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45 Pure Nightmare Seatmate Stories From People Who Completely Lost The Airline Seating Lottery
We put up with travel because typically we’re pretty excited to get to the destination. But often the more exotic the endpoint, the longer one has to sit in a plane, train or automobile. Which also means being in close proximity to other folks who can really make or break your trip.
So we’ve gathered travelers tales from across the internet of the absolutely worst flight seatmates they’ve ever had to deal with. Get comfortable as you read through these tales of discomfort, upvote the most nightmarish examples and be sure to share your own stories in the comments below.
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#1
On my way to Cancun from DC in my 20’s, sat at the window early morning flight and an older couple (possibly already drunk) were next to me on the middle/aisle seat. I closed the window after take off and she reached almost hitting my face and opened it. I told her I’d like it closed bc I was sleeping. She said she wanted open and they were two vs one. I told her she should have bought a window seat then and the window seat controls the window and that I would open at landing but it would be closed during the flight. They called the flight attendant and she agreed with me. The wife kept bumping her elbow on me the whole flight and trash talking me loudly and I just ignored her. When we started landing I opened the window as I said I would but then placed my whole face and shoulders over it covering as if I was admiring the view but at that point I was being a passive aggressive jerk on purpose because they were hell.
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#2
A large woman with BO was the worst I’ve experienced, but I try to have compassion for everyone, you don’t know their circumstances. Also I’ve travelled with my young children so I’ve probably been other passengers’ worst seatmate at times and I’d hope for compassion from them too.
Btw what was your point about the soda? 4 cans during an 8 hour flight doesn’t seem excessive to me….
#3
A guy on a flight to New Delhi, who blew his nose in the blanket provided by the airline and smelled terrible 😅.
#4
Dubai to Toronto, got separated from my husband and the dude next to me ate shelled pistachios the entire trip like it was his mission in life.
Second place was a Toronto to Vancouver (or something) flight and this teenage girl (17-20) promptly fell asleep on my shoulder. It looked like she had been tasked with herding all the smaller children that boarded with her along with her grandparents and parents so I let her take a nap.
Was just really odd to have someone use you as a pillow
Edit. I should add I’m a 30ish year old woman so I’m not a creepy man in that situation.
#5
Oh man this is such an opportunity for catharsis.
One time ages ago I was in premium economy on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Houston. I always get a window seat, but before takeoff, the flight attendant was trying to seat a family together and asked if I would move to a center, aisle, bulkhead seat with an empty seat next to it. Sure, why not...helps the family sit together, plus I get more legroom and nobody next to me for a 13 hour flight, great.
As soon as we're in the air, the older lady two seats over (on the other side of the empty seat) starts side-eyeing me and the empty seat. Oh boy. So I start putting some little things on "my" half of the empty seat--my book, a charger cable--to try to gently head off any shenanigans. But no. After she finishes the first meal (and I'm still eating mine), she starts getting comfy and confidently swings her legs around, across the empty seat, and rests her bare feet on my armrest.
At this point, it is important to describe the little old feet that were now inches from my food: ashy from dryness, puffy from age and altitude, and worst of all, those thick yellow toenails from fungus.
I was immediately like "Ma'am, absolutely not. Get your feet off my seat." She moved them on top of my book and charger in the empty seat. I was like "nope, all the way down". Then she starts in on the guilt: Oh, her leg hurts, oh she has a medical issue, oh she needs to stretch out during the flight, oh she had a surgery earlier in the year, blah blah blah. First of all, I point out, we're in a bulkhead row with tons of legroom and her stubby legs can't even reach the bulkhead. Second, we're fortunate to have an empty seat between us, so that we can *share* the extra space for our belongings and elbow room, and I'm happy to *share* it...but it's not all hers, and it's definitely not gonna be for anyone's feet.
She goes on about her leg, tries to squeeze out some fake tears. She tries to get her husband involved, but he's mortified and won't even look at her, much less at me. I tell her that if she needs more room, she should ask the flight attendant if there is an upgrade to business class.
That gives her an idea! She now says that she paid for this empty seat so that she could use it for her leg/feet. I say oh, that's interesting because the flight attendant specifically said it's an empty seat, but let's see if we can get her over here to have a look at your tickets for the two seats so we can confirm.
I reach for the call button. The leg is immediately removed from the shared seat, and she faces forward: "No, no...nevermind. You are a cruel man. A very cruel man."
That took care of the next 12 hours or so, but you could tell she really hated "losing" this little drama. So with about 45 mins left in the flight, she got her son to move from the other side of the husband somewhere to the empty seat to chat with her and/or vex me. As he sat, she looked over at me with a grin and I asked if they'd purchased the seat for him for the last 30 minutes of the flight. "Yes, yes sir, we did pay!" Sure lady, OK. At that point it was whatever.
Postscript: if anyone reading this was falling for her hurt leg/surgery routine, fear not. As soon as the plane got to the gate, she was up like a shot, up on tip toes to get her carryon bags, and zipping through the airport in no time.
Some people, man.
#6
This happened many years ago... I sat next to a woman who would not stop talking to me, and it became apparent she was like desperately looking for male companionship. She kept saying things like, "I haven't been with someone in a long time, can you believe that?" and "I really just want someone to take care of me and my son." - "Do you think I am attractive?" - "What kind of job do you have?" - "I bet your girlfriend is pretty." - "Oh man, you're so smart. I really like smart guys."
I started playing sudoku in a book to try to ignore her, and that seemed to impressed her even more. For 3 hours, she basically kept hinting that she wanted me to take her home with me. I was single at the time, but man, she came across as someone in need of some serious therapy.
In retrospect, maybe I needed therapy... For thinking the only reason someone would be into me was mental illness.
#7
A very flirty and very touchy young lady who was either on some kind of medication influence or mental issue would not leave me alone despite numerous polite requests. Instead of helping me on this completely full 2 hour flight, the flight attendants found this amusing and did not offer to intervene. I did not want to make a scene but in hindsight I probably should have.
Sara Frazer 1 hour ago
Yeah, if the genders were switched here and it was a man being touchy and suggestive with a woman, that would've been shut down REAL quick
#8
On the way home from Orlando, I was seated next to a college girl. She was still partially drunk when she boarded and smelled like vomit. Passed out and proceeded to fart the entire 2.5 hour flight home.
#9
Overweight middle aged couple, they had window and middle and I had about half of the aisle seat. Seat rests up because they both bled into the other seat and forced me to cram. Really annoying too? Asking where she could get headphones, playing music out loud, no flight etiquette in general I can’t remember all the details. WiFi wasn’t free on the flight but I paid for it, and she was having me walk through the WiFi connection and not understanding that the unlimited WiFi wasn’t free, asking me to go into her settings for her, all this stuff with the phone. Asking the flight attendants to get items out of her bag in the overhead. Like please dig in my purse for me thanks! Also the couple loudly complained for the last hour of the flight which was only 3 hours about how they need to land now and get off this plane. I mean, same.
#10
Had a 9.5 hour flight from Tokyo to San Francisco a few years ago. The guy next to me was super trashed and wouldn’t stop talking. He was headed to Dallas to see the OU-UT football game and told me aaaaaallllll about it for hours. Mercifully he passed out about halfway through the flight!!! I even pretended to sleep a few times and he just would not stop talking!!!
#11
Fat guy. Long story short, my jacket AND shirt was soaked with his sweat. And my body, especially my back and neck, was sore for months because I had to sit for hours contorted. I had to throw away those clothes because washing AND dry cleaning wouldn’t get that stench out of my clothes. If you’re that big, buy another seat.
#12
I was in the middle seat Miami to DC, and the guy in the window seat had some kind of skin disorder where his skin was flaking off like crazy. Think full body dandruff. And he had on shorts. Every time he moved, skin particles would go flying. His skin was all over my jeans on that side when we finally got off the plane. He was a super nice guy and I felt bad for whatever he was dealing with…but I was so grossed out being showered in someone’s skin flakes for 2 hours. .
#13
He kept “accidentally” putting his hand on my thigh and then going “oh…. Sorry…” and I couldn’t get away because I was in the middle and him and the other man were both enormous and had their arms all the way over the armrests. It was a 6 hour flight.
#14
Flying LA to Singapore. I'm at a window seat, middle empty and a man in his 20's who, with his family, has boarded last. He lowers his tray table after take off and puts his head down on his arms and falls asleep.
I notice he's scratching his head quite a bit but it's not until I turn on my reading light to read that I notice that, every time he scratches his head, tiny insects are scurrying out from his scalp to run all over his head. They disappear back into his hair after the scratching stops.
I am obviously horrified and ask the flight attendant to be moved. She doesn't understand what the word "lice" means and says there are no empty seats left.
I luckilly had a scarf in my carry-on which I wrapped carefully around my hair for the rest of the 14 hour flight. Thankfully, I did not "catch" any of the lice.
Interestingly, upon leaving the plane, I noticed all members of the man's family were vigorously scratching their heads.
#15
Sat next to a woman who coughed the entire flight and wouldn’t wear a mask…three days later, I get Covid….
#16
I had to sit in a middle seat next to 2 men who were manspreading. Nothing like having zero personal space because they can't close their legs even a little bit. Also as a tall person I can't stand sitting behind someone who reclines their seat all the way back.
BarkingSquirell 46 minutes ago
The man-spreading is bad but folks are allowed to make full use of the recline except while dining.
#17
I was flying alone as a teenager and got groped by the man next to me 🙃 while I had my eyes closed because I was trying to sleep.
#18
I was middle seat once from paris to nyc, large man on the window seat who decided that he’d use my space for his legs to spread out. he put his foot directly on top of my foot. i shook my foot to basically politely be like “hello???” and he doubled down and PRESSED his foot onto the top of mine. i ripped my headphones off to tell him to remove his foot from the top of my foot. you should’ve seen his face. i love making men as uncomfortable as they make women.
#19
I had a Jesus freak as a transatlantic seatmate who wanted to read the Bible with me and said if our wings came off midflight and we spiraled screaming into the sea, it’d be a time of rejoicing, because we’d get to meet our Lord and savior tonight.
#20
An 8 year old who's parent didn't parent at all. Not when he yanked my headphones off, not when he stuck his finger in my food, pulled my hair, screamed in my ear, etc. She just sat with her headphones on watching a movie like satans spawn wasn't tormenting me. .
#21
I had a 13hr flight to Rome and sat next to a larger man with mobility limitations which I understand come with a lot of challenges. When he first got to our row, I recall the flight attendants letting him know they would assist him with getting to the washroom. I had the window seat and he had the aisle.
It didn’t dawn on me that he wouldn’t ever be getting up during the flight. At first I didn’t think much of it but soon realized he was likely wearing bladder control pads. There would be a strong smell followed by him spraying cologne to cover it. I had to climb over him to use the washroom as he didn’t get up at all during the entire 13hr flight! Let’s just say it was a very uncomfortable flight for both of us.
#22
Dubrovnik => Dublin. A middle aged woman either hadn't taken her meds or had taken too many and quaffed half a litre of vodka in the airport bar. About an hour into the flight she goes absolutely nuts. She was in the aisle seat immediately in front of me.
The cabin crew tried to talk her down. She was returning from a pilgrimage and others in her party of middle aged women tried to talk her down. The priest in the group tried to talk her down. Unfortunately his exorcism kit was in this checked luggage so that wasn't an option.
Eventually myself and 2 other lads were recruited to help restrain her. Those little baby seatbelts are not just for babies. They have a whole protocol for dealing with crazies.
So yeah, the one we had to restrain was probably the worst.
#23
The toilet. 13 hour flight to Japan and my seat was next to the toilet. Flight was smoking and I smoked so that helped. Its was disgusting.
About 7 years ago I was flying out to help a friend with her husband's memorial. I booked a nice seat, not first but first row with leg room and window. There was a lady in my seat and I asked her to leave. She tried to give me puppy eyes and talk me into switching. I ain't playing. She got up with a cane and moved finally.
The next day I woke up with pink eye. Ew ew ew. New I travel with disinfectant wipes. .
#24
Coming back from LA to New York. An Italian family (from Italy) sat around me. The one daughter and I shared a 3 seater row. She looked like she had literally just come from the beach. She had on a front zip up green and white long sleeve booty showing wet suit situation on. Her bum was out. She had on flip flops. The rest of her family was dressed normal. She was in the window seat, I was in the aisle. She looked worse for wear. We take off she puts on feet on the middle seat and her toes are next to me leg. I tell her to put her feet down. She looks at me like no one has ever told her no before in her life. And I said put your feet down. She does really meekly. Then she starts to vape 🙃 this was in 2019 so it wasn't so popular just yet. And I was like what is wrong with you. And I guess I must have scared her because she called the flight attendant button and asked them if she could go to the bathroom....😑 And the flight attendant looked at me and I was like idk what her problem is. And I said to the girl you could have just asked me. And the same scared look. It was such a weird flight. Her family seemed totally normal tho.
#25
It’s a tie between the two drunk rednecks drinking Wild Turkey and the lady behind me who decided that a turbulent descent was the perfect time to douse herself in heavy perfume 🤢 The flight attendant gave me looks of pity and mouthed “I’m so sorry” with the drunk guys, but it was a full flight and there was nowhere to move me. The perfume lady is lucky that I didn’t have to vomit despite already having motion sickness from the turbulence.
#26
The middle passenger that half way through the flight is still asking if my husband (window) or I (aisle) want to switch seats so we can sit next to each other, even after refusing when she boarded and immediately after takeoff my husband is sleeping and I’m watching a movie but she continues to tap each of us, alternating between us, thinking she’ll wear us down, she didn’t. She then complained to a FA as she was getting off the flight. Flight attendant said “better luck next time”. 😂.
#27
The man behind me on a flight from LHR-ORD pulled on my seat to help him stand up. He did this multiple times. I told asked him multiple times to stop doing this. He literally broke my seat, it would not go to an upright position anymore. Landing with a flopping seat back and no way to brace yourself is not something I care to experience ever again.
BarkingSquirell 48 minutes ago
With how jam-packed the seats are these days, there's really nothing else to grab onto if one needs a bit of support. I'd direct my complaint to the airline and maybe take a different one next time.
#28
Chicago to Moscow non stop is a long freaking flight. When I had the chance to upgrade to business for a few hundred more, I jumped at it. Within a few hours I was literally trolling economy to see if there were any seats back there I could move to instead, because Satan's spawn and the deadbeat who spawned her made the flight unbearable.
Mom/nanny boarded with a 3-4 year old and brought nothing for the kid to do for a 13 hour flight. Lady set herself up by the window, put in headphones, and pretended the kid didn't exist. The kid was bored and decided to make the cabin her play ground. She was yelling, running, throwing things, climbing on the seat behind and pulling my hair, etc. i have a lot of patience but at one point I literally yelled at this woman to control her child. She just ignored me. The FAs refused to do anything.
Sadly economy was full so I spent the whole flight regretting every penny I spent on the uograde. .
#29
I once had the people behind me change their toddler's poopy diaper right there at the seat and oh god it was awful. We all turned the vents on to blow it away but it was pretty futile. People were gagging.
#30
Look, this isn’t the *worst* per se, but until this happened, it wasn’t even something I would have considered before.
On a long flight (AKL->LAX) I was sitting at the back of a 777 on the side so there were only two seats. The guy next to me was a very pleasant (and interesting) Brit. We talked for a while. He explained that (at that time) it was cheaper to fly to the Caribbean, buy a boat, and then sail it back to NZ than it was to just buy it there, so that’s what he was doing.
BUT…
As you’d expect on a 14+ hour flight, eventually the lights dim and nearly everyone sleeps.
Here’s my problem with this guy (that I liked up to that point): he was a snuggler.
I woke up 3 times during that flight with him asleep on my shoulder and “snuggling” with my arm (his hand in *my* armpit.)
The fact that he was a heavy sleeper (I pushed him off me all 3 times and it didn’t even seem to impact his sleep in the least) probably made things even worse for me. At the end of the flight his attitude and demeanor hadn’t changed in the least, so I sincerely doubt he even knew what he’d done….
#32
I was flying back home from a work conference in Denver once. I had a hangover from socializing the night before, but was otherwise in a good mood. The plane was delayed, and while waiting at the gate the lady next to me struck up a conversation. She was wearing a cat cardigan, cat pawprint leggings, a cat backpack, and cat earrings, and she was carrying a book about cats. She told me she'd been in Denver for a cat show (who knew that was a thing?). She was nice enough, but definitely eccentric, and would not stop talking.
Eventually we were allowed to board, and she sat right next to me. On boarding she picked up a carry crate containing her cat, which she slid under her seat (I was not aware you could do this. Again, who knew?).
She tried to keep talking incessantly about cats, and normally I'd be polite and at least half listen and nod, but my hangover was getting worse so after 30 min. or so I put my headphones in and proceeded to ignore her. Soon after we hit some turbulence. Her poor 'show cat' (whose name I've since forgotten) peed everywhere. The smell of cat urine pushed my hangover into migraine territory, prompting a visit to the airplane toilet to vomit. The cat proceeded to meow and wail the duration of the flight.
Definitely my worst flight experience.
#33
Not being cruel but this happened to me. Autistic person with spastic C.P. I felt for the guy but the constant slamming against the seat and yelling were a bit much for me. I worked with Autistic adults for 30 yrs so I smiled and did not complain but think the staff should have researched a handicapped seat or harness for the man.
#34
Someone who doesn’t have headphones when you’re trying to read a new book you’ve been saving for this specific flight.
#35
From Hawaii to LA I sat next to a guy wearing a small tank top and shorts who had clearly wiped out on a skateboard the previous day. Body was covered in road rash that was oozing the entire time. He just picked at all his wounds/scabs/ooze the entire flight.
#36
I've been traveling by plane since I was 4. Mostly neutral or good experiences, but there was this one dude, I paid for the window seat, he was not that much taller than me but definitely a fair bit wider. There was also an empty seat in our row after takeoff, 12h flight. He asks for my window seat, since I'm not "using" it (I get the window seat coz Im hypermobile and need the extra support on one side to be able to sleep on long flights, so I was actually using it.
I say no, I paid extra for a window seat, but they can check and see if any others are free with the flight attendant.dude proceeds to sit in the empty seat next to me, and spreads his legs out literally pushing my legs off to the dode and taking over my leg space. I asked him to move, he just grinned.
I called the flight attendant, explained the situation, completely ignoring the dude trying to interject. He stops and she leaves, 5 min later, same thing. I call the flight attendant. She tells him to stop. Again. He stops for 5 minutes. Does it again. I call the flight attendant back and ask "could you have police waiting when we land? I'd like to file a harrassment report. And could I ask you to also give a statement to them?" now, police will be called to be waiting at landing for bigger infractions. I doubt they'd do it for something like this. But I was betting he didn't know that and that the flight attendant was smart enough to figure out that this way she wouldn't be called over every 5 minutes. She basically said something along the lines of "if you insist we will definitely do our best to make it happen, but perhaps Mr X would just prefer to switch seats and avoid the unpleasantness?"
He switched seats. I got all 3 to myself. But it was super weird and frustrating. Not even scary or anything, just legitimately strange behaviour.
#37
Dutch lady kicking my chair behind me when I tried to lean it back the two inches it reclines. JA I HAF NO ROOM!
#38
Gross man in the middle seat next to me kept picking his nose and flicking it on the floor for most of the 2 hour flight.
#39
A 6’6” jacked as f old guy to my left and a hefty big boy to my right. Im also no slouch either. We all had a great flight 🤦♂️.
#40
Was flying from NYC to London on Norse Airways economy light and this family of 4 was sitting on my row and in front of me. East Asian woman/white man. I'm an East Asian female myself. The dude sat in front of my, while his wife sat next to me. He was HUGE and when he reclined his seat, it felt like the seat dropped down a few more inches. She was being weird and fidgety, elbowing me randomly, getting in my space, etc--just really uncomfortable and I retaliated a few times so it was a silent war of making each other uncomfortable. If she was gonna mess around, I was gonna make her flight hell. This went on the ENTIRE 7.5-8 hours of this red eye flight and I did not sleep one bit. If you don't know much about AW/WM dynamics, this is not an uncommon behavior among the women in this type of relationship towards other Asian women--tons of hostility.
#41
Many years ago, when I was around 18-19 years old and in college, I went to visit my dad who was living in Korea at the time. On my trip back home to the US, I was on a non-stop flight from Seoul to Detroit. The guy sitting next to me was a much older Korean man, probably in his 50s, who kept wanting to talk to me and it kind of creeped me out but I was stuck. I pretended to sleep for part of the trip to try and avoid him. But while we were in flight, they were selling duty-free items, and he bought me a bottle of Chanel perfume. It was super weird and creepy because I was traveling alone, but as soon as we landed, I ditched the guy and thankfully didn't have to see him in customs since I was a US citizen and he wasn't so he was in the longer line.
BarkingSquirell 41 minutes ago
Koreans love to practice their English with foreigners and to give gifts in return.
#42
I was in the window seat and this old lady sat down in the middle seat next to me. the second the plane starts backing up she immediately reached for the sick bag and starts throwing up and continues for the duration of the flight. it should also be noted that i have a debilitating phobia of vomit and spent the entire flight fighting a panic attack with my back fully turned to the woman. it was also my first solo flight and at the time i was also very nervous on planes. genuine nightmare scenario.
#43
Sat next to a guy outta SF that scratched his junk every 30 seconds to a minute for the entire 4-hr flight. Outside and inside his pants.
#44
ATL>FRA: A toddler who got airsick and puked all over herself and pooped her diaper three times.
It was MY kid, but still.
#45
I was taking my girlfriend to London and this guy sat next to me and he started making small talk. Eventually it got weird, and he told me that I sat next to him on a flight to London with my mom when I was a baby, and he had saved up his whole life to go to London and try to make the Royal Guard laugh but because I cried so much he couldn’t rest and was too tired to make them laugh and since then he’s waited and waited for his revenge and so he dug through my trash and found my itinerary (I think he got bit by a rat, but he said it wasn’t gross) and he said he was gonna cry the whole flight. He started to yell, and then the flight attendant said he was in the wrong seat and he asked why he couldn’t just pick his seat because you can at some concerts but they made him move. The rightful owner of the seat accidentally stepped in the way he had to go to get to his seat and he got mad, but he eventually took his seat. After that I listened to music and the next day my girlfriend and I had our dream London vacation.
What do you think ?
BarkingSquirell 41 minutes ago
Some of these were simply an unfortunate part of modern air travel. Others were pretty legitimate and awful and make me feel lucky so far ...
BarkingSquirell 41 minutes ago
Some of these were simply an unfortunate part of modern air travel. Others were pretty legitimate and awful and make me feel lucky so far ...
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