Woman's Reaction Slammed as Man Does the Unthinkable on Honeymoon

A newly-married woman has drawn criticism for ignoring her husband during a three-hour flight to their honeymoon destination, despite the fact he is afraid of flying.

Aviophobia, to give it its technical name, affects a significant amount of people, with one 2016 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology estimating that as many as 40 percent of people could potentially be afflicted by it.

Given the potential prevalence of this particular phobia, you might think most would be sensitive to those struggling with a fear of flying, especially any romantic partners. However, one 33-year-old woman posting to Reddit under the handle u/Wooden_Disaster9800 took a different approach.

She recently boarded a three-hour flight to Mexico with her 30-year-old husband to mark their honeymoon, knowing he struggles with being in the air. "I fly a lot for my job, so I have racked up a lot of miles," she said. "My husband isn't a big fan of flying, though he has gotten better and tends to just hold my hand and close his eyes during take off and landing."

However, any honeymoon period for the newly-married pair appeared to be all but over when it came time to board the plane. It was there that the woman discovered her husband had been upgraded to business class while she was left in economy.

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She initially rejected her husband's offer of an upgrade though, telling a member of airline staff "we are on our honeymoon and would like to stay together."

However, to her "complete shock," her husband jumped in to say he wanted to be in business class and he had never been in it before and "deserves the chance to experience it" since she flies regularly for work. Worried they are holding up the line, she agrees to his request.

"To say I am p***** off is an understatement," she said. "He is all smiles, taking his seat and I go back to my seat where they sit me next to an old woman with a baby on her lap where my husband should be sitting."

Fast-forward to 10 minutes later and while the woman is sitting in her seat, "trying to hold back tears," she begins receiving messages from her new husband saying he is feeling anxious. "I ignore the texts and stop looking at my phone," she said.

An hour or so into the flight, her husband then comes to the back of the plane to ask her why she is ignoring him and that he "was scared" and needed her to comfort him. She was unrepentant though.

"I told him maybe he should have thought about that before leaving me alone before our honeymoon even really began," she wrote.

This response left the husband angry and though she tried to "move on and forget about it" once they landed in Mexico for their honeymoon, he "guilt tripped" her about not being there for him. Reflecting on what unfolded, Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Texas, felt ultimately both parties needed to shoulder some blame.

"If the husband left her to go sit in business class, I would hope he would've offered her the seat first," she told Newsweek. "Giving up the business class seat, to stay seated next to his new wife might have been the best job opportunity to show partnership in goodwill."

Despite criticizing the husband's actions though, she felt the woman was the one who should shoulder more of the blame. "Even if she were offended that he left, if he was having a physical or medical emergency, common courtesy would say that she would be responsive," Gottsman concluded. "The bottom line is, whether he moved up to a better seat or not, it would be nice to know your partner was concerned if there's an emergency."

Many on Reddit, felt it was the husband who was out of line. "I'm usually pretty team 'married couples can sit apart for a few hours on a plane' but this is their honeymoon," one user wrote. A second, meanwhile, commented: "Seems like the anxiety was not bad enough to turn down business class in exchange for being separated from your emotional support."

But others defended his actions. "Your partner got excited about the opportunity to sit in business class. He didn't consider the fact that it was your honeymoon and it meant a lot to you that he stayed with you for the flight. He had a selfish moment where he had to weigh his wants against yours and chose his own. That happens in relationships all the time," one user said.

Newsweek has reached out to u/Wooden_Disaster9800 but was unable to verify the details of the case.

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