraded seat on the plane using those points.

She would always specifically book an aisle seat because that’s what she prefers. She hates bothering people when she needs to get up and go to the bathroom. Plus, an aisle seat would allow her to stand up and stretch during the four-hour flight.

When Cynthia boarded the plane, she discovered that a woman was sitting in her seat, along with another person in the seat right next to it.

“I thought I had made a mistake, so I triple-checked my seat number that I was seeing on my phone was actually reflecting where I needed to be. And yes, indeed, that person was in my seat,” said Cynthia.

Cynthia approached the woman and informed her that she was in her seat. The woman asked if Cynthia could switch seats to the spot just behind her so the woman could sit with her boyfriend during the flight.

Ivan Kurmyshov – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

However, the woman’s seat was a window seat, so Cynthia told the woman she would rather stick with the seat she originally paid for. The woman was upset; however, there wasn’t much she could do about it.

Cynthia concluded her video by pointing out that you can choose seats before the flight. And if you fail to do so, you will have to face the consequences of your actions.

“I don’t understand how in this day and age of online ticket booking, people still do not do their due diligence to book the seats that they want and hope that they can kindly ask but really bully people into giving up their seats,” said Cynthia.

What do you think? Should you give up your seat when someone asks?