‘Seat squatter’ refuses to give up seat to assigned owner because of drunk husband

One passenger is calling out a seat squatter as a flight out of Houston sparked a discussion on social media.

In the “r/unitedairlines” forum on Reddit, a user titled a post, “First bold seat thief.”

“I have had my first interaction with a seat stealer,” the post reads.

The flyer said he was on a regional flight in a 1-2 configuration and witnessed a woman trying to sit in a different passenger’s seat.

“She gathers up her three personal items and moves back 4 row to the A exit row across from me. After about 30 secs she turns to me and asks if I think she can stay there,” the user wrote.

“I told her most likely not, as I think it’s a sold-out flight. She puts her stuff away and you know it, 2 minutes later, along comes the seat owner. He informs her she is in his seat. She start[s] the whole thing over,” he added.

The user said the woman was successful in taking the seat and the man ended up swapping, taking the woman’s assigned seat.

“She look[ed] over at me and [said], ‘I did not want to [sit] in my seat, that is my husband in the other seat. He is drunk and I didn’t want to deal with him,’” the user wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Reddit poster for comment.

Users took to the comments section to discuss the success of the seat squatter.

“So the dude she conned out of his seat had to sit next to her drunk husband,” said one user.

“It always blows my mind that anyone accommodates these people,” another person wrote.

“Had this happen to me before,” said another commenter. “I would just love to sit next to my husband. Quickly balked at the idea of her moving to coach. Some love is not as strong as we think.”

“I actually love when people try to steal my seat now. It’s fun to put them in their place and inflict some shame,” a user said.

“The gall some people have to flat-out steal what belongs to others and pretend as though they haven’t,” wrote another.

“Seat poachers get no quarter. I don’t care what their situation is,” the user added.

“There has to be some way to report these people,” another user commented.

Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog “View From the Wing,” told Fox News Digital that instead of stealing seats, flyers can try their luck on board by simply asking others to swap seats with them. 

“[Flyers] may not be able to get what they want from the airline when reserving seats, or the airline may want a fee for the seats they want and the passenger doesn’t want to pay,” said Leff.

“Have a compelling reason that will resonate with the person you’re asking and have something decent to offer in return,” he said, “so it isn’t as much of a hardship for the person to give you what you want.”