"If Santa's naughty list is real, I hope this woman is on it."

I can’t believe a stranger was so cruel to a mother and her child.

When a mum and her five-year-old son boarded an airplane on standby, they knew they probably wouldn’t be sitting together. What they didn’t expect was to face someone who can only be described as cruel, heartless and sort of a jerk.

We first became aware of the story on cafemom.com, when the mum anonymously posted a comment describing the incident.

The mum and her son were heading home from visiting her mother. As with standby passengers, they weren’t sitting next to each other. Instead, the mum was hoping someone wouldn’t mind switching seats with her. However, when the mum asked a woman to switch, she said no.

The mum wrote anonymously on cafemom.com:

My son and I flew home from my mums on standby today. We get on the plane last, and there’s only two seats left: one at the front and one at the middle. Beside me at the one on the front was a mum and daughter who was little so I didn’t ask them to separate.

My son is 5, btw. The lady he was sitting next to in the middle wouldn’t switch with me becaue she liked her seat. He just sat there scared and nervous and quietly crying during takeoff.

To make it worse, she was watching a movie on her computer that had a ton of sex scenes in it, no regard that there was a little kid who could see it all next to her.

Ugh what is wrong with some people.

What is wrong, indeed.

Why are some people such low-life jerks? Why do they think it’s okay to be so heartless, particularly when there is a child involved? Don’t they have any human feelings whatsoever? Don’t they have a heart?

Don’t they at least believe in karma?

And what is even more shocking is the outpouring of sympathy for…the woman who refused to move. Comments such as:

She didn’t have to give up her seat. You sound very demanding

and…

She didn’t do anything wrong. She paid for her seat and has every right to watch what she wants on her computer.

Really? I mean…really?!? Her child was five. Sitting alone. Scared. Crying. Com’on!

I know the mum was on standby and I know she didn't have a right to expect to be seated next to her child, or even expect that the stranger would show basic human compassion and just move her butt (and choose to watch a different movie).

There is a bright side though. This mum was handed a golden opportunity to teach her son that some people are just mean, and that while you can't always control terrible behaviour, at least you only have to put up with someone like her for one plane trip.

This mum and her son can walk away from heartlessness, but the woman in question is stuck with herself forever. And I, for one, am happy I'm not as cold as she is.

Do you think this mum had a right to be angry or do you think it was unreasonable of her to expect the stranger to swap seats?

Want more? Try:

How to prepare yourself for airplane travel with kids.

Would you let your child sit next to a man on a plane?