I’m a mum – how to get passengers to swap seats on flights without the drama

A MUM has revealed how to get passengers to swap seats during a flight if you get split up from your kids.

When booking flights, some airlines may not have seats together, despite rules not letting minors sit by themselves.

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However, getting passengers to switch seats can be difficult, especially if they have booked their own window or aisle seat for a reason.

Mum Ana Lynn Cook explained how to solve the problem without the drama onboard.

She told her TikTok followers: “When we booked this flight, it wouldn’t let us select our seats for some reason so our family wasn’t sitting together.

“When we got to the gate we tried to get them to see if they could move us around – they couldn’t.

“So we are going to ask the person who is sitting in this seat if they want to switch.”

She showed the seat they couldn’t book, which was a middle seat between her partner and kids, while she was sitting in a legroom seat with a lot more room.

Ana continued: “The guy who was sitting in this seat came – you could see in his face ‘I’m sitting here with all these kids?’

“I was like ‘do you want to switch seats? it has more legroom.'”

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She said he looked very excited and was “so down” to move, adding she was “so grateful for nice guys like this one”.

She also said in the comments: “I don’t think people realise how complicated it can be getting a group to sit together – it’s not always as simple as paying extra, which I would bet most families are willing to do!”

Her video has been watched more than 800,000 times with people praising her for how she handled the situation.

One person said: “See, for switching seats the basic rule is, equal or better, most people will agree.”

Another said: “That’s the type of seat-switching people say yes to!”

A third chimed in: “See if every parent offered a better seat to the other person, no one would have an issue.”

Families being split up on planes has caused contention for a number of other travellers too.

One passenger divided opinion after he refused to move to allow a family-of-four to sit together.

And another woman said she refused to swap seats after she booked a first class seat, only for a mum to ask her to move.

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