Posted on 04/09/2015 8:49:26 AM PDT by Oliviaforever
Francesca Hogi, 40, had settled into her aisle seat for the flight from New York to London when the man assigned to the adjoining window seat arrived and refused to sit down. He said his religion prevented him from sitting beside a woman who was not his wife. Irritated but eager to get underway, she eventually agreed to move.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I probably don’t need to think about how to react beforehand. Years ago my infant in a car seat was seated many rows away. I asked to move and the flight attendant said, “no, not until after we’re in the air.” I said, “fine, I’ll stay here. You can babysit her for the flight.” Talk about stressed out mom...go ahead, offer an out. LOL.
A couple of points ....for the ultra orthodox of ANY religion it is best if you go Amish then you won’t have to worry yourself about your ‘sensibilities’.
The NYT didn’t bother to track the demanding muslims because it doesn’t fit their narrative.
Some folks need to get a thicker skin
GOOD ONE
She should have moved as soon as she was offered a Seat in First Class.
“I’d move. No problem. To First Class with a voucher for 2 more free tickets. If they don’t comply - they can KMA”
Yep, every time I’ve been asked to move to an inferior seat, that’s been my exact response, well, I didn’t ACTUALLY verbalize the KMA part. Funny thing is though, these SOBs are always so fricking cheap they never acceded to my proposed trade, so yeah, F-em. Quite frankly, I thought I was being quite reasonable.
And on the other side of the equation, whenever I requested to move because some 400 pound behemoth next door slopped half way into MY seat, I was always denied a transfer.
Flight free since Sept. 2002.
Have not missed it at all, and I now enjoy driving everywhere—on my schedule, with as much luggage as I can fit, and with as much shampoo as I want.
why move? it is his problem, not the lady’s....I would not/not have moved, unless it was forward to the first class section...
OMFG! FIX THE GRAMMAR!
Through him off the plane and holler “Remember 9-11”.
Preferably at altitude 2,500+.
“Huh? It actually is a problem. I had some friends from a Baptist church who made a trip to the Holy Land on El Al. On the way back, an Orthodox man found he had been seated next to a woman, who was one of the members of the group, and he pitched a fit, completely humiliating her and demanding that she move.”
Back in the late 80’s early 90s, my national guard unit deployed four times to Korea to support exercises. We always flew charter on Tower Air. One of the stewardesses told me that they really liked flying the military. They often flew charters to the Holy Land and she described having to deal with some very orthodox jews whose religion prevented them from speaking to any woman not a relative. She recounted asking one what he wanted for dinner and causing a firestorm. Said you had to ask their wives.
couldn’t they politely ask her to switch seats with a man?
or she could tell them “I’m a man on the inside”
What if he sat next to Bruce Jenner?
I believe the religion in this story is Jewish -
Hasidic or Ultra/Orthodox Jews. Not muslim.
The Orthodox Jews do have a rule about not
touching women in case she is “unclean”
-ahem - monthly. I don’t know much else.
If a non-Jew flies to (especially!) Israel
I think you have to be aware of this tradition
and not be surprised by the request.
That said, having grown up in NY and being
very familiar with the people of New Square and Kiryas Joel,
I would have no objections to the airline moving
the offended party.
Me too... put me next to a nice pretty gal instead of some fat, hairy old man. In fact, perhaps I should start demanding that.
True story: I once saw Sheila Jackson-Lee ask someone who was sitting in her row to move so she could have the whole row to herself ... and I guarantee you she didn’t do it for religious reasons.
Why did she have to move? Why wasn’t he the one to get a different seat?
Not allowed on flights for obvious reasons.
He was a Jew NOT s Muslim.
What if he asked her to bake a cake or cater pizza for a gay wedding and she refused? Just what would the NY Times say then?
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