TV personality Vogue Williams sparked a furious reaction after taking to her podcast to rant about an “awful” passenger who refused to swap plane seats with her when she asked to be closer to her family.
The Irish model known for Dancing with the Stars and Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, was boarding a flight from Gibraltar with husband Spencer Matthews and their children Theodore, 3, Gigi, 2, and newborn Otto when she realised that she had booked the wrong seat.
On the couple’s podcast, Spencer and Vogue, she revealed that Spencer and Gigi were sat in the window and middle seats in the row next to Vogue’s. But when he asked the man next to them to swap with Vogue, he said no.
Vogue said: “We were just like, ‘Oh, okay dude, that’s okay,’ and so anyway when he realised he was being an absolute t**t, he looked at me with a newborn baby and the two kids beside me, he was like ‘Okay, fine, fine I’ll do it.’ Then literally the air hostess came down and I asked her ‘Would you have another aisle seat for this ****** particular piece of **** over here?’”
She accused that the man of being “awful” and Spencer added: “He was rubbish.”
Her outburst has fiercely divided opinion among travellers, with The Independent's Lucy Thackray among those who questioned her sense of entitlement. In an opinion piece headlined, 'Why should child-free plane passengers be expected to jump to move for families?' she pointed out: "What can be worse than the little darlings themselves are the parents."
She argued: "What I can’t understand is her astonishment and her fury that this poor bloke – who may have booked his particular seat for a reason, may be a nervous flyer or may be going through something less visible than your Instagram Family Drama – did not jump to immediately offer his seat the minute he saw the parents sitting apart.
"I can picture his predicament now: you’ve settled into your seat as a party of one, perhaps opened your newspaper, tucked your belongings neatly into the seat pocket. You’re comfy and aisle-adjacent, as you booked to be. And then a glossy reality-show dynasty descends and demands you shift or risk facing the court of public opinion."
She went on to say: "The issue here is not if it is best and right for young families to sit together on flights, I think we can all give that a resounding 'Yes'. It’s the entitlement. It’s the stropping around, summoning flight attendants and public shaming following a mistake that was, as she herself admitted, Williams’ own."
The incident has prompted a keen debate on social media, with Mark Koszler taking to Facebook to insist: "I would have told her where to go. I always book the aisle seat and the seat with extra leg room. Being 6'2" and claustrophobic, whilst I'd love to sit looking out the window being jammed in absolutely not going to happen."
Christopher Malpas-Kennedy snapped: "Your kids, your problem." Robert Cannon said: "If you're dumb enough to book the wrong seats then it's not up to other passengers to move for you." And Mark Shepherd said: "Is there anything more entitled than a middle class family travelling with Poppy and Justin making a nuisance of themselves and thinking the world revolves them and their need?"
However, others said they understood the couple's desire to be sat with their children. Allison Metcalf pointed out: "It’s called being kind. Try it. I happily move for families, elderly, pregnant women, disabled. But then again I was raised with manners."
And Laura Detre said: "Societies work better when we acknowledge other people’s needs. Parenting is a choice but it benefits us all when children are well cared for."
Many blamed greedy airlines that charge additional fees to enable parents to sit with their children.
Lynnette Marie said: "Children and parents should be together without charging a ton extra. The airlines have gotten ridiculous with everything they charge for." Sarah Arrow said: "This seems to have come about post-pandemic when airlines decided to charge families to sit together. Everyone is blaming each other, and the airlines do what they want... Why not price the seats properly and negate the need for upsells to sit together?"
The final word goes to Lucy Thackray, who concluded her column in The Independent with: "Just as we should all heed her cries that flying with kids 'is a nightmare', Ms Williams should understand that each passenger is a person, with their own reasons for choosing their pre-arranged seat – and a reasonable expectation of a confrontation-free flight."
Where do you stand on this issue that has so divided opinion?
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
Find recommendations for eating out, attractions and events near you here on our sister website 2Chill
Find recommendations for dog owners and more doggy stories on our sister site Teamdogs
