Flight attendant denied woman’s request to take an empty seat beside her mom — her next remark was what really bothered her
A simple seat change can feel reasonable when a family member has an empty spot beside them on a flight. For content creator Jazmyne Dupree, however, a request to sit near her mother turned into an uncomfortable exchange with a flight attendant. Dupree was returning from Florida on a nearly full flight with her sister, husband, and baby, while her mother was seated several rows ahead. She had hoped to move closer because she was nervous about flying and preferred sitting toward the front of the plane. She later shared the experience on TikTok on September 21, 2026, under the username @witsandglitter, talking about why the brief conversation stayed with her.
@witsandglitter I’m never arguing on the plane anyway. But still. #southwest #flightattendant #switchseats ♬ original sound - jazmyne
Dupree said her mother messaged her before takeoff to say that nobody was seated beside her. After everyone had boarded, the content creator asked a flight attendant if she could move to the empty seat in her mother's row. The attendant refused, but her response that followed bothered Dupree most. "No, you can't do that, no, sorry, darling," she recalled the attendant saying. She then told her she could buckle her seatbelt instead so the plane could leave, even though the woman said hers was already fastened. She felt the answer was unnecessarily sharp when a simple explanation could have cleared things up.
Dupree later questioned whether the request was actually a problem because the seat was already empty and no other passenger needed it. She said the attendant could have explained that passengers were required to remain in their assigned seats until the plane reached a certain height, if that was the reason. She also considered whether weight distribution could have played a role, but said that was not what upset her the most. A polite explanation can make an inconvenient answer much easier to accept.
Looking back, Dupree realized that the flight attendant's friendly words masked a rude tone that she did not notice immediately during the conversation. She admitted that she did not believe her request was unreasonable because she was only asking to use an empty seat beside her mother. "I don't think I asked some outlandish, crazy question," she added, reflecting on the experience. Clear communication can prevent a small travel issue from becoming a much more upsetting experience.
While flight attendants are expected to be polite and helpful, not every passenger receives that kind of service. In another incident, an obese woman asked for a seat belt extender before takeoff while sitting in an emergency exit row. She expected the request to be handled quietly, as it had been on an earlier flight, but the response left her embarrassed in front of nearby travelers. The flight attendant told her, "Absolutely not. You can't sit there during takeoff and landing with a seat belt extender." The woman was then asked to find another passenger willing to swap seats. As she tried to deal with the awkward moment, a fellow traveler offered to switch seats with her, turning a painful experience into one she would remember for his kindness.
For more flight-related stories, follow @witsandglitter on her TikTok account.