Woman refuses to give up first class seat for pregnant sister-in-law, 'I was honestly SHOCKED.' AITA?

"AITA for refusing to give up my first class seat for my pregnant sister-in-law?"

A few weeks ago, my husband (35M) and I (32F) planned a vacation to Europe. We booked everything months in advance, including first-class seats for the 10-hour flight. We don’t fly often, but we had saved up for this trip, and since I have chronic back issues, flying economy for that long would have been miserable.

Enter my brother (38M) and his wife (36F), who is currently six months pregnant. They weren’t originally supposed to come, but after hearing about our trip, they decided to book last-minute tickets and join us. Cool, no problem—except they could only afford economy seats. Again, not my issue.

Fast forward to the day of the flight. As soon as we got to the gate, my SIL started dropping hints about how uncomfortable she was going to be in economy. Then, just before boarding, my brother outright asked if I’d be willing to “switch seats with SIL” so she could “rest and stretch out” during the flight.

I was honestly shocked and said, “No, we paid for these seats months ago, and I need it for my back.” SIL looked upset and started saying she was going to be “so cramped” and that it “wasn’t fair” since I wasn’t pregnant. My brother then said, “Come on, it’s just basic human decency.”

At this point, my husband stepped in and said, “If she’s uncomfortable, you should have booked her a better seat. That’s not our problem.” We boarded while my brother and SIL glared at us, and they barely spoke to us the entire trip.

When we landed, I got a text from my mom saying I was “selfish” for not giving up my seat and that I should have “prioritized family over comfort.” She said I should have just “sat with my husband in economy” since he was already there (he prefers economy because he sleeps easily on flights).

I told her if it was that important, she could reimburse me for my ticket—cue radio silence. Now my brother and SIL are still annoyed, and my mom is making passive-aggressive comments about how I “don’t care about family.” AITA for keeping the seat I paid for instead of giving it to my pregnant SIL?

Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:

felice60 said:

NTA. At all. Surely at some point she recognized she would be six months pregnant and might be uncomfortable. Furthermore, she’s not the first six-months’ pregnant woman who’s traveled internationally and managed. Your mother here is being very one-way in her view of you prioritizing your comfort over family. What does she think your SIL is doing?

sandiercy said:

NTA, they booked the seats, this is 100% on them. If they don't like their seats, it's their fault, not yours.

Rainytonic said:

NTA. They booked last minute, knowing they couldn’t afford first class, and now they’re guilt-tripping you? You have a medical condition, and those seats were for your comfort. It’s not ur responsibility to accommodate their poor planning.

And your mom saying u don’t care about family? That’s bs. You offered a solution (reimbursement), and they went silent. They just wanted a free upgrade. Stand your ground, sis. You did nothing wrong.

Fuzzyhaven said:

NTA. They booked last minute and expect you to just give up your seat? Nah, that’s entitled af.

Independent-Flan-486 said:

NTA. The entitlement is wild af lol.

Ok_Stable7501 said:

NTA. If SIL can’t handle 10 hours of economy seats, she’s really not gonna enjoy childbirth.