Last Thursday afternoon I got on the 1:15 flight from New York to Los Angeles (a flight I
take all the time). The plane was filling up, but there were two empty seats next to me.
Finally, two Orthodox Jews (men) came to stand next to me. One of them said I'd need to move.
"I paid for this seat," I said. "Is there some problem?"
He explained that it was against their religion to be seated next to a woman, and that I'd need
to swap with a man so that they could sit down. I kept questioning this until a flight
attendant came up, ascertained the problem, and ASKED ME TO MOVE. Then a guy two rows back
said "Why don't you just move.....I'll switch with you." Finally I switched.
This is the part of the story where everyone says: "You shouldn't have moved." I totally
agree, and you all know me to be mouthy, but I didn't want to start a big fight on an airplane,
and also, the flight was delayed as it was, and I didn't want to become the bad guy by holding
it up even more. So, that's why I didn't.
I'm saving up my "mad" for when the flight lands, so when it does, I go up and talk to the
gate agent. I tell her what happened, and she says "some people just have different
beliefs," but doesn't offer an apology. Then I chase the two Orthodox Jews down and yell at
them for awhile about how they should be ashamed of themselves, this is not what God wants them
to do, etc. They refused to acknowledge me at all, saying only "we're sorry for you," and then
returning to their conversation in Hebrew. Obviously, I didn't get their names.
The bottom line: I really think that if it's against their religion to sit next to a woman, then they should have bought three seats on the airplane (thereby guaranteeing that they wouldn't have this problem). Having to move to another seat because you're a woman is archiac, humiliating, and should not be advocated by the airline. This is tantamount to me belonging to some "white power" religion, and refusing to sit next to someone of a different race. I think this might be something that airlines do on a regular basis, since both of the representatives were so blase about it. Neither of them even THOUGHT to mention to the men that it might be inappropriate to ask me to move, or suggest that they be the ones to re-seat themselves.
I filed a complaint with the airline, as well as calling the National Organization for Women and
Gloria Allred's office.
I wasn't even mad or anything- really!
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