Woman Takes Business Class Upgrade, Leaves Ex and His Son in Coach After Breaking Up on Trip

A 30-year-old woman is going viral for sharing that she took a business class upgrade for herself after breaking up with her boyfriend on a trip, and leaving him and his son in economy.

Writing anonymously on Reddit, the woman says she had been dating her boyfriend (who she refers to as “Matt” in the post) for “about a year,” and had developed a relationship with his son, “Alex,” who is under 2 years old.

“Every now and then I used to look after Alex when Matt was at work (we don’t live together but they stay at mine every now and then),” she writes.

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The couple decided to take a 10-day trip at the start of May and, “due to some family drama,” brought Alex along. After booking the more-than eight hour flights for all three of them, the woman says the trip did not go as planned.

“During the flight and the holiday I have spent nearly all my time looking after Alex while Matt had the time of his life. Some things came to my attention (he was still seeing his ex) which resulted in us breaking up at the end of our stay,” she writes.

Following the breakup and on the flight back, the three were all seated in economy when, she writes, “a flight attendant approached us and asked my ex if he wanted an upgrade to the business class.” Having been the one to purchase the tickets in the first place, the woman quickly interjected.

“Before he could say anything I mentioned it was me who bought the tickets and used my own account to pay for them, so an upgrade should go to me,” the woman writes, adding that “the flight attendant was trying to argue at first as she assumed Alex was my child, but I told her that’s not the case.”

So, after a bit of back-and-forth, the woman ended up taking the upgrade, so she could “relax after spending all this time looking after Alex.”

Following the flight, however, she was subject to criticism — both from her ex-boyfriend and fellow passengers on board.

“After the flight Matt, a few other passengers who assumed I am the mum as well as some family members and friends called me an a—– for not giving the upgrade to Matt,” she says.

Fellow Reddit users have weighed in in the comments section, with many suggesting the woman send her ex-boyfriend an “itemized bill” of the costs he and his son incurred during the trip.

Others said the airline staffer who initially offered the upgrade to the ex-boyfriend was also in the wrong.

“I would complain to the airline about the sexism shown by the air steward. As you said there is a list and as [original poster] booked the tickets it would have been her name for the upgrade,” wrote one commenter.

Offered another: “I experienced this misogynistic behavior all the time in first class. Men were pampered, and I was an afterthought.”

By and large, though, many commenters offered a similar take on the debacle, with one summing it up: ” I bet it was probably nice to put some space between you and your brand new ex with such a long flight, too. What was he going to do, take the upgrade and leave his young kid with the woman who he just broke up with? There’s no world in which that makes any kind of sense.”