Kids on a plane

First of all, a newsflash for air travelers: there is this thing called the internet. You can go on it and choose the seats you want. I do it all the time. Ergo, I want the seats I've chosen. I'm sorry you have not chosen the seats you wanted, but I will not let that be my problem.

I like aisle seats, generally, because I like to get up and stretch a lot. It's not secret that I exhibit symptoms of ADD. So when I choose a window seat, it has to be good. And flying along the Rockies from Calgary to Denver is window-seat good. I actually remarked about it to Elisabeth; I'd said, "I'm looking forward to a great view from a high altitude that I won't have to achieve with my own two legs."

So the window seat was mine, and I wanted it. The fact that someone else wanted it, and that someone else happened to be a small child, didn't mean that he was entitled to it. I invite you, those of you giving me dirty looks right now in your head, to give me a good reason why I should have given up my seat... which I actually considered doing at first, before the mom got all passive-aggressive on me.

I approached my seat, to see a boy sitting in it and a girl in the next one over. I looked for a parent, and indicated to her that her son was in my seat. The boy started pouting and saying, "YOU SAID I HAD A WINDOW SEAT!" The mom said, "I'm sorry, I thought most adults knew how much kids like window seats." and that was the moment when I quashed any inner dialogue that was debating offering him the seat. My resolve deepened when the kids neither got up, nor moved their stuff out of the way to let me pass to my seat.

The child didn't stop whining about it, and the mom eventually asked me directly if I really wanted the seat. I told her yes, and that I'd reserved one specially. I didn't add that sitting next to her two little brats would be enough punishment, and that I shouldn't have to give up my seat as well. And that was before the girl next to me started kicking her chair, intruding with her elbow into my space, singing off key, practicing her German, and screaming across the aisle to her mom for a good ten minutes that there must be something wrong with her blow pop because the gum just wasn't coming off.

I got my view of the mountains and even took some pictures out the window. By the way, they live in Calgary, and apparently fly often (the girl said as much), and Denver is United hub. Now I'm going to tell you something that will make you think I'm a complete jerk, but I still stand by my choices, because there is one thing that the mom could have said for which I would have moved, and I almost respect her more for not saying it to get her way. The girl told me that they were going to the U.S. for their grandmother's funeral. Losing a parent does entitle one to letting one's kid have a window seat, in my book, but I can't act on what I don't know, and what I knew was that I didn't want to reward a kid for pouting and whining. If it makes you feel better, my pennance was sitting next to the two of them and having to wait almost twenty-four hours for my luggage to be delivered. Which meant I had to find clothes that fit me before I moved out... and go outside in them to get my luggage, and it wasn't pretty... and listen to my mother complain about how waiting for my luggage ruined her day.

I will stick to this: not knowing what I didn't know, I really felt no reason to give this kid something I had, just because he wanted it. Again, if anyone wants to post some comments about why a better person (with my knowledge at decision time) would have given up her view of the Rockies, I'm all ears (eyes?).