Woman Steals Window Seat On United Airlines, Then Has Regrets

A woman stole a man’s window seat on a United Airlines flight, telling him she preferred the window and he could sit in the middle seat. But she quickly changed her tune after discovering a malfunction in the seat she had stolen.

Woman Steals Man’s Window Seat, But Quickly Regretted It

The incident occurred on United Airlines flight 1980 from Houston (IAH) to Austin (AUS) on Monday, February 17, 2025. As the passenger describes it, he boarded the flight and found a woman had poached his window seat, 26F:

Was boarding a plane and had an F (window) seat. I mention to the woman who was in my seat “heyyy I’m seat F,” and she says “I’m more comfortable here.” I said nothing else and sat in the middle. A few minutes later, she discovered her seat TV didn’t work, while everyone else’s did. She asked to switch back and I said “no, I’m comfortable here.”Now I’m watching Bob’s Burgers and she just has to look out the nighttime window.

In what many are calling “karma” (I’m not a believer in that, but that’s another matter…), the woman found that her in-flight screen did not work…but when she asked to move back to her assigned middle seat, the man declined.

My question, though, is why did the man just accept that his seat was stolen in the first place?

He explained, “I didn’t care enough to say anything more when she was in my seat (talking on the phone facing the window)…It was only a 50 minute flight.”

Ok, I get it…not worth the drama. But by principle, I could not reward an entitled jerk who thought she could just take my assigned seat. I prefer aisle seats on short flights after sunset, but most of the time I deliberately choose a window seat so that I can control the light in my row.

If you do find your seat taken onboard, consider flagging down a flight attendant rather than getting into an argument with the seat poacher. Someone unstable and desperate enough to steal a seat onboard may not be the best person to negotiate with.

Kudos to the man for not switching back…