An Olympic athlete who refused to switch plane seats with an "entitled" couple is being praised online.
Taking to TikTok, Canadian bobsled athlete Cynthia Appiah opened up about an experience that led her to standing her ground after a woman tried to "nice bully" her into giving up her seat on a flight between Toronto and Calgary.
"A couple of years ago I was flying from Toronto-Calgary which is a flight I do often being a National team athlete where our team's based out of Calgary," she started in the three-minute video. "I'm from Toronto I fly between those two cities quite often.
She continued: "Over the years I've you know gotten so many points through flying with one particular airline in Canada that whenever I'm feeling extra bougie I'll either pay for an upgrade either at the gate or at the time of booking and just purchase a better seat."
Appiah then went on to state that on that particular flight, she booked a premium economy chair in the aisle so she could have more legroom and also use the bathroom when she wanted without having to disturb other passengers.
"I had purchased a ticket in premium economy and I had picked an aisle seat," she explained. "It was one of those configurations where the seats are like two, three, two, so there's like someone beside me and then I'm on the aisle. When I boarded and I was going towards my seat there was already somebody in my seat, plus someone else besides the person that was in my seat."
After wondering if she had made a mistake, she "triple-checked" her seat number and realized that it wasn't actually an error on her behalf and instead, a stranger had purposefully taken her chair.
"...And yes indeed that person was in my seat [so] I go up to her and I'm like hey you're in my seat she goes 'yeah I know I am but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind switching with my seat just behind me so I can sit with my boyfriend during this flight.'"
Appiah pointed out that despite her seat also being premium, it was a window seat, which meant she wouldn't have the freedom of going to and from the bathroom without getting past a row of other passengers.
"...I was like 'ahh nope,'" she recalled. "I told her nope I paid for this seat I would rather stick with my seat I bought the aisle for this reason. Actually, I didn't give a reason I was just like I bought the aisle...I'm not moving."
Apparently the woman in question "got all upset but she knew there wasn't much of a fight" because at the end of the day, the Olympian was entitled to the seat that she paid for - which it totally true.
She then concluded that the point of the story was to stress how she couldn't understand how "in this day and age of online ticket booking people still do not do their due diligence to book the seats that they want and hope that they can kindly ask, but really bully, people into giving up their seats."
Have a look at the full video below:Other social media users took to the comment section to agree with her stance, stating that this unnamed woman really had a nerve fighting for a seat that wasn't even hers to begin with.
"The gall of people sitting on someone else’s assigned seat and then ask," wrote one user while another added: "Absolutely agree! Someone’s lack of planning is not your problem!"
A third also chimed in stating: "I think it's because they don't want to pay for picking the seat they want but still feel entitled to yours."
And this user pointed out that while it's fine that people ask, they should be prepared to be rejected.
"I don’t mind people asking, you never know why someone might have booked last minute. But they MUST be kind and prepared for a ‘no,'" they wrote in their comment.
What do you think about the issue?
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