A woman flying from Sydney to Melbourne has triggered debate online, after she shared her awkward middle-seat experience where another passenger sitting on the aisle of her row took more than their fair share of space.
In a photo posted to Reddit, the woman on the aisle seat is seen crossing her leg into the middle passenger’s section, with her foot tucked under the middle seat in the row before them.
According to the post’s caption, the woman on the aisle also allegedly removed the middle passenger’s arm from the armrest.
“She’s in the isolated seat. She pushed my arm off the armrest and plopped her feet in my space. The middle seat already sucks enough,” the caption read.
The post has acquired more than 550 comments, causing a stir online over plane etiquette and who has the right to the space.
One thread that received a lot of attention was a Reddit user’s explanation of who has the right to what part of the seat in a three-seat row.
“Window gets an armrest and a wall. Middle gets two armrests. Aisle gets an armrest and a little bit of extra leg. We’re not animals! We live in a society!” they commented.
“This is the way. The few times I’ve flown, I just naturally surrendered the arm rest for the middle seat,” one reply read.
“The armrests in the middle belong to the middle. This is global unspoken plane etiquette,” a third said.
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Others responded to the post with ways they would have handled the situation, including repeatedly going to the bathroom, stretching their legs over the aisle passengers and calling a flight attendant.
“Simple. Ask this person to respect your space. If she does not want to, ask to be moved to another seat because your neighbor is not respecting your space, ”one user commented.
“That’s where you rub your leg against hers and when she looks at you appalled, you can say, ‘Oh sorry. Was I invading your personal space?’” said another.
But not all commenters felt sympathetic towards the middle-seat passenger, seeing the post as her making a “big deal” out of an easy-to-solve situation.
“Can’t we just communicate anymore? Instead of acting all passive aggressive, kindly ask her to move her foot from her. Problem solved in 5 seconds without making a big deal of it. Never understood these posts,” one person responded.
“Just politely ask them to mind their space. Why take a picture and just continue to sit uncomfortably,” replied another.
Plane etiquette has become a hot topic as flights return to their pre-Covid capacities, with mask wearing, sanitization and social distancing where possible joining the list of already-existing unspoken plane rules.
While masks are no longer required in airport terminals, they are still mandatory on most flights and are only permitted to be removed if a passenger is eating or drinking.
For those who forget their mask, most airlines offer travel packs that include a mask and sanitization wipe which can be collected prior to boarding.
As for plane etiquette that existed prior to Covid-19, passengers are reminded not to kick the seat in front of them, wear headphones if listening to music or on-flight entertainment and to leave their shoes on.
“Take showers, brush your teeth, leave the perfume off, don’t eat stinky food (caesar salad and tuna fish I’m talking to you!), and bring headphones. Trust me,” a US flight attendant said in a popular Facebook group.
“These things sound basic, but (if not implemented) add to stress on crowded plans.”
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