Airport fiascos have been a recurrent issue and problem among families and couples. Sometimes, these fiascos snowball into bigger problems that could unearth deep-seated conflicts.
Reddit user anguy1284 took to the Two Hot Takes Thread on Reddit on Sept. 2, 2023, and wondered if he was in the wrong for an altercation she had with his wife.
“My wife (female 43) and I (Male 47) have a daughter (Female 21) who goes to college out of state. We will call my wife Meg and my daughter Jess. Jess is in her Junior year of college. Over the summer she was employed by her university and was able to stay in the dorms. After summer she was moving out of the dorms and into her own apartment off campus,” he initially explained.
Since the original poster (OP) and his wife live in the Pacific Northwest, they have to fly to the East Coast, where Jess went to school multiple times a semester. In the post, OP recalled traveling with his wife to visit his daughter. However, OP seemed to note that it is not a “great experience.”
“I am very type a, I like to have everything organized and make sure that we get where we need to be early, especially when traveling. My wife is the opposite, very ‘go with the flow’ and ‘we will get there when we get there.’ I do my best to meet in the middle, but not when traveling by plane,” he elaborated.
On the said visit, the couple’s initially planned peaceful travel went south when, instead of leaving 90 minutes early, he and his wife ended up leaving their house an hour before their flight, with a 30-minute travel time. Because of security checks, they missed their flights.
OP noted that the airline refused to refund their ticket, and they didn’t see Jess until after Saturday afternoon, missing a huge portion of her weekend, which led her to be “disappointed.”
To try and make up for lost time, OP and Meg planned to fly to see Jess for a long weekend. This time, OP inculcated in his wife’s mind that they have to be there to avoid the mishap like last time.
“Again it was a long morning of me pushing my wife getting her to move along. Due to the last airport mishap I wanted to make sure I told her we needed to leave extra early as to not miss the flight again. We got there on time, with a bit of time to spare, and my wife was annoyed. Kept going on about how now we just have to sit and wait for 45 minutes for them to start boarding,” he recalled.
OP had a layover in another city. They took the flight without any issue. Upon arriving at the connecting airport, they had to spend a 1-hour layover, but they got off the plane 15 minutes late, and they had to board the craft 20 minutes before the actual flight.
As soon as they arrived at the terminal, Meg told OP that he wanted to grab some coffee from a cafe, which was a “rail ride away and a little bit of a walk.”
“I told her we couldn’t do that, we didn’t have enough time. She stated that we had enough time and if I wouldn’t go with her she would go by herself. I tried to discourage her but she was determined. She walked away, at a brisk pace for her, and said she would be back in time, he explained.
Unfortunately, OP had to board the aircraft as the attendant had to shut down the gate as the waiting time lapsed. Despite calling her multiple times, Meg could not be reached. Moments later, Meg called OP to ask the attendant to let her in, but they did not budge.
“She told me I needed to tell them to let me off the plane to be with her and I said no. It is not fair to do this again to Jess, I said I told you we didn’t have time but you decided to go anyways. I told her to go purchase a new ticket for the next flight and I would see her when she arrives,” OP said.
As soon as Meg arrived at Jess’ school, she was mum on what happened and seemed unbothered throughout.
“I thought maybe she realized it was her fault and just wanted to drop it. Boy was I wrong. We are now home and she hasn’t talked to me since the trip, over a week ago, and is insisting that I am an a**h**e. So, am I the a**h**e?” OP asked.
Redditors in the comment section were unanimous that OP was not in the wrong.
“NTA she is disrespectful of other people’s time, she believes that everyone should and can wait for her and she need to make no effort to meet time deadlines or to change because in her mind she is right,” a user posted.
“NTA, your wife is very selfish. Imagine missing time with your child because you thought coffee was more important? During a move no less. The only option is to stop coddling your wife as apparently people have been doing all her life,” another commented.
What can you say about OP’s story? Do you think he was in the wrong for leaving his wife at the airport? Let us know, and pass this on to your family and friends!
