We all love a window seat. Some people settle for getting lucky and having it randomly assigned, while others pay extra for it. Now, can you imagine paying extra for a window seat and then not getting it? That’s exactly what happened to this JetBlue passenger.
TikTok user Rob (@roborangeo) was on a flight that had to do an emergency landing at JFK Airport. While Rob reserved a window seat on the original flight, unfortunately, when he got on the second, a window seat wasn’t available. Rob explains what happened in a video that has gathered over 1,300 likes and 46,700 views.
“So while I’m at JFK, they booked me this flight and they were like, ‘Hey, do you want window, middle, or aisle?’” he says. “I said, ‘I’ll take window, that’s what I paid for, so I’ll just take that again.’”
Man Rebooks JetBlue Flight After Emergency Landing
The agent at the gate rebooked Rob for a window seat on his rebooked flight. The seat on his ticket was 6F. But when Rob returned later to board, the gate agent told him his seat was moved a row back.
Rob agreed that was fine. However, he did not look at his ticket to confirm it was a window seat. It turns out, his new seat was in the middle. Rob only found this out once he was on the plane and saw someone seated in 7F.
“So I wait for the flight attendant to get to me and I say, ‘Hey, this is my situation, I have a ticket that says this,” Rob says.
The flight attendant told Rob that there was pretty much nothing they could do because the only other window seat is a premium seat that comes with an extra charge. Eventually, Rob does end up getting 7F because the woman sitting in that seat gave it to him and sat in an aisle seat at the front of the plane.
“Are you happy now?” one of the flight attendants allegedly bickered at Rob.
“Am I happy now? I didn’t do a [expletive] thing wrong,” Rob says.
Can You Change Your Seat Assignment on the Plane?
It depend on several factors, including how booked the plane is, your reason for asking, and how you ask.
One flight attendant gives the following advice in a Travel and Leisure article: “Be honest with the flight crew. Tell them exactly what you’d like. This gives us the opportunity to consider all angles of the situation.”
Rob later mentions that him being 6’2” makes sitting in the middle extra challenging. Perhaps if he shared this with the flight crew, the attendant might have been more sympathetic to his concerns.
In the comments of the video, some flight attendants also weighed in. While flight attendants can use their discretion to move passengers around, it seems that they can’t officially change seats on a passenger’s ticket, even if the passenger offers to pay.
“Flight attendants don’t do seat assignments,” wrote one person. “We can try to accommodate people sometimes, but if it’s a full flight like that, it’s really hard. I’m sorry that happened.”
“If that boarding door is open, you request to speak to a gate agent or supervisor. They’re the ones authorized to move customers and can actually investigate what happened, why you weren’t issued the seat you paid for,” said another person.
Others offered their opinions on the behavior of the flight attendant. “Regardless of what the flight attendant can or can’t do, he shouldn’t antagonize you with his comment,” someone wrote.
All Hip Hop reached out to Rob for comment via TikTok message and comment, and to JetBlue via email.
@roborangeo what’s right is right and one thing about me, i’m a man of principle. #travel #flying #airport @JetBlue ♬ original sound – Rob
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