A Ryanair customer refuses to swap seats for a mother and her little child.

After paying for his seat, a Ryanair passenger refused to switch seats for a mother with a young child, causing controversy.

The passenger said on Reddit that he had paid extra for the middle seat in a row on a two-hour flight, and that he was sat next to a woman holding her kid.

When he took his seat, the woman asked him if he wanted to move to the back of the plane to trade seats with her husband, which he declined.

“I bought my seat on row 4B, which is in the middle, it may sound funny to you,” he wrote.

“The flight was arriving on a little secondary airport with limited rail connections, so if I wanted to catch the best train, I’d have to dash outside the plane and get through passport control as quickly as possible.” If I missed that train, I’d have to wait an hour and a half or pay $70 for a cab, which is why I paid for that seat.”

“I board my flight, exhausted as hell, and there’s this lady with her [a few] months old child gently sleeping in the window seat,” he continued.

She requests that I change to row 18 so that she can sit with her spouse. I simply stated that I had paid for the seat and did not wish to move.” ““The entire row was staring at me, and I could see my mother messaging my husband about me. She eventually moved down the plane because no one was sitting next to her spouse.”

He wondered if he was in the wrong because “everyone was criticizing him” despite other passengers declining to assist the mother on the aircraft.

The admission sparked debate online, with most users supporting the man’s decision and believing he was under no responsibility to relocate.

“It was your seat, you chose it,” one individual wrote. If you don’t want to, you’re under no duty to give it up.”