A plane passenger has blasted an ‘entitled’ woman for refusing to move to let him out of his plane seat on an eight hour flight. The man, who describes himself as a “big dude”, explained how he pre-booked a window seat as he knew he’d need the extra room it offers.
While he admits he is overweight, he says he isn’t yet large enough to need two plane seats. However, he has been left with mixed feelings about his flight after a woman complained about his behaviour after she refused to move to let him out to use the bathroom.
The 40-year-old said on Reddit: “I just got off a long flight, the kind where even the comfiest seats feel like torture racks. The flight attendant assigns a woman to the middle seat. Nice person, we exchanged greetings, no problem. Here’s where things get tricky. Nature called a couple of times during the flight, and let’s just say squeezing by in that cramped space is an exercise in contortionism at the best of times.
“The woman in the middle seat politely refused to get up whenever I needed to use the restroom. The lady in the aisle seat was very accommodating and would get up any time either I or the lady in the middle needed to get up.” While he understands it can be annoying to get up and down to allow another person out to the bathroom, he believes it should be expected when travelling on public transport.
“Now, I get it. Nobody wants some sweaty dude brushing past them. I tried my best to minimize contact, literally sucked in my gut and held my breath like I was underwater . But even with all the contorting, there was some unavoidable brushing past.
“At the end of the flight, the woman makes a passive-aggressive comment about ‘personal space’ and how uncomfortable I made her feel throughout the flight. Honestly, I felt terrible. Didn’t mean to make her feel that way, but what else was I supposed to do? Hold it for eight hours? Ask her to physically get up? Since she repeatedly didn’t get up and indicated I should squeeze by, I had no reason to think she was too bothered by it.”
Wanting to know whether he’s in the wrong for making her feel uncomfortable, he has taken to social media to ask users for their thoughts. In response, one user said: “You’re nicer than me, my response would have been: ‘Ma’am you refused to get up, so my only options were to either encroach on your personal space or pee on you. I’m sorry you feel I chose the wrong option’.”
Another user added: “Big guy here myself. Just wondering why you chose the window seat? I usually book an isle seat, because it gives me space towards the isle. The only problem is that sometimes you get bumped by the trolley, but that’s not too bad.” A third user said: “If she was so concerned with personal space she shouldn’t have gotten on an airplane.”
