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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Grace Hoffman

'A "cramped" mother and child asked me to "unrecline" my plane seat - I refused'

While children are known to be a pester on flights - especially ones that are long-haul - passengers tend to ignore the annoyance to satisfy worrying parents.

However, one woman claims that she had enough of one child - who was progressively 'kicking' her seat and 'pulling her hair' throughout the majority of the fifteen-house flight.

Taking to popular forum site Reddit, the anonymous user sparked a huge debate after reclining her seat back mid-flight and refusing to move it upon the request of a struggling mother.

She explained: "I had a fifteen-hour flight that began at 8PM and had been planning to sleep throughout the flight to help the time go by, as well as catch up on sleep after travelling for 24+ hours."

She says the child was 'kicking' her seat the whole flight (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The woman went on: "On the flight, there was a mom, dad, and a child that was about three years old (older than the under-two limit for a child to sit in a parent's lap for free, for sure).

"Throughout the first two hours, the child kicked my husband and I's seats, stood up on their parent's lap to grab my hair and pull on my shirt, and shoved the papers in the back of the seat in between our seats, poking us with the papers.

"Occasionally, I got a break from the child kicking me when she switched to her father's lap, though at that time she began kicking my husband's seat. We remained quiet as we know it probably is difficult traveling with children.

"Finally, when the child was sleeping, about four hours into the flight, I decided I, too, could rest. I reclined my chair, about three-quarters of the way, not fully, but enough to be comfortable for my sleep.

"But, since the child was larger than the normal under two years old for lap-sitting, it wasn't as comfortable for the mother.

"Immediately, she tapped my shoulder asking me to move my chair up so she could be comfortable. And I'm sure having a child in your lap is not as pleasant, especially when they're larger and on a long flight.

"I, however, remained in the reclining position, as I felt that I had put up with her child making me uncomfortable for hours and preventing me from sleeping when I was in need of it."

"However, in doing so, I made the mother more crammed in her seat, as she needed space for both of them," they added.

Seeking advice, the woman questioned: "Am I the a**hole for refusing to move up my seat?"

Since detailing the ordeal on Reddit, the woman's post has raked in over 1,300 comments to date - where people were admittedly torn over the decision.

One person wrote: "I'll recline my seat as I damn please and I don't care if I'm an a**hole for it."

On the other hand, someone else penned: "Reclining a seat is in most cases an a**hole move, sorry not sorry. Just because the function is available, does not mean anyone should use it."

Do you have a story? We want to hear it! Get in touch at grace.hoffman@reachplc.com

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