One person reportedly flew ‘first class’ while leaving his wife and children in ‘economy’. This has angered netizens, who are now calling for ‘divorce’.
On 19 May, New York Times opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen tweeted the “Ethicist” column with the caption: “This is grounds for immediate divorce.” Her tweet received 1.4m views, as many people in the comments echoed the same sentiment.
“Divorce seems like the mildest possible response,” replied one user.
“Whether it’s fair or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re unhappy about it. And that he doesn’t give a flying monkey,” another said.
The online debate began this week after New York Times Magazine published its recent newsletter “The Ethicist”. The column, written by philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, offers advice to readers on “life’s trickiest situations and moral dilemmas”.
In the most recent column, a reader asked Appiah if it was “fair” that her husband flies first class but puts her and their children in economy or economy plus. “My husband loves to travel and always either pays for, or gets an upgrade into, the first class cabin,” she wrote. “When we travel together with our children, he buys himself a ticket in first class and puts us in economy or economy plus.”
She explained that her husband justifies flying alone in first-class because of the cost, as well as because of their two children – one 16-year-old and one 12-year-old – who might “feel alone” if their parents were to travel in first class together.
“I don’t think our kids would mind if they were in economy plus and my husband and I sat together in first class,” she shared. “Is that unfair of me to want?”
Although her husband has reportedly suggested he travel alone on a different flight so that his family doesn’t “feel badly about the disparity”, she maintained that this doesn’t “address or solve the problem of the inherent selfishness in his thinking.”
“Am I wrong?” she asked. “We are happy to travel, and love going places together, but it is still very strange.”
In his response, Appiah suggested that she and her husband take turns sitting in first class. However, the internet had some other ideas.
