A traveller has told of how she upgraded her seat to business class on an eight-hour flight — leaving behind her cheating boyfriend in economy with his toddler son.
The 30-year-old woman booked a 10-day holiday with Matt*, her boyfriend of one year, so they could enjoy time together from the start of May.
Matt, 33, has a young boy named Alex* from his previous relationship.
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“Every now and then I would look after Alex when Matt was at work — we don’t live together but they stay at mine every now and then,” the woman explained.
Due to some family drama, little Alex had no other option but to go on holiday with the couple.
“The flights were over eight hours long and I have booked the tickets for all of us,” the woman said.
During the flight to the destination and the course of their holiday, the woman spent most of her time looking after Alex while his dad was having the “time of his life”.
As she was stuck with Alex, she discovered her boyfriend had been unfaithful.
“Some things came to my attention — he was still seeing his ex — which resulted in us breaking up at the end of our stay,” she said.
On the flight back home, the three were sitting together when a flight attendant approached her ex, asking if he wanted an upgrade to business class.
Before he could respond, the woman interjected.
“I mentioned it was me who bought the tickets and used my own account to pay for them, so an upgrade should go to me,” she said.
“The flight attendant was trying to argue at first, as she assumed Alex was my child.
“But I told her that’s not the case, and ended up having an upgrade so I can relax after spending all this time looking after Alex.”
When they landed back at home, Matt and a few other passengers, who assumed she was the mum, began labelling her an a****** and “selfish” for not giving the business class seat to him.
Now some family members and their friends are siding with the ex-boyfriend.
Her post has been met with 850 comments, many defending the woman’s action after she uncovered her now ex’s “betrayal”.
“Damn that sucks… paying for a flight, in a breakup, taking care of a child on YOUR vacation. You by no means are the a******, hell the audacity of the ex is unbelievable. It just p***es me off so much that I can’t even begin to imagine your frustration,” one said.
Another suggested: “I bet it was nice to put some space between you and your brand new ex with such a long flight, too. What was he going to do, take the upgrade and leave his young kid with the woman who he just broke up with? There’s no world in which that makes any kind of sense.”
One added: “He’s lucky you didn’t cancel his tickets. You deserve an actual vacation instead of an unpaid nanny gig. Being stuck with most of the childcare would have been grounds for a breakup even if you were the bio mum.”
Others suggested the biggest culprit in the situation was actually the flight attendant.
“Why would it be ok to leave the mum with the kid but not the dad? Why did they not first offer to the person who bought the tickets as that’s where the priority should’ve been?” one said.
Another suggested: “I would complain to the airline about the sexism shown by the air stewardess.”
One added: “The flight attendant shouldn’t have even offered it to them without having two seats available. It’s not ok to leave the parental duties to only one and not the other. Plus it causes an awkward conversation as each parent would love an upgrade but know the other one would p***ed if they were left behind, especially with the child.”
Meanwhile, one person pointed out: “Let this be a lesson.
“Never take care of someone’s kid your whole holiday and let them have the time of their lives. You should have let him handle everything concerning his kid except some play time. I’m fuming thinking about you sitting there taking this s***.”
*Names have been changed.
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