I was on a flight recently where two parents sat together and their two kids sat in the row in front of them. Each row was three seats. When the flight attendant figured it out and realized the man with the two kids was a stranger she made the parents rearrange, so they each had a child within reach (kids were probably 8 and 10). The parents asked why, and she said in an emergency situation the kids wouldn’t be able to reach the oxygen masks, and would pass out within four seconds. She then asked if they wanted to leave those four seconds in the hands of a stranger, and the parents quickly got up. Sharing to say your son made a polite but also a potentially safety minded choice!
This story about your reaction and your conclusion sounds like a description of fundamental attribution error. A good thing for us all to be cognizant of.
I enjoyed the story and your turnaround on your attitude towards it. I was thinking about flights and seating this week as I took Southwest for a business trip. I normally take United and I have a United credit card so I get travel perks with it. I get so annoyed by the Southwest process, but ultimately it rarely matters as I still end up with a window seat. But I never thought about the exchange of seats on a United flight where each seat has defined cost. 🤔 Thanks for sharing!
While sweating small stuff may seem a waste of time, please consider......those boys were ~8 and 10 years old, and perfectly capable of sitting on a plane for a few hours without a parent. Parents do their children no favors when they constantly hover over them. It would have been a valuable lesson in independence for them.
I was on a flight recently where two parents sat together and their two kids sat in the row in front of them. Each row was three seats. When the flight attendant figured it out and realized the man with the two kids was a stranger she made the parents rearrange, so they each had a child within reach (kids were probably 8 and 10). The parents asked why, and she said in an emergency situation the kids wouldn’t be able to reach the oxygen masks, and would pass out within four seconds. She then asked if they wanted to leave those four seconds in the hands of a stranger, and the parents quickly got up. Sharing to say your son made a polite but also a potentially safety minded choice!
This story about your reaction and your conclusion sounds like a description of fundamental attribution error. A good thing for us all to be cognizant of.
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/fundamental-attribution-error
I enjoyed the story and your turnaround on your attitude towards it. I was thinking about flights and seating this week as I took Southwest for a business trip. I normally take United and I have a United credit card so I get travel perks with it. I get so annoyed by the Southwest process, but ultimately it rarely matters as I still end up with a window seat. But I never thought about the exchange of seats on a United flight where each seat has defined cost. 🤔 Thanks for sharing!
While sweating small stuff may seem a waste of time, please consider......those boys were ~8 and 10 years old, and perfectly capable of sitting on a plane for a few hours without a parent. Parents do their children no favors when they constantly hover over them. It would have been a valuable lesson in independence for them.