'AITA for cutting hundreds of people in line at the airport?'
"AITA for cutting hundreds of people in line at the airport?"
So I was traveling over the holidays and due to delays was running super late for a flight that was boarding already and my young kid was freaking out hungry. I was very hungry too. All the lines for food were hundreds of people, no way we’d make it. And the airline we were flying didn’t have food on this four hour flight.
I approached a person who was basically next in line to order and offered to pay for their meal if they would order something also for my child, not even me or my partner. They happily agreed. And about 5 minutes later I had the food and JUST made the flight.
My partner says it was an as$hole move. I was desperate to get food for our kid and didn’t even get for me to make the impact as small as possible. No one in line seemed to notice and I can’t believe it added more than 10 seconds to their wait. So, am I the as%hole?
EDITS:
Edited to add a few details that have been asked repeatedly in the comments: It was an international flight and our previous was delayed. We had snacks but pretty much everything had been exhausted and between traveling all week and security we couldn’t get a full meal in.
I’m a man, my partner is a woman. Sorry to use confusing terms. Partner has always felt more appropriate to me for some reason. We normally have lots of food for our kid we just couldn’t for a complicated set of reasons this time.
I totally agree with those who say: what if everyone did it? But what if the “everyone” was just people who really needed to? I’ve been in similar situations many times on my own and I just suck it up. Traveling with a kid is different. I hope that myself and most reasonable people would agree.
2nd edit: Why was my wife pissed? She, like so many of us, is a complicated person containing multitudes. She was both happy our kid got fed and also cringed at the method and said it was “a d%ck move.” She still loves me. We aren’t getting divorced or anything.
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
WintAndKidd said:
NTA, I think what you did was a good way around the problem. As you said it didn't really add any time to the wait for others.
no_one_you_know1 said:
NTA. That was a really good way to handle it, in fact.
SpecialistAfter511 said:
NTA not a big deal. It was same order didn’t require any separate transaction taking up much time.
JoloNaKarjolo said:
NTA this is the only correct way of "cutting in line." IMHO this wasn't even you cutting in line. like everyone who is saying YTA is just jealous of your intellect.
GXrtic said:
NTA. Your partner is worried about the feelings of people they'll never meet and who weren't inconvenienced! That's lame! They should be admiring the fact that you successfully navigated a stressful situation and shared some holiday cheer with a stranger that helped you out. You did good!
YTA. Honestly f%$#%g sad anyone would say otherwise. What a world we live in. There is no excuse to cut in line. You are very selfish and the person that allowed you to cut in line is TA as well (also selfish). Everyone in line has a flight to catch and is hungry. Truly disgusting comments here.
madeupname230 OP responded:
I honestly think it’s funny how religiously people hold a line. It’s not blind obedience that makes society work, but compassion.