The squatter trend may have dominated travel experiences in 2024 – but it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon this New Year 2025.
Travelers continue to reveal their “seated” encounters on social media as commentators chime in and debate the hot topic.
An experience shared on Reddit on the “r/delta” forum with the caption, “Seized and rough seat the entire flight,” has continued to spark discussion.
The term “seat squatters” is used to refer to those who rob seats that have been chosen and paid for by other passengers.
Discussing a flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, the traveler posted: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw all the seat posts.”
The person added, “We’re finally boarding and this couple around our age (late 20s/early 30s) is in our row, which can’t be right because we’re [in] middle and corridor [seats]. I tell them they’re at my place … and they start freaking out and mention they have a dog with them.”
The user said she replied that she was allergic to dogs – and that she paid for the seats.
“They both start to get more confused and [the] female, who was initially in the window seat [that] I assume they actually booked, and [the] unlike whoever was sitting in my seat, they both get out of the row so that the woman and the dog can go to the window seat behind us,” she added.
The man, in turn, then moved to the window seat in her row, she said.
He put his arm on the armrest, putting pressure on her arm – which prompted her to switch seats with her fiance in the row, she said.
“Once we finally get off the plane…my fiance tells me this guy quietly fought with him over the armrest the same way he did with me the entire flight,” she wrote in her post. .
“I can’t explain how or why this man did this when we did nothing to him other than ask to sit in our seats,” the poster added to her story.
Reddit users took to the comments section to weigh in on the situation and share their experiences with “squatters.”
“It’s only happened to me once, thankfully. But my rule of thumb is that I will be polite in the initial interaction in case it is a legitimate unintentional mistake. [that] they are sitting in my place. In that case, they will get up and move and there is no harm, no foul,” said one.
Another added, “Omg, looks like you’re flying with a bunch of wild teenagers.”
“I doubt people who are already okay with breaking the rules will be good people, unfortunately,” another user commented.
Some users debated the notion of which passenger gets the armrests in the middle seat.
The ‘middle seat gets both armrests’ thing is entirely a thing of internet lore. Yes, it’s polite and makes sense if you think about it, but average [person who] flies once/twice a year… probably doesn’t know or think about it,” one user commented.
Another said: “Everyone knows the middle seat has both armrests.”
“The middle person doesn’t actually get both armrests,” said another user. “That’s a made-up rule and you can’t get mad at someone who doesn’t follow it.”
Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the “View From the Wing” blog, told Fox News Digital that the person holding the seat assignment on the boarding pass is entitled to that seat.
“[Flyers] may not be able to get what they want from the airline when booking seats, or the airline may want a fee for the seats they want and the passenger doesn’t want to pay – so they’ll try their luck on board,” Leff said.
Leff suggested that instead of stealing seats, flyers could try asking others directly to switch seats with them.
California-based etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall told Fox News Digital that “it’s never okay to sit on the board once. Eventually, the passenger with that seat assignment will claim it.”
Randall said that when dealing with a sitter, it’s best to approach the situation calmly and in good faith.
“If the seat refuses to move, don’t get involved; don’t recruit other passengers to rally,” she said.
Instead, “ask the flight attendant for help immediately.”
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