Yesterday I had a business trip from Denver to Seattle. I boarded the plane and got an aisle seat with the middle seat open. A few minutes later as we are about to leave a flight attendant comes over the intercom to announce that there was a woman that needed two seats for her and her young son. The dad found a seat already. It made me think of a time about 15 years ago when we were traveling as a family on an airline with similar open seating as Southwest. The flight attendant came over the speakers that there was a family that needed a couple of sets of seats together. The flight was not full but there was a lot of middle seats available. No one moved. So, my wife started going down the aisle and pointing to the middle seats where our daughter and son would sit apart from us with strangers to look after a 3 & 4-year-old. It was how amazing how fast those people were willing to move at that point.
So, in that memory I got up and moved to a different seat so they could sit together. A flight attendant thanked me for moving and said that I could have anything without having to pay. Well since I don’t drink alcohol and I did not see salmon with rice pilaf and broccoli available, I figured my normal choice of water with cheese nips and peanuts was going to be just fine again.
I would encourage everyone to think of the stress travelers with young children are dealing with. It might be outside your comfort zone to move to a middle seat but think of what you might be doing for the emotional welfare of the other traveler.
