Two Women Shut Down Plane Passenger's Request To Swap Seats With A Clever Trick
They didn't want to give up their premium seats, so they did what they had to do!
@not.cristinayang/TikTok There's no two ways about it—air travel has become a waking nightmare, and for many of us, our seating choices are the only things keeping us together on long flights.
So when someone asks us to switch seats, it's only natural not to want to do it, right?
And that goes double if we've paid extra for an upgraded seat and the privilege of being treated like a human being and not an animal.
But TikToker @not.cristinayang encountered a fellow passenger who just wouldn't let their seat switch request go.
So she resorted to drastic—and hilarious—measures to save the elderly woman beside her from having to move, and it has people cheering.
The two women tricked a plane passenger into not swapping seats.
The incident happened on a long flight @not.cristinayang took from Hawaii to Seattle on which she'd paid extra for a Premium Economy seat with perks like extra legroom and better snacks.
Since a Hawaii to Seattle flight is a good four to five hours long, @not.cristinayang was glad to have the better seat—especially since it included unlimited drinks and snacks.
The TikToker, who is Chinese American, was seated by the window, and beside her was a "soft-spoken" elderly Japanese woman.
On the aisle was a woman who was traveling with a friend who was seated at the very back of the plane. And you can probably guess where this is going.
The aisle-seat passenger's friend appeared and asked the Japanese woman to switch, telling her that she'd have a window seat in aisle 26 instead of a middle seat.
But of course, it's not even a remotely fair trade. Window seat or not, there's no perks in aisle 26! And as @not.cristinayang pointed out, "you smell the toilet back there! No!"
So when the Japanese woman reluctantly agreed to move, @not.cristinayang immediately intervened.
So, she came up with a solution — a lie.
Since she and the elderly woman were both Asian, she told the woman requesting the seat change that she and the Japanese woman were traveling together and didn't want to be separated.
"Hello, we're both Asian, obviously we know each other!" she joked.
When the Japanese woman looked confused, @not.cristinayang said, "Sit down, Connie" as if they knew each other.
The woman who wanted to switch didn't buy it for a second, accusing @not.cristinayang of "just making that up"—so the TikToker upped the ante even further.
She began speaking to the Japanese woman in Cantonese, who obviously didn't understand what @not.cristinayang was saying—but definitely understood what she was doing.
She immediately began talking back to @not.cristinayang in Japanese as if they were talking about the woman demanding the seat change—and she totally fell for it.
The TikToker had predicted the woman "isn't gonna know the difference" between Cantonese and Japanese, and she turned out to be absolutely correct.
The woman gave up the fight—which is really as it should be. As several others pointed out, there was no reason why her friend couldn't have moved back to row 26 instead.
And as @not.cristinayang put it, "If you wanted to sit next to your friend, you should have booked a ticket next to her, not 20 rows behind!"
People on TikTok absolutely loved her trick.
One user joked, "Connie understood the assignment," while another praised her as "a fast learner."
Another wondered if, "somewhere in Japan Connie is telling of her strange American friend who helped her out."
Many also thanked @not.cristinayang for sticking up for "Connie" with her quick thinking. One wrote that she "gave her the confidence she needed!" while another simply wrote, "Pop off queen."
One user appreciated her so much they wished her voluminous rewards for her quick-thinking scam."
They wrote, "May your coffee always be hot, green lights on your drives, and close parking spots in the parking lot."
And may nobody ever bother @not.cristinayang or her seatmates for seat changes ever again, amen!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.