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Australian comedian Jim Jefferies once did a bit about airplane etiquette. His premise revolves around armrests, a much-coveted piece of real estate, and how passengers should respect each other’s spaces.
While it was, of course, done in jest, his comedy routine tackles the basic concepts of human decency and common sense. However, many people lack these traits, and these stories you’re about to read just prove that.
If disruptive plane passengers are your pet peeve and you have encountered them yourself, feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
We also had a brief chat with Philippine Airlines flight attendant Kaz Icalina, who answered our questions about airplane etiquette.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I’m very tall, and the guy in front reclined his seat in to my knees which prevented him to recline all the way. This upset him dearly, so much so that he tried it a couple of times again.
I told him, politely, he was hurting my knees and he got somewhat aggressive. Long story short (ha!) he called the flight attendant over and I got my first and only upgrade ever in my life.
Laura Gillette 8 months ago
Once, the lady sitting behind me THOUGHT I had reclined my seat (I hadn't. We hadn't even taken off yet, all the seats were upright). She kept bothering me the whole flight to tell me to put my seat up. She didn't speak any English but I knew what she meant. But this made it difficult for me to explain that my seat wasn't reclined. She even called the flight attendant to try to complain about me, but the flight attendant didn't speak her language either. At one point she reached between my seat and the seat next to me, feeling around with her hand for the seat recline button, and grabbed the side of my seat (slipping her fingers behind my shoulder to do so) to try to move it forward. It didn't budge, of course, cuz it was all the way up! She was so mad at me. There's nothing I could have done, lady. Besides, even if I had reclined my seat, I am technically allowed to do that, even if you don't want me to! Ugh. People.
WindySwede 8 months ago
You could have reclined your seat, and then stayed thereto sjow her she was wrong? 🙀
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Brian Droste 8 months ago
Win win for everyone. OP got a up grade and the person in front t of him got to recline his seat all the way back now..
Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
So many entitled people recline their seat but don't think of the comfort of the person behind. Of course, it's the fault of the greedy airlines who jam as many people onto a flight as possible.
RELATED:
#2
Worst seat mate was a small fat guy in the window seat who put his carry on in my footwell. I picked it up and handed it to him. He grinned ... took it and put it back in front of me. I.picked it up and plonked it on.his knee. He sighed loudly and went to put it in my space a third time. He obviously didn't realise that aisle seat guy is my husband who leaned over and said...."if you put your s**t in my wife's space one more time your bag will leave the plane with us. If you so much as open your mouth to complain I will punch your tongue down your throat"
We had a very quiet flight after that.
Just_for_this 8 months ago
Women shouldn't need a man to get another man to back off😣(or even encroach in the first place)
tori Ohno 8 months ago
That's what the call button and a loud voice is for. Don't let incel pigs like him bully you.
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Judes 8 months ago
I would have also opened it and flung all the contents down the aisle.
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TheForrestGreene (he/they/it) 8 months ago
I love the husbands response, I'm now gonna be using "I will punch your tongue down your throat" on these people who are bullying one of my friends because they gotta stop
Oops 8 months ago
Yes, they shouldnt, but they have to! There are sometimes male creatures who think females are nothing - they can do anything with them what they want. If you fight back, you get involved into a really bad fight, you have to use a taser, a gun or a knife at the end (metaphor). Only if you have a male owner they accept this. Sometimes we live in slaveowner times. Had this a lot of times, with all social classes.
Mark Hastings 8 months ago
Similar thing happened to me and my then spouse. 3 kids, 4, 5, and 7 dumped into the 3 seats behind us. The parents headed up front to first class. The seat kicking, wrestling and yelling started almost immediately. Warnings to the children fell on deaf ears. Right after the announcement that we were departing, the pilot said there was an issue that needed to be fixed. A flight attendant asked my wife and I if we would like a free upgrade, we said yes. When we got to the front of the plane, the pilot was telling the parents of the rugrats that they either fly with their children next to them or they all will be removed from the flight. They told the pilot to go to hell, they will sue. Airport security boarded, removed the entire family and we all had a pleasant flight.
#3
I try to have grace here, but it’s hard. PHL to LHR economy and had an adult with special needs in the window seat, I was middle, my husband was aisle. The parents were in business and only came back once to check on their daughter. She was pulling food off my tray, touching and hitting my screen (turned off movies), touching me and waking me up when she was nervous. It was awful and zero sleep. I know it’s so hard and parents deserve a break but how can you put that on someone else?
Jo Firth 8 months ago
That is wrong on so many levels. Entitled parents - who gives a s**t if they need a break, their daughter has special needs.
LB 8 months ago
Well, I give s**t that they need a break. But obviously this is not the way to go about that.
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Charles McChristy 8 months ago
Why would you put up with that? I would have called the flight attendant right away.
Roxy222uk 8 months ago
No one is being paid (or insured) to take care of this poor person. They are utterly alone in a cabin full of strangers. The parents don't know that the other people on the same row don't get frustrated easily. They could have even hurt their kid. If they wanted/needed a break no one would judge them, but do it correctly through people that are recompensed, trained, and know that is what they are going to be expected to do. I cannot fathom leaving someone I loved unprotected in a situation where others could get angry with them.
BeesEelsAndPups 8 months ago
I was already cringing with PHL to LHR, not great airports (PHL is currently my home airport, and LHR used to be). But yeah, this is a rough story. That's too long of a flight to leave a special needs person on their own like that.
Airplane etiquette, in a nutshell, is a set of unwritten rules that revolve around acting like a decent human being during the flight. It’s about not being a nuisance to your fellow passengers, which the people on this list seem not to understand.
As a flight attendant for a decade now, this is also how Kaz summed it up, saying it’s all about giving respect to the personal space of fellow passengers, which isn’t difficult to do.
#4
In the middle seat in a Korean air flight. Guy next to me at the aisle was pretty rude, I asked him to move to let me out to the toilet and he kinda just slid his legs to the side and made me squeeze out past him. He was eating peanuts and farting constantly. And I mean constantly. Each time, the last one hadn't cleared by the time he let rip again. The fumes were building up. So I held my own farts in until it was knocking loud at the back door (they seem to build up quickly on a plane) and after a while asked him to let me out again. As I expected, he did the same again and motioned for me to squeeze past him. As I did, I made sure to drop the fart I'd been holding right in his face. And it was a noisy boy alright. I didn't stick around for the smell, but when I came back, he stood up to let me back in.
Jrog 8 months ago (edited)
Yeah, don't. There are multiple instances of planes that had to divert or return to the departure airport because of people with "excessive flatulence" (American PHX-AUS 14 JAN 2024, delayed departure; Transavia DBX to AMS 17 FEB 2018, diverted midflight; American ???-DFW, 5 DEC 2006, diverted midflight). Also, farting in face of someone on purpose can be considered assau|t in both UK, Canada and the US.
KatSaidWhat 8 months ago
Noted, I have IBS and can rack up a lot of farts depending on what I have eaten.
#5
30 minutes into a 12 hours flight. I was pregnant, extra sensitive to smells. Dude starts VAPING under his hoodie. Genuinely shocked, I said, “sorry are you vaping?!” Dude ignores me and turns away. 5 minutes later, he does it again. Nope. Immediately press the flight attendant button, he starts in with “Oh come on. It’s not a big deal. I won’t do it again.” He was led away. Not sure what happened to him afterward, but at least I didn’t have his s****y, fruity vape steam in my face for the remaining 11.5 hours.
K Barnes 8 months ago
We were on a flight this summer and some tool 4 rows ahead of us was vaping. Flight attendant came and confiscated his vape. 30 minutes later he was vaping from another one! They confiscated it, too, and had some harsh words with him. Didn't see a third one appear. It was only a 4 hour flight.
KatSaidWhat 8 months ago
because nicotine is highly addictive and because it's too d**n easy to vape in public. Guess how I know?
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Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
I reported a passenger on an international flight who repeatedly went into the toilet to smoke.
#6
Years ago flying from NYC to Dublin alone, the flight attendants decided, since I (F26) had two empty seats beside me, that I would be the perfect babysitter for a little boy flying as an unaccompanied minor. He was maybe 5 years old(?) This was in the '80's so not sure what the age cut off was then but he was really young.
I would rather have been seated beside a monkey or a boa constrictor. He was all over me needing comfort and constant attention. I felt bad for him and being a parent now, can't imagine shipping my child that age across the ocean by himself.
BeesEelsAndPups 8 months ago
In brazil they would assign a chaperone to the unaccompanied children, and we'd all have to sit together as a group. It was fun when I was little. It was embarrassing when I was 17.
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Just_for_this 8 months ago
Show him the flight attendant button and let rip. and give him all the sweets about half hour before landing.
Michael Largey 8 months ago
“Sorry - I can’t be anywhere near children. Let’s just say it involves a court order and an offenders register.”
KatSaidWhat 8 months ago
Am I alone in thinking this is a bad idea because nobody knows what a predator looks like and this could have gone badly wrong?
Crystalwitch60 8 months ago
See now me being motherly , I’d have looked after him , this does happen unfortunately I’ve never flown never will made it to 60 without out doing so lol , homebody me ! But this I’d never complain about , I’m more the one that would offer to help the poor kid , it’s not his fault he’s got idiot parents now is it ! Do better people he’s just a freaking kid !
Megalodon Meg 8 months ago
She literally did look after the strange random child forced on her. I'm a mother and I'd still be pissed if I'm on a flight and they volunteer me to look after a random kid.
Load More Replies...Those who fly often have likely encountered the rude passenger who seems to lack etiquette when it comes to stowing their bags in the overhead bins. Kaz says this is one of the common issues she encounters, along with people who leave a mess in the lavatory.
“They tend to forget about the fact that there are other people using the lavatory and just throw their garbage anywhere or leave the toilet unflushed,” she told Bored Panda
#7
I (female) was flying solo from Paris to the US, I was about 20. I had just gotten my first upgrade to premium economy and I was soooooo excited!
I had the window and my seatmate was a man in his mid thirties or 40s; he was wearing a religious garment and we exchanged pleasantries. I woke up from a nap and his hand was resting on my knee, but more on the inside of my thigh than not. He was awake. When he saw that I was awake, he quickly removed it.
So many things I wish I would have said or done but instead I just sat there in total silence for the rest of the flight.
David 8 months ago
That's a*****t. Always report to the flight crew, and complain to the airline when you land.
Mook The Mediocre 8 months ago
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Roxy222uk 8 months ago
You were twenty, how could you possibly know what to do when something completely out of the blue and horrible like that happens? This is one of the reasons why predators like younger women. I won't tell you how to feel because emotions will emote, but no sane person would blame you for not doing something about it in the moment. It's such a shock that you almost don't believe it's happening. Men that have had similar things happen to them report the same response. **He** on the other hand did something 100% vile on purpose to another human. It's so f.u.c.k.i.n.g. annoying that he has forgotten all about it now (like they do).
Cydney Golden 8 months ago
We need to teach girls/women to speak up and not worry about causing trouble.
Jrog 8 months ago
You are really speedrunning the downvote experience, aren't you?
Load More Replies... #8
Snuck his own booze on board, drank until he blacked out, fell on top of me and vomited in my lap while pi**ing himself.
Fellfromthemoon 8 months ago
Some people have dubious coping mechanisms when it comes to flight anxiety.
MyNameIsNotAPortent 8 months ago
Noted. Strangling somebody and claiming they choked on their own vomit is dubious behavior.
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Charles McChristy 8 months ago (edited)
A lot of people don't realize that, at that altitude, alcohol hits different. It's like when tourists come down to FL in the summer and try and day drink in this heat. They are the reason we have a saying, "Arrive on vacation, leave on probation."
Crystalwitch60 8 months ago
I have never wanted to get on a plane EVER , Bar wanting to do a parachute jump lol , but even that’s not happening ! so anyone as does this is just inhuman ! get a grip people if you are terrier of flying but have to for what ever reason go seek help to get you thru this cos this !! Is unacceptable!
#9
I had the window seat. A woman weighing well over 400 lbs took the middle seat. Flight attendant told her she couldn’t use her own seatbelt extender and had to use the one supplied by the airline.
She tried to keep her knees together so she was only mildly spilling out of her allotted seat area. But by the time the pilot was cleared for takeoff she no longer had the stamina to hold herself together. I can only describe the experience as the equivalent of cutting the rope from a bound Christmas tree. I was pinned against the plane from a thigh, b**b, shoulder b**b, and arm b**b.
When the seatbelt light went off, a flight attendant rushed over to assist by moving me to a vacant seat. But the woman couldn’t even stand up to let me out so I had to shimmy past in a way that left both of us searching for our dignity.
sbj 8 months ago
It sounds like she was also totally embarrassed by the situation and I feel sorry for the both of you
talliloo 8 months ago
i used to be overweight but not morbidly obese. back in the day when the seats were just a bit wider than they are now it was hard for me to fit in one comfortably. i was always concerned i was pushing against my seatmates. even now at my much smaller size i am still very aware of how much space i take.
Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
People of this size should not be allowed on flights unless they purchase 2 seats.
But what exactly is it about air travel that triggers people to forget about acting like decent humans? Kaz points to the stress caused by the entire process, from checking in to boarding the aircraft. There’s also the lack of control people have over the situation.
“Everything being in someone else’s hands makes people extra emotional,” she said.
#10
Full flight, 2 hours. I'm a woman (60s, small, no makeup, comfortable clothing), in the middle seat. Window guy is young with wide shoulders, headphones (considerate; he didn't even take the armrest). Aisle guy, though. Dang. Big guy (tall and large, even wider shoulders than window seat), also 60s (and newly divorced, I learn later). Can't not take the armrest unless he's leaning into the aisle. OK, I can deal with that. I brought a book, but Aisle wants to talk. Normally I am good with that (I spent 13 years doing psychiatric interviews, I am interested in people and can talk with anyone). However, this guy was intensely sexual. Lots of questions about me (no), wanted to tell me about his kinks (no), asked for naughty pictures (no) and had an erection (which admittedly, he tried to hide) for almost the entire flight. I kind of felt sorry for him. He was polite, at least, and didn't press when I said no to various conversational topics. Again, full flight, seat change likely impossible. And better me than some young woman. One of the weirder flights I've ever been on.
Amanda the Panda 8 months ago
“However, this guy was intensely sexual. Lots of questions about me…wanted to tell me about his kinks…asked for naughty pictures…had an erection…for almost the entire flight. I kind of felt sorry for him. He was polite, at least…” That’s not being polite.
Linn 8 months ago
And told him you would send him a bill for the counseling time he seems to need if he really wanted to speak with you on his sexual issues!!! 🤔🤷♀️😉😁
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Jennifer Drake 8 months ago
Because his Mandingo wouldn’t stop waving at her. 😬
Load More Replies... #11
Chicago to Barcelona. I take the window seat because I like to sleep, my husband has the aisle because he's up and down so much on long flights that it's insane. Sometimes we don't have anyone in the middle seat, but usually there is and prior to this flight, we'd never had a problem.
This woman was one of the last people boarded. She was too large for the seat by half. She had more miscellaneous pieces of carry-on than I've ever seen...strung about her person like a deranged long-distance hiker. She plopped down and promptly raised both armrests flowing into our seats while methodically divesting herself of all her bits and pieces. She then got into it with the flight attendant who wanted the tray table up and the armrests down while I silently prayed she'd do something to get removed from the plane.
No luck. We took off and for the next 7 hours dealt with her being in both our seats, nonstop fidgeting, more arguments with the FA, her sweat staining our clothes and demands to use our tray tables since we weren't. When we landed, she expected my husband to get her bag out of the overhead and got pissy when he wouldn't (he didn't get ours out either, he'd had heart surgery only four months previously) and gave us dirty looks the entire way off the plane and through customs. Thankfully we had a driver meeting us so we didn't have to run into her again at a ground transport queue.
Worst flight I've ever had (and there've been some doozies) and all because one person had the social skills of a honey badger.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
Yeah I feel like as long as you have snacks a honey badger would be relatively well behaved
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#12
Woman changed her infant’s diaper on the tray table (to be fair it was extremely turbulent for hours and she could not get up).
Before she could close the diaper, plane hit a big bump. She was able to prevent infant from flying off but the dirtied diaper floated in front of my face and then landed face down directly in my lap.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 8 months ago
Isn't the whole point of diapers is to allow that thing to wait for a bit?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 8 months ago
I know little of babies, but I think an infant’s skin is usually pretty sensitive and can get a rash/worse if the waste matter is allowed to press against the skin for a while. My dad had to wear adult diapers after his accident, and he would get rashes/irritated skin if you did not change his diapers promptly after they became soiled. If he soiled himself at night, we would sometimes struggle with “leaving it” or turning on all the lights and waking him up in order to do a diaper change/clean him up. It was always better for his skin to do the diaper change.
Load More Replies... EJN 8 months ago
As a mother that took an infant with me many times on 12 hour or more flights, it is very difficult. I had the airline book me a "baby bed which hooked into the wall in front of me. Only problem was no one could pass through then. There were no places to change babies and finally, as I realized my daughter had soiled her diaper big time, the lady next to me who was from the Philippines told me to put my tray table and her table up and use that. I was so apologetic, but she was so very nice and we got finished in a flash. Airlines do not provide any real help for people with infants and/or children. Maybe they have changing tables in the toilets now???
Unfortunately, many people who are supposedly sensible adults need occasional reminders about how to behave on an airplane. So, here’s a piece of advice from Kaz, something to keep in mind.
“Remember that there’s a minimum of a hundred other people in the aircraft with you for X number of hours,” she said. “It wouldn’t hurt to be more mindful of others, too.”
#13
It was Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Paris. On these planes there are two decks and on the upper deck (economy) the seat configuration is 2, 4, 2.
I chose an aisle seat on one of the 2s. After I boarded and found my seat, a French girl came and sat on the window seat beside me. Before the plane takes off, she makes a call to, I presume, her boyfriend, and starts b****ing in French about how there's a thing sitting next to her on the plane and therefore she won't be able to have space to sleep throughout the 13 hour flight, and the boyfriend must have asked her if the person next to her was French, because she replied, “No, it’s an Asian thing.”
When she ended the call, I promptly told her that I understood every word she said (since I study in France) and I requested to the air steward for a change of seats, and thankfully there was one. The look on her face was priceless.
Edit: Some of you have defended the French people by saying that not everyone is like this girl. I definitely agree, I do know many many pleasant French people. But it's unfortunate how some people portray themselves.
And thank you to everyone who upvoted! I certainly didn't expect this many upvotes ;) Cheers to pleasant flying to everyone.
Barbara Panda 8 months ago
The look on her face was priceless because she got exactly what she wanted. A free seat next to her.
C Hendrix 8 months ago
Although it frequently happens that the person being moved also gets an upgrade, which irritates the pest person no end.
Load More Replies... Lila Allen 8 months ago
In my experience, a lot of French people truly perceive being not French as a second class human.
#14
**Flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix, woman ends up without her pants on:**
A woman next to me (she’s in the middle seat, I’m aisle) somehow produced the equivalent of at least 2 kitchen size trash cans worth of trash. Every 5-10 minutes she would flag down the attendant and hand her a massive handful of trash. I have absolutely no idea where it was coming from.
She ordered a hot coffee, and within 5 minutes spilled it all over herself. This led to a full on freakout as it was hot. She jumps up onto her seat and is flailing. She pulls her pants off right there and eventually gets her backup pair on.
These were the two most notable things that occurred. Overall she was a pretty feral human who probably shouldn’t have gotten on a plane.
Tobias Reaper 8 months ago
how small was this person to jump up onto their seat and not hit their head airplanes dont have very high ceilings so unless they were a dwarf i call bullshot
Lila Allen 8 months ago
I'm 5 ft tall and I can absolutely stand on the seat and not hit my head
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#15
Had a d**g a****t behind me who went nuts when I reclined my seat even slightly on a red eye. She started with pushing her feet on the headrest and shoving my seat forward til it was actually pushed over straight. She was doing d***s in the bathroom and mad cause her seat did not recline so therefore no one should recline. She attacked her seat mate when he complained after she got up for the 20th time in the first two hours Her seat mate had to be moved and she was zip tied to her chair which sadly did not stop her kicking my and my husbands chair for the remainder if the flight. She was met with police at the other end and I happily agreed to press charges as she was spitting at the FAs. Absolute nut case.
Megalodon Meg 8 months ago
Thank you for that, a lot of people have trouble working out what the censored words say especially if English isn't their first language, everyone being snarky to you is an a*****e. Feel free to decode that one for them too.
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Tobias Reaper 8 months ago
exactly how did they know they were doing d***s in the bathroom its not like they would have announced it
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Winnie the Moo 8 months ago
Well I believe they should ban the reclined seats. It is a tiny space already, why would I want your seat in my face?
K Barnes 8 months ago
I recline when the person ahead of me does because you need to if they do. I got stuck in a seat where the recline didn't work but the person in front of me was fully reclined. It was AWFUL. I had a few inches between my face and the seat in front of me and felt quite overwhelmed.
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Serena Myers 8 months ago (edited)
It's almost tempting to start an alphabetical list to upset the censor bot! A****t, bugger, c*****e, d***s....
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Sam Trudeau 8 months ago
What I hear is that either the seat behind her had her tray down or she was in front of the emergency row, where seats in front don't tilt as a safety precaution
For our readers, we would also like to hear from you. Have you had encounters with fellow passengers who lack the basic sense of airplane etiquette? How bad was it? Share your stories in the comments.
#16
Doha to Chicago, got to my window seat, couple had taken it and the middle. I told them I had the window, they told me to sit in the aisle. I said no. They scooted over and motioned for me to climb over them. I said no.
I only got up twice during the flight. Each time, the same interaction. They wanted me to climb over them, it was too tight. I said no.
They were barefooted the entire 15 hour flight and would walk to the bathroom with their bare feet.
I just tried to sleep the whole flight, but they were incredibly rude.
Magenta Blu 8 months ago
In many countries people just go barefoot everywhere
Load More Replies... Roxy222uk 8 months ago
What is this problem people have with bare feet?? It's not much different to bare hands?? I don't get it. Of course I don't want them in my face, but I don't want a stranger's hands in my face either. Otherwise let people be, relaxing.
Crystalwitch60 8 months ago
Eugh ,now I when weathers ok go barefoot if I can but in a public place JUST NO !!! At home yes do it in fields again ok but planes shops etc NO NO NO ,
Jaya 8 months ago
If you wear sandals, you don't get sweaty or stinky feet. And walking around barefoot if your feet aren't sweaty/stinky, is actually cleaner for the plane, because the soles of your shoes are way dirtier than the soles of your feet.
Charles McChristy 8 months ago
That's the dum*est justification I've ever heard for going shoeless in public.
Load More Replies... Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
Re : comment below, it is against airlines rules to walk around the plane barefooted, but most flight attendants don't give an obese rodent's r****m. Lazy bastards.
#17
Pretty sure it was me once after I got on part 2 of a long haul flight having apparently contracted food poisoning during an airport delay the night before. Something like an 8 or 10 hour flight, I was in the middle of the middle part of the plane. Had to go to the bathroom approximately every 5 1/2 minutes. Bless the poor woman sitting on the aisle who was going to visit her son on the east coast. She swapped with me. Thank you again.
Just_for_this 8 months ago
That toilet must have been stinking 🤣I go out of my way to not use the toilet on flights - people are disgusting. Pro tip, if you can wait, the toilet after the first one off the plane is normally pristine with no queue.
detective miller's hat 8 months ago
Being sick on a long flight is one of the worst things you can ever experience.
Myoviridae 8 months ago
Oh I have done this. It was quite apparent that I had gotten some sort of food-related viral issue the night before. I was super lucky that I was in an aisle seat and my seatmate was a nurse who was really chill with me and just patted my back while reading her book as I puked into a sick bag and had to run to the bathroom.
Peeka_Mimi 8 months ago
I had a UTI that I discovered at the beginning of my 17 hour international flight Frankfurt to Denver. I was in the aisle of the aisle and had to use the bathroom every 5 minutes. Sorry about that.
Melissa Brown 7 months ago
OMG yes. I had a UTI on a flight once and it was so embarrassing. I would so much rather be puking the whole time. People don't assume a UTI is that bad unless they've had one recently, but it's constant stinging pain and fear of actually peeing your pants if you relax
Load More Replies... #18
-On a 6 hour flight a man who sat in the middle seat was using both armrests (which is fine) but he also had his legs spread out so far they were under the seats in front of aisle/window. I asked him to please move his feet, and he told me in the most condescending voice that I “must never fly” and he “needed to explain how it works for the person in the middle seat”. The person in the aisle was a tiny young girl and she said he was okay to put his feet under her seat (she was so small she could like, ball up in the seat) so he told me I was unreasonable. He wasn’t even a large man, it took effort for him to take up as much space as he was.
-I was flying Southwest which means open seating. My grandmother had just fallen and was in ICU. They said she didn’t have much time left. I got on the plane and sat in the middle seat on the front row. The man and woman in window/aisle were husband and wife and complained to each other (over me) about how the flight wasn’t full and there were seats in the back and there’s no reason for “people” to sit in between them. It went on for like 30 minutes until I finally snapped and said my grandmother is dying I just want to get off this plane as soon as possible! The wife just said “oh” and they were silent the rest of the flight.
Brian Droste 8 months ago
If the flight wasn't full and complaining about you, why didn't they move then?
Kira Okah 8 months ago
Probably wanted the row to themselves and the extra leg room that the front row provides. Perhaps the open seats were at the back and were randomly placed singles, thus defeating their whole row of expanded leg room plan.
Load More Replies... Earonn - 8 months ago
These guys are so ready to freak out when you ask them to keep their legs to themselves. "Just keep your legs closed", as most of them probably tell single moms is not something they want to hear themselves. I'm so glad that I'm not afraid to make a scene. Not just for me, but also to teach these arseholes that they have to expect unpleasant outcomes when they do that.
#19
On a flight from Rome to Chicago a couple in their 40s in the seat in front of me made out the entire flight, including him licking her forehead on numerous occasions.
Resolution: nobody said anything.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
Normally I am pretty quick to say something but somehow on flights you feel like the flight attendant has enough to deal with and if it's manageable to ignore it you jus kind of ignore it.
Load More Replies... BeesEelsAndPups 8 months ago
Meh. Two people who are into each other. Kinda nice in a way. As long as they aren't being loud or bumping the people around them, I don't really care.
Just_for_this 8 months ago
Of all the offences I've seen so far, this doesn't seem so serious. I don't believe they were making out for the ENTIRE flight. Unless they were being obnoxiously noisy, disruptive or inappropriate, PDAs aren't up to you to regulate.
Roxy222uk 8 months ago
Yeah, it might be a bit annoying in that the constant movement would keep attracting your attention (a survival thing we can't completely control) but that's life with other humans.
Load More Replies... #20
I was in a seat between a parent and a 5 year old. Parent kept passing a laptop over to the child, then bringing it back to change the shows and games, every few minutes, in front of my face.
The family owned cats. How could I tell? Their coats reeked of cat urine and were covered in fur.
🇫🇮 Goth Nurse 🇫🇮 8 months ago
That's not normal for cat owners to smell of cat urine. Cats are very clean. They must have done something wrong, and I hate that for the cats :(
Roxy222uk 8 months ago
Sometimes cats have an obsession with urinating on specific things. I think particularly entire toms. My friend's tom loves to wee on bags and we have to be really on the ball to keep a bag hanging on the back of the chair and not let it on the floor or on a table. He's in like Flinn otherwise! And I think if you live with it long enough you just get nose blind to it.
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LakotaWolf (she/her) 8 months ago
I currently have 5 cats (3 are kittens) and have had several cats before my current ones. I have NEVER had any clothing (or bedding) of mine get urinated on by one of my cats. Is this a common occurrence? Are my cats angels? …or weirdos?
Savannah greenleaf 8 months ago
Years of cat ownership it only happened to me once. I was waiting at the bus stop to go to school trying to figure out where the smell was coming from it was my winter coat. I ran in to switch coats missed the bus. Thankfully found a ride to school. I also count my blessings that was the only time it happened. We had one kitties live to 23 and that angel never did anything bad like they males did ( they were all spayed/neutered).
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#21
On a flight from Cairo to Toronto. I was sitting at the back of the plane where it narrows and so it goes from 3-3-3 to 2-3-3. I was in the aisle on the outside 2. The man sitting in the middle was a large man.
Throughout the flight i had my headphones and eye mask on trying to get some sleep. He would keep poking me in the rib and when i would take the eye mask off he would just look away.
Every 15 or so minutes i would feel him adjust in his seat and there would be a rumble followed by a godawful smell.
About half way into the flight he moved his leg so it was touching mine, I moved mine and his followed and then he started to move his leg up and down like it was rubbing my leg.
I finally just took my mask off because sleep was not happening. He quickly moved his leg back to his side of the seat.
But he continued to fart the rest of the flight. And each time I could see him in my peripheral vision looking right at me as he angled his a*s toward me and let them rip.
Also, the airline staff wouldn’t give me water when I asked for it because “I will have to go all the way to the back of the plane, you will have to wait.” But I was at the back of the plane.
Anyway, that was my fun experience.
BrownEyedPanda 8 months ago
Hope you noted which airline and sent a descriptive email to the CEO. They need to know about any issues that might affect their business.
#22
Worst was this past week. Taipei to Seattle, me in the middle seat. Had an older lady on the aisle, clearly very unwell wearing a full winter coat/scarf/mask. Coughing so hard she was flying off the seat, sounded like she had TB and needed to be quarantined. She was not small, and took no consideration to her arm/elbow being on my stomach the entire flight. Every time I elbowed her back, I swear she just moved on to me more. She never stopped moving or coughing, every time I fell asleep she'd be touching me and coughing. Disgusting wet tissue fell onto me at this point. All 10 hours. When the flight was over, she decided that the 2 people next to her didn't need to get up and make their connecting flights, and just say and waved everyone by. Didn't occur to her to think of us until I said "actually I'd love to get the f**k off this plane right now." And she huffed and puffed and got up.
I dont care what anyone says, you have no business traveling in that condition.
Lara Verne 8 months ago (edited)
I met people like this in the train. Young couple, they sat in front of me. They both looked like they should be in hospital, pale, with bags under their eyes, and coughing a lot. Luckily, train was almost empty, so I moved as far from them as possible. They shouldn't be in public transport!
Courtney Christelle 8 months ago
If I ever have to fly I’m just going to wear a mask. I don’t need other people’s germs.
Debby Keir 8 months ago
A very young child in the seat in front of me (with parents either side) kept throwing up.as well as filling his nappy. I passed them some wet wipes as they seemed to have run out. It was likely noro, rather than airsickness. At the end of the flight, mother handed me the unused portion of the pack, covered in vomit and slime - and guess who came down with noro within a few hours.
Pixie T 8 months ago
I have Cystic Fibrosis, part of that is chest related so I cough, a lot. However I am not ill by normal standards, nor am I contagious but as a child people would tell me mum she was a terrible parent to take a sick child out and she should take me to a doctor. As an adult people have literally recoiled and gave me disgusted looks. As you can imagine covid times was even worse
Uncle Schmickle 8 months ago
Correct. I contracted pneumonia from a woman on a coach tour through Spain and Morocco. She and her friend always rushed off the coach to smoke ( near the open door ) so the smoke wafted into and throughout. They were always the last back on board and were generally rude. Coughed all the time without covering her mouth. Disgusting. I only managed to see a little bit of Morocco and had to leave the tour due to illness.
#23
Getting stuck in the middle between a married couple who had bought the aisle and window, and who then spent the entire flight talking and passing things across me as though I wasn’t there.
rullyman 8 months ago
For our honeymoon, my husband and I sat apart because i wanted window and he wanted aisle. Other than subtle check ins with each other when I got up to use the loo, we ignored each other the whole 13 hour flight as not to annoy the guy in the middle seat. That's the way to do things
KatSaidWhat 8 months ago
Last time I booked a window seat where the aisle was already booked, I was told I could not leave a middle seat unbooked, so I moved row back - f**k sitting between couples who won't move.
Megalodon Meg 8 months ago
You don't know if they offered and the couple refused, so quick with the hate aren't you?
Load More Replies... #24
This happened more than a decade ago.
I was in window seat, and the lady behind me just casually placed her left bare foot on the rearend of my armrest. Like if I place my arm in the armrest, I wouldnt be able to coz her foot was there. She also badly needed a pedicure.
So I took a photo, and called the flight attendant to deal with her. Took a photo just in case she denies it. She eventually took her foot down.
#25
The woman across the aisle from me who was visibly drunk, swore at the flight attendant when asked if she had been drinking, and then delayed our flight by an hour because we had to wait for someone to come escort her off the plane.
She was with her whole family, and I felt terrible for her kids, who had to walk past everyone on their way off the plane with their mom. I'm sure that will be seared in their memory forever.
#26
I was flying back for my grandmother’s funeral. It was a smaller plane, and my husband had paid extra for me to sit in “first class”, which was basically just the front row of this small plane. My seatmate was a woman about ten years older than me that was high on something. She kept asking to use the bathroom once we had just taken off and the flight attendant kept telling her to remain seated. She was in the window seat and kept leaning over my lap to talk to the flight attendant in the jumpseat. She got up anyway, falling on me in the process. She then came back and elbowed me in the face getting to her seat. The whole flight was spent with her leaning over me trying to have a conversation with the flight attendant, who was extremely annoyed. She was also twitchy and kept bumping me the whole flight. I was grieving and basically in shock so I didn’t say anything.
Another time I sat next to a very, very large woman on a small plane that had two seats. I was in the window and when she walked up she said “oh good, I am glad I am sitting next to someone small” and proceeded to lift the armrest and mash me against the window. She was taking at least half my seat. She was pressed against me from shoulder to hip. I was fairly young at the time and not confident about speaking up but that was a miserable four hours. I couldn’t move at all.
Awkward lady 8 months ago
What is it with obese people taking up other people's spaces, and the other person is too embarrassed to say anything? I'm a stroppy old cow, I would definitely say something to the attendant.
Mel in Georgia 8 months ago
I was flying standby on a flight that had plenty of available seats ... until they changed airplanes to one that had far fewer seats. The standbys were told at the last minute to take any seat available. It was like musical chairs, with everyone dashing to find an empty seat. I went up one aisle - nothing. Down the other aisle - nothing. Until I saw a flight attendant pointing at an aisle seat by the front, next to a VERY large man. I was very small at the time and decided to make the best of it. Could tell he was very uncomfortable trying to make himself small. Since I took up half the seat I raised the armrest so he could have more room. Then shared my tray table since he couldn't lower his. He was sweet and appreciative, and I was just grateful I was able to make the flight!
#27
I sat next to a man who was in his mid 30’s who was plucking his back hair and……. eating it. Yes. At first I thought I must be mistaken, but sadly, no. It was clearly some weird obsession. I tried coughing & stretching trying to snap him out of it, but it didn’t work. I finally got up and asked the flight attendants if there was another seat I could have as I couldn’t take it any longer. They both did a pass to see if it could possibly be true, sadly it was. We were dying. It was a first for them as well. I was at least able to give them yet another delightful tale to tell.
#28
I was like 12 and the guy next to me was a middle-aged man who's been terrorizing me the whole flight by saying out loud how he fears that the plane will crash, praying (or more like begging God to let him live) and crossing himself every other minute in between. Also, had like 4 shots of heavy alcohol during the flight. The flight was at like 4 am and he didn't let me sleep the whole flight, also scaring the s**t out of me.
BrownEyedPanda 8 months ago
As a flight attendant, I would have done something for the child's sake. I would have also notified the captain, who hopefully would have airport police standing by, waiting to escort this Nervous Nelly off the plane PDQ.
#29
I always buy an aisle seat. When I got to my seat, there was a giant German Shepherd sitting on both the middle and aisle seats. I have no clue why the owner thought it was okay for them to sit at the window seat, forcing their giant dog to sit next to another passenger. I would have complained, but luckily, a flight attendant came and offered me a first-class seat. People that bring their dogs on planes are weirdos.
Wombat 8 months ago
Personally I would be very happy to sit next to a German Shepherd for an entire flight and would in fact prefer it to most people, but I can see how it wouldn't be great if you aren't into dogs.
Janissary35680 8 months ago
I would gladly change seats with anyone who didn't want to sit next to a dog.
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LakotaWolf (she/her) 8 months ago
If it is a true service dog and not an “emotional support” animal, a dog may be allowed on the flight uncrated. I think, depending on airline, the dog must fit into the footwell of the passenger, but the passenger CAN purchase a seat for it if it is a larger dog.
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BookFanatic 8 months ago
I love dogs, so that'd be a huge perk for me. But I understand not everyone is dog person.
Just_for_this 8 months ago
I'd take the dog over my own wife for a one-off flight! 😅 She's terrified of dogs, so I have to borrow as many cuddles as I can from other people's dogs. (I know a service dog is off limits, of course...but still!)
Laura Gillette 8 months ago
Once had to travel with my cat (in a carrier that fits under the seat in front of you). On Southwest, I end up in the last boarding group. Only middle seats are left, so I can't sit with my husband. I try to find a seat, but apparently people are repulsed by having to sit next to someone who has a cat under the seat in front of them. One lady was like, "Is that a CAT? I'm ALLERGIC!" Ok, fine, but you don't have to act like I'm trying to sit next to you with vials of research disease samples that might break open at any moment. Finally found a seat (next to a nice lady who had her lap dog, also in a carrier, although she let him poke his head out, which technically was against the rules. However, both she and the aisle seat guy used the armrests on both sides of themselves, so I didn't get an armrest space.
EJN 8 months ago
One reason people bring their pets into the main cabins now is the airlines atrocious handling of pets checked into the hold. They mistreat animals, lose them and deaths of pets are not unknown. I would definitely not accept the risk at all, although I can appreciate why others do not care for animals in the same way I do. I would apologize and do my best to make sure my pet does not disturb others. Airlines cannot even handle suitcases without damage and if there was another option, I would avoid them like the plague.
Betsy S 8 months ago
Dogs should NEVER be allowed on planes, unless they are vested, certified service dogs. And you can always tell because proper service dogs are IMPECABLY well trained to stay right by their person and not make any noise. They are on guard at all times in public. If the dog is roaming, barking or in any possible way bothering another person, it's not a proper service dog and needs to go in the cargo area.
Lady Eowyn 8 months ago
Service dogs are not supposed to be on the seats, I think. I have a service dog but don't fly. Mostly they're supposed to be in the footwell, but my pom would have to be on my lap or in my arms to do her job. (She weighs 6 pounds)
Jaya 8 months ago (edited)
The few planes I've been on, would never be able to fit a dog in the foot area, apart from tiny breeds, but definitely not the size that most service dogs are.
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#30
Flight from Paris to San Francisco middle row, an enormous rude lady who was so large she spilled into my seat (over, under the armrest, more than half of my leg area … the armrest was completely hidden by her fat and her leg took so much space in the aisle that the cart had trouble going through). She did not get up once. Thankfully the kind couple on the other side of me gave me a bit of their space and got up often so I just went their way.
Flight from Paris to Mauritius. Man with a body odour so terrible I wondered if he had just come out of the Kraken’s sphincter.
Flight from Rome to Paris. A child so evil (and old enough to know better) the parents were threatened with being taken off the plane. Child kicked (so hard i had a sore back) and screamed bloody m****r entire flight. Parents were told off by the crew and it looked like they were being asked not to fly on their airline again.
All of these times the plane was packed so not possible to move.
Tempest 8 months ago
Was in a middle seat in a corner row of 3 seats and in the row behind were two young kids and their mom. The kids only sat still when they had to during takeoff/landing. The entire rest of the time they were moving back and forth in the tiny space between my row and theirs. Their constant movement meant they were repeatedly bumping onto the back of my seat. It was so uncomfortable but I didn’t say anything cause they were kids and it was a super short flight.
#31
Begin long story:
I was flying BA SEA-LHR back in 2004-ish. In my row was a small Asian woman at the window and a morbidly obese woman in the center. I had the aisle seat because I like to easily come and go on long flights.
I squeezed into my seat. The armrest was down but I could see it was digging into the obese woman. Deeply. This woman was...huge. Her fat was pouring over into my seat. She was pressed up against me. No escape.
The instant the seat belt light went off I stood up and walked away. When I returned, she had lifted the armrest. Her body had literally consumed about 40% of my seat. There was no more seat left for me. I looked at her. She looked at me. There was nothing I could do. She wasn't going to lose 250lbs in the next few minutes. But I was unable to sit. My seat was...gone.
I explained to a flight attendant. At first, she dismissed my concern. I walked her to my seat. She took one glance and quietly pulled me to the back of the plane.
She explained she was very sorry, but my seat was gone. The flight was full. First class, business, economy. 100% full. She had nowhere to move me. She did, however, have a solution: she would let me sit in a jump seat for most of the flight. As a bonus, she would give me all the food and drinks I wanted. But when it came time land, I would have to return to me seat. Somehow. We'd cross that bridge later.
So I sat in the lonely jump seat with my book and my own tiny window and watched Greenland and the Atlantic go by. I ate many snacks and drank many drinks. Then came the landing. I had to return to my "seat". But there was no seat.
I was tempted to rage at this woman but I did not. This was BA's fault. One glance and they should have charged her for two seats and bumped someone, or bumped her to another flight with two seats. But that's all water under the bridge. I had to deal with the here and now. I did the only thing I could:
I sat on my left hip, with my butt and back pressed up hard against her flab. All my weight was now on my left hip. "Uncomfortable" is an understatement. It took all my will power to tough it out for 20+ minutes as we approached and landed at Heathrow.
I shot up as soon as I could. My back was screaming in pain. I suffered through customs. I had planned to take a bus into the city but f**k that. I paid a cabbie something like £90 to drive me to my hotel. I downed ibuprofin and slept hard. It took several days of stretches and walks to get normal again.
The moral of my story: don't accept this b******t. If a person has essentially taken your seat, by being massively fat or massively smelly or massively insane, do not fly! STOP. Force the airline to make a decision. It's better to get bumped than to deal with 10+ hours of discomfort.
Nowadays I no longer fly economy on any flight over a few hours. I will pay the money for a better seat. Every time.
Magenta Blu 8 months ago
I don't understand why airlines won't charge for oversized passengers but are very willing to extra charge for luggage... Maybe airplanes need those suitcase fitting boxes, but for people. And it is not about "body shaming", it's about safety, and comfort for all paying passengers.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
A lot of airlines now have a two seat requirement for oversized passengers. Unfortunately they also have an overbooking policy and to avoid bumping a passenger they will give away the second seat that was purchased and force people into this situation. So it's really the airline's fault. What's worse is they make the oversized person buy two seats but they sell the second seat and don't refund the oversized person. My husband is 6'4" and very broad shouldered so we buy two seats for him and half the time his second seat is given away even though we paid for it.
Load More Replies... Brian Droste 8 months ago
Maybe airlines need to get people's weight and height and assign seats according to their weight.
Papa 8 months ago
I am not one of those overly large people, but please don't judge all of them by the actions of a few.
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#32
Small plane with two seats per row. Man in the window was leaning into my seat and touching me with his arm. I told him he could have the arm rest but please stop touching me. He lost his mind. Asked how the heck he was supposed to do that (lean toward the other side maybe). Then proceeded to elbow me the entire flight in the rib cage quite hard. At this point i was too afraid of this criminal to call the flight attendant and i was also running directly to a work meeting and didnt have time to get caught up with authorities at rhe gate. I hope that guy gets some terrible karma.
#33
I was on a 9 hour Greyhound and a guy that literally JUST got out of prison sat next to me. Was still wearing the tan jumpsuit. Only had a Manila envelope to his name. He was chatty as hell and he eventually brought up that he served time for SHOOTING SOMEONE IN THE HEAD (but they survived).
Lara Verne 8 months ago
It's funny that m******r was more pleasant than most of people mentioned here. This guy was just talkative.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
I would think that someone in prison would be much more aware of personal space and how negative behaviors impact someone else. So probably a lot more considerate that most.
Load More Replies... kissmychakram 8 months ago
Do they really let prisoners leave in "uniform" in the US? How does one tell the parolees apart from the escapees?
Charles McChristy 8 months ago
No, they all generally get a prison made suit, but it is easy to tell that it is a prison made suit.
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Magenta Blu 8 months ago
My uncle traveled just like this with a plastic bag containing all his belongings. He was deported from Germany because he never actualized his migration status in over 20 years and because he had antecedents with ilegal vegetable substances (coca leaf).
#34
2am flight out of Cairo. To Dxb..
3 hours of sheer hell. The teenagers seated behind us were streaming tiktok on the WiFi provided by Emirates, without headsets, while the plane lights were turned off.
Parents didn't care. Eventually someone complained and these kids were told that their phones will be taken away.
#35
Flying from Copenhagen to LAX, premium economy. During take off, I sat in by granddaughters seat in with her on my lap (18 months old). The woman in the seat next to my actual seat started piling things in my seat (her backpack, blanket, eye mask etc.) My husband told her that I would be sitting in my seat very soon, so please move your stuff. She glared at him and did nothing. My granddaughter fell asleep very soon after take off, and I reclined her seat, buckled her in and covered her with a blanket and went across the aisle to my seat (center section of the plane - husband on one aisle, obnoxious woman on the other aisle). I asked her to move her stuff and she motioned to her headphones like she couldn’t hear me, so I started moving her stuff off of my seat. She ripped her bag out of my hand and glared at me….then said “that’s my stuff”. I told her to get it out of my seat….she said “that seat isn’t taken, I can keep my stuff there. I showed her my boarding pass and pointed to the seat number. With a great sigh, she finally moved her stuff. I turned the light on to read, and the air vent. She glared at me and reached up and turned them off. I turned them back on and glared back. She put her arm up to turn them off again, and I had to call the FA over. She said she was cold and the light was bothering her. The FA gave her a blanket and told her to use her eye mask, but to quit bothering the other passengers! She glared at me for the rest of the flight, but did manage to keep to herself.
#36
I had a mid 50s man with his plus sized mid 20s mistress (I know this because they talked about his wife who they referred to as that b***h) sitting next to me. I was aisle, she was middle, he was window. They made out the entire 2 hour flight. She was in a cheetah skirt, easy access. Moaning & dirty talking the whole time. My favorite line Was “this big a*s is finna have some paw prints on it once we get to the hotel” LOL. I try to live and let live so I put in some headphones and tried to sleep.
#37
This man reclined forcefully back into my lap , crushing my legs( I’m over 6’5” ) I said whoa hang on let me move out if the way. He just kept pushing back. For 4 hrs he laid in my lap and for 4 hrs I picked burgers and flicked them into his bald head. When we landed his wife jumped up and pushed my wife back to get in front of her. So I took my chewed gum and it in her purse.
Probably shouldn’t have but oh well.
#38
My story is not about just one person, but an entire plane full of inconsiderate jerks.
I was on a Southwest flight about three years ago (MDW-BOS). As I boarded and made my way to the rear of the plane, I found that the second-to-last row was empty, so I grabbed the window, and someone right behind me took the aisle seat next to me.
By the time I sat down and buckled my seat belt, every window and aisle seat was taken, and only middle seats remained. Peering up at the front of the plane from my seat in the 30th row, I noticed an older gentleman (probably in his late 60s, early 70's) board the plane. He was swiveling his head left and right as he very slowly walked towards the back of the plane. I'm thinking "What's the problem? There are plenty of middle seats!" Finally he gets to my row, the second-to-last row, looks at me and says *"Mind if I sit here?"* I politely respond *"Sure, go right ahead"* (and I'm thinking to myself *"Old-timer, you don't need my permission to sit down in this seat, I don't expect you to stand for two hours"*).
Apparently every passenger in the first 29 rows had put their bags and other belongings on the middle seat trying to be a seat hog, and the gentleman felt too timid to ask them to move it, so he went to the first seat that wasn't covered with personal belongings -- the one next to ME.
I am SO GLAD that Southwest has done away with this open-seating nonsense.
Winnie the Moo 8 months ago
I don’t get this one… was he annoying because he took the middle seat next to you? I always want to sit at the back of the plane because the tailseats have the highest survival rate…
Marianne 8 months ago
He wasn't the annoying one. Rather the other people who were hogging seats, so that this shy person had to walk all the way to the back of the plane.
Load More Replies... A girl 8 months ago
Taking the train from Dublin to Belfast. No one wanted the Americans. Get it. We're big, we're awkward. We have zero experience with train travel. This kind Welsh couple moved their stuff so we had a seat. They were delightful. A good bad experience. Mostly Ireland was awesome.
#39
My husband took his shoes off once mid flight… so, it’s him. He’s the worst neighbour I’ve had on a flight.
#40
A group of rowdy and very very drunk Indian men that drunk the entire flight and harassed us, if we tried to sleep they would wake us. Had to be moved away in the end.
#41
I have a bunch.
1) Crazed man who kept rocking back and forth muttering to himself. Ordered coffee with his meal and started stabbing the styrofoam cup repeatedly, sending little shreds of Styrofoam everywhere. By the time he was done it looked like it had snowed in our row. He was last seen crawling behind the curtain at baggage claim to go find his bag. I presume he was probably arrested.
2) Sri Lankan Airlines served the person next to me 13 shots of whiskey on a 3-hour flight. I was in the aisle, and he tried to use the toilets on final approach, but was told to sit down by the flight attendants. He then proceeded to vomit all over himself.
3) On a flight from Doha to JFK, I was seated in the last row of economy in a middle seat. I was between two tremendously overweight passengers who were both very fragrant, the seat did not recline, the entertainment system was broken, My phone battery died there was no Wi-Fi, and I had already read all of my books. They didn't just run out of my first choice of meals by the time they reached the last row, they had run out of food entirely. This was a 12-hour flight.
4) I was very excited to fly a virgin upper class from Delhi to New York, but started feeling a little sick right after I boarded the flight. I woke up only to change planes in London, and remember absolutely nothing of the experience. I had contracted malaria. That's not really a bad seatmate, unless you count the bacteria running around in my bloodstream.
#42
A magician! On the first leg of an overseas trip, thank god it was only an hour flight. Elderly man sits next to me, I have my earbuds in and my iPad going. He strikes up a conversation, I politely remove one earbud verrrry slowly, the international signal that I don’t want to be bothered. He says “I hate phones these days, no one wants to talk anymore.” And then proceeds to talk NON-STOP the entire flight. Very quickly pulls out a deck of cards and goes through his entire repertoire of card tricks. Everyone around us kept giving us dirty looks, like “can’t you just END this conversation already?” He was old and loud and pretty much demanded my attention and I was just stuck.
#43
Istanbul to Bahrain as a connection to Thailand. I must have been the only person on the plane who wasn’t from Bahrain or Saudi Arabia as I was the only one not in religious garb. Even though I was in a loose T-shirt and capris the women were so mean to me. The woman in front even told the stewardess that I had been kicking her and yelling at her! Obviously I had just been sitting silently but still the stewardess spoke to me about behaving properly.
#44
I travel quite frequently by air. Hence, I always make it a point to do a web check-in. This is not just to save time but also to ensure that I get the window seat! The kid that I am. :P
Last month, when I was travelling to Delhi, somehow I was hoping that some cute guy would come and sit next to me. But all my expectations went down the drain when a middle-aged lady came and occupied the seat next to me. The aisle seat was vacant, though.
After a few minutes, I stood up and went to the washroom. When I came back, to my sheer surprise, the lady had taken my window seat. I asked her to get up but she would not budge. I tried to reason it out with her but no luck. I explained it to her that it was a paid seat but she still refused to get up and kept arguing with me.
I was quite pissed with her but I still maintained my calm. But to my sheer horror, she created a scene.
She started to blabber in a loud voice, “Ye aajkal ke bacche! Ek seat hi to hai. Thodi der main baith gayi to kya ho gaya.”
Translation: “Kids these days! It’s just a seat. How does it matter if I take the window seat for some time.”
I was furious by now. I called the air hostess. Now she had to get up. She muttered something and vacated the seat.
I sat back and started reading the book I was carrying. It had been barely 5 minutes, and this lady started to snore loudly. I don’t know if she was actually sleeping or just making up those sounds to irritate me. I tried to ignore the sounds but just couldn’t focus on reading. Unfortunately, I was not even carrying my headphones. I called the air hostess again. She apologized and asked me to give her 5 minutes and left.
Soon, she came back and offered me another seat. I simply wanted to get rid of this lady now, even if it meant not getting the window seat anymore. I agreed and moved out. And guess what! I got lucky this time. I was moved to the business class, and I got a window seat too. Not just that, a very cute guy sat next to me. What else could I have asked for!
So, all in all, it was a bad flight experience that turned into a pleasant one.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
Yeah its definitely cringe... like are you hoping for a hookup??
Load More Replies... #45
Flight from London to Seattle on the top deck of 747 when it was Economy. There was a small young woman sitting next to me. She had a few before she got on the plane. After a few more drinks the flight attendant told her she was cut off. She got very angry. She started pulling mini-bottles out of her bag and drinking them. Eventually the FA noticed and confiscated the last couple of bottles she had.
At this point t she stood up and yelled, “I’m Pissed!” This caused the British and American passengers to all laugh for different reasons. Fortunately she basically passed out for the rest of the flight.
I’ve had similar experiences with the person in front reclining the seat into me as others described. Given I’m pretty restless it wasn’t pleasant for them as I moved around bumping their seat the entire flight.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
I swear the airport needs to add counseling services with tools for managing flying anxiety. This whole blackout drunk system is not working
#46
Nose picker and flicker who was also rude to the FAs. Instead of using the call button he just kept shouting HELLO every time he (frequently) needed anything, and his arm was frequently elbow deep in his nostril. He had a wedding ring on and apologies to his spouse.
#47
PHX to ORD. Man next to me had a colostomy bag that had clearly leaked because the smell for 3 hrs was just incredibly overpowering. He was basically asleep for the entire flight.
#48
My friend and I had a 10 hour flight Lon- MIA on Virgin and the guy next to us was so big he spilled over the seat. He told us he had strep throat and had been really ill. Both my friend and I ended up severely sick. Annoying. He was at least really nice. The flight back the woman behind me kicked my seat the entire 9 hours bc she “felt cramped” and complained to the flight attendants if I put my seat back, absolutely miserable.
#49
Flying into Beijing the man next to me was hacking the entire time and then proceeded to cut his fingernails and toenails in his seat.
#50
A well meaning, but drunk out of his mind Brit on a flight from Stockholm to New York….7 hours of non stop talking….NON STOP.
#51
Flight with Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Bali.
I had a clueless mother and her 2 young children sitting behind me. This was a night flight, and I was cool with the kids being hyperactive at the beginning.
The kids kicked my seat for hours. They screamed, cried, and yelled non fricking stop and the mother just sat there, looking like a young deer who had lost its mother.
We repeatedly asked the mother to please calm down her kids.
Eventually, after probably 7 or 8 hours of seat kicking, I developed mad headaches, and I told my husband about it.
He got up, turned around, and just screamed "shuuuuuut up!" and "STOP IT. NOW".
People around us were giving thumbs up and applauding. Everybody was tired of the mother and her kids.
Screaming worked great, she finally half-a*s disciplined her brats.
#52
It was a 6-hour red eye flight where I sat near the back of the plane. The flight attendant talked loudly and NONSTOP the entire flight in one of those high pitched, I used to be a gymnast, voices. Yes, I now fly business, if possible.
Anthony Elmore 8 months ago
It's, apparently, a high-pitched voice used by people who used to be gymnasts. That's all I've got.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 8 months ago
I've had this experience - lights are down, everyone's asleep, and the FAs are just loudly yakking away, preventing anyone near them from getting some rest.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
I feel for them... it must be hard trying to stay awake when everyone around you is sleeping and boring AF. As long as they try to keep it down I understand it
Load More Replies... #53
I was in the left seat of the row—economy class, of course. In the middle seat next to me was a woman, and to my absolute relief, the far-right seat was empty. As the doors closed, I silently praised whatever travel gods were listening: no middle seat neighbor for a 9-hour flight. A rare blessing.
Or so I thought.
Five minutes passed, and she didn’t budge. Odd, but maybe she was waiting for takeoff.
Takeoff came and went. Still, she sat there, firmly planted in the middle seat while that glorious, inviting right-hand seat remained untouched.
At first, I tried to reason with myself. Maybe she just hadn’t noticed? Maybe she needed an invitation to claim the space? My patience was running on fumes. Finally, I turned to her, forcing a polite smile, and asked, “Would you like to move over to the empty seat? We’d both have more room.”
She looked at me, deadpan, and said, “Nope, I’m good here.”
And that was it. Nine long hours. She stayed glued to that middle seat like it was the throne of some personal power trip, while the empty seat taunted me the entire flight.
Broccoli 8 months ago
She doesn’t want to move…so? Is that her fault? I mean, I’m assuming that other woman’s assigned seat was the middle seat…but if she likes it, why force her to move? op hasn’t provided any obvious reasons and I’m too lazy to go look at the actual Reddit post
Winnie the Moo 8 months ago
I hate the aisle seat, strangers butts bumping into you while passing. The cart bumping into your elbow. Horrific! I would ‘t want to swap either.
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 8 months ago
The last time I flew, Orlando to DC, I was in a window seat and there was a woman in the middle seat. It gets closer and closer to take-off. We look at each other...could it be? Yup, no one took the aisle seat, she moved over, and was had the middle seat empty the whole flight. Nothing personal, just nice to have the space.
Lila Allen 8 months ago
Oh completely... it's like the best bonus when flying if that middle seat is empty and you both get extra space.
Load More Replies... #54
Not neighbour technically but the seat behind me. He hated that I had my seat back so carried on slamming into my chair right as I was falling asleep. This was a 12 hour long haul night flight. We ended up getting into a fight with him and his wife screaming at me. I was in my early twenties and they were in their 60s-70s. In the end I got the stewardess and they stopped I believe but I was pretty upset with how cruel they were being. They continued to death stare me and make mean comments as we got our luggage from baggage control. That was a fun flight!
I'm a frequent flyer and its always been a known and normal thing for someone to put their seat back on a long haul flight. It's just what happens. Like it or lump it!
Lila Allen 8 months ago
I feel like there's another side to the story and OP might not realize how rude it was to recline that far
#55
I paid to get early seating on Southwest and got a prime aisle seat (they have open seating). Later, a woman with a small and very hyper dog took the middle seat next to me. In the friendliest way possible I told her I was allergic to dogs and that this wasn't going to work. She tried arguing with me, telling me it was a service dog, as if that somehow negates allergies. She continues to argue with me, blocking the aisle, making it hard for other people to board.
Flight attendant notices and points out that there are plenty of seats still open in the back of the plane, she refuses. Flight attendant then asks me if I would move back and told him absolutely not, I paid for Business Class, and I boarded well before dog owner did. I honestly felt really bad for the guy, I almost moved just to alleviate his stress.
Dog owner starts cussing me out in Spanish, not realizing that I understood every single word she said.
Plot twist: I'm not allergic to dogs. I'm just tired of a-holes with fake service dogs making it harder for people with real service dogs.
rullyman 8 months ago
So you just kicked up a fuss over nothing for no real reason? Whether you hate the trend of fake service dogs or not is irrelevant- pet dogs are allowed on flights generally.
Lady Eowyn 8 months ago
I have a real service dog. I HATE the trend of fake ones, it makes it harder for those of us who really need our dogs.
Load More Replies... #56
While going to Delhi from Patna last january, I got 29 F seat that is clearly a window seat.
When I stepped inside the plane, a girl was already sitting on my seat.
Me: Are you sure that is your seat?
She: (in an arrogant way) yes.
Me: (showing my ticket to her) But this is mine. See, the label below the luggage box is also indicating 29 F to be the window seat, also the sequence is ABC DEF!
She: (Her seat no. was 29 D) No no, its ABC FED!
That was a RIP logic moment for me.All what that was coming in my mind was the comedian Zakir Khan's story that he narrated in AIB show that how a girl asked him to give her his window seat.
Before I could say anything, the guy seating on 29E interrupted: Yes, she is right, D is the window seat.
That was a bigger R.I.P logic moment.
I thought of Calling the flight attendant but the very next moment I recalled Zaira Wasim's (Indian actress) incident of making false harassment allegations on a co-passenger. It was fresh that time.
Further there was a feminazi moron on 29E too.
Although I would have been cautious throughout the journey after calling the flight attendant and getting the matter resolved but it would create an embarrassment for her in Public. I never wanted this. Also, I dislike arguments so teaching her a lesson over there was much less important than my peace.
I didn't have any desire to have a window seat since I have been on window seats many times and it doesn't excite me anymore so I had absolutely no problem with 29D.
I compromised.
She was the second worst co-passenger.
The first one was the guy sitting on 29E.
TheElementalGod️️ (He/him) 8 months ago
I think that what they're saying is that the OP thought their seat was a different seat, a girl was in that seat that OP thought was theirs, and a guy pointed out that the girl was right. Then OP calls the girl a "feminazi", and says that the guy who pointed out that the girl was right was the worst co-passenger OP's been on a flight with.
Load More Replies...When flying, unexpected moments can arise that take us by surprise. Just like how Jim Jefferies humorously highlighted airplane etiquette, there's an amusing story of travelers who were left baffled not by disruptive passengers, but by a surprise visitor in their luggage.
The Coole couple shares their experience of inadvertently bringing their pet cat through airport security, adding a comedic twist to the travel narrative.
What do you think ?
A girl 8 months ago
My husband and I are tall. If a flight is less than 3 houi, we book exit row. More room, sometimes no tray table. Definitely will help you out of the plane in an emergency. Business class for longer flights. I think we've been pretty lucky. Except for the jack rabbits that attempt to debark from row 30 ahead of row 15. It's like church. There are unspoken rules for exit.
Robert T 8 months ago
Single worst flight of my life was from Belgium back to the UK. I had chosen my own seat at the front of the plane for getting on and off easily, as it was a small turboprop plane (Dash-8). The flight was quiet so I was looking forward to just over an hour of peace and quiet after a busy working week. A few moments after the doors close, a stewardess came to say the pilot needed me to move to balance the plane. I got moved right to the back alongside a larger girl who, as it turns out didn't like flying. No sooner do we get airborne, it turns into the roughest flight I have ever been on. Like the worst kind of roller-coaster, as you can't see where it is going next. Larger was screaming at times and squeezing the life out of my arm. Now I am a regular flier, but I did not enjoy that level of turbulence. I actually felt green when I got off the plane as the ground was still moving! Amazingly the pilot put it down first time, but I heard they had been "going around" all evening
Lori Beauchamp 8 months ago (edited)
This a*****e on a 5 hour domestic flight. The flight crew were too shy to help me. China is not for single ladies. Sorry, pic shows a male spreading a half a seat over. I padded my hat and bag after he scoffed me and the flight crew wouldn't step in. Middle seat and spent 5 hours trying not to have a guy rub against me.
Nicola Roberts 8 months ago (edited)
I am flying long haul in September and I'm going to make some study notes. I'm going to have all scenarios covered with the suggestions from my fellow pandas 🤣
Kohl_Keene 8 months ago
I had a guy in front of me stretch his whole arm behind him, covering my iPad. He was annoyed I asked him to stop. The nerve!
Catherine Spencer-Mills 8 months ago
Had a business trip near Las Vegas. Checked the bookstore out. New Harry Potter book out soon! (Deathly Hallows, yeah!) Checked again the evening before my flight home. Bought it - and stood in line to get checked out. Waited until I got on the plane the next day to start reading. Fortunately, I always book or nab a window seat. Someone tried to talk to me but I was reading. (This was before JK Rowling made her remarks so I could revel in peace.)
lfc73 8 months ago
Just this last week my daughter & I had a flight from RI to Orlando. On the flight down I booked a window for my daughter & sacrificed myself to a middle seat. I know it’s a three-ish hour flight & figured I could deal with being in the middle. The man to my right & his wife (aisle seat directly across) we’re fine, although he took the arm rest (Wtf? Do people not know this or are they just a******s?). I’m guessing he knew because every now & then he’d give a few seconds to grab an inch, but not really. I made myself be positive because we were on our way to our vacation. Cut to a week later….guess who Are in the exact same seat configuration? Dude is again next to me & now that we’re on the way home he doesn’t give a toss if his arm is leaning on me, or if he’s all over the arm rest. He could give ash*t. I began watching a movie & it stopped a few minutes in. The screen kept jumping about. IThe man next to me was jamming my screen with his elbow on the arm rest. Absolute ignorant wank
A girl 8 months ago
My husband and I are tall. If a flight is less than 3 houi, we book exit row. More room, sometimes no tray table. Definitely will help you out of the plane in an emergency. Business class for longer flights. I think we've been pretty lucky. Except for the jack rabbits that attempt to debark from row 30 ahead of row 15. It's like church. There are unspoken rules for exit.
Robert T 8 months ago
Single worst flight of my life was from Belgium back to the UK. I had chosen my own seat at the front of the plane for getting on and off easily, as it was a small turboprop plane (Dash-8). The flight was quiet so I was looking forward to just over an hour of peace and quiet after a busy working week. A few moments after the doors close, a stewardess came to say the pilot needed me to move to balance the plane. I got moved right to the back alongside a larger girl who, as it turns out didn't like flying. No sooner do we get airborne, it turns into the roughest flight I have ever been on. Like the worst kind of roller-coaster, as you can't see where it is going next. Larger was screaming at times and squeezing the life out of my arm. Now I am a regular flier, but I did not enjoy that level of turbulence. I actually felt green when I got off the plane as the ground was still moving! Amazingly the pilot put it down first time, but I heard they had been "going around" all evening
Lori Beauchamp 8 months ago (edited)
This a*****e on a 5 hour domestic flight. The flight crew were too shy to help me. China is not for single ladies. Sorry, pic shows a male spreading a half a seat over. I padded my hat and bag after he scoffed me and the flight crew wouldn't step in. Middle seat and spent 5 hours trying not to have a guy rub against me.
Nicola Roberts 8 months ago (edited)
I am flying long haul in September and I'm going to make some study notes. I'm going to have all scenarios covered with the suggestions from my fellow pandas 🤣
Kohl_Keene 8 months ago
I had a guy in front of me stretch his whole arm behind him, covering my iPad. He was annoyed I asked him to stop. The nerve!
Catherine Spencer-Mills 8 months ago
Had a business trip near Las Vegas. Checked the bookstore out. New Harry Potter book out soon! (Deathly Hallows, yeah!) Checked again the evening before my flight home. Bought it - and stood in line to get checked out. Waited until I got on the plane the next day to start reading. Fortunately, I always book or nab a window seat. Someone tried to talk to me but I was reading. (This was before JK Rowling made her remarks so I could revel in peace.)
lfc73 8 months ago
Just this last week my daughter & I had a flight from RI to Orlando. On the flight down I booked a window for my daughter & sacrificed myself to a middle seat. I know it’s a three-ish hour flight & figured I could deal with being in the middle. The man to my right & his wife (aisle seat directly across) we’re fine, although he took the arm rest (Wtf? Do people not know this or are they just a******s?). I’m guessing he knew because every now & then he’d give a few seconds to grab an inch, but not really. I made myself be positive because we were on our way to our vacation. Cut to a week later….guess who Are in the exact same seat configuration? Dude is again next to me & now that we’re on the way home he doesn’t give a toss if his arm is leaning on me, or if he’s all over the arm rest. He could give ash*t. I began watching a movie & it stopped a few minutes in. The screen kept jumping about. IThe man next to me was jamming my screen with his elbow on the arm rest. Absolute ignorant wank
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