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.

#1

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.

Image credits: Jigglypuffs_quiff

#2

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?

Image credits: Slkreger

#3

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.

Image credits: wannabejetsetter

#4

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.

Image credits: groshreez

#5

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.

Image credits: Affectionate_Base827

#6

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.

Image credits: anon

#7

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.

Image credits: Snoooort

#8

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.

Image credits: NeroBoBero

#9

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.

Image credits: apmcpm

#10

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.

Image credits: quothe_the_maven

#11

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.

Image credits: harperfin

#12

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.

Image credits: Uvabird

#13

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.

Image credits: crackanape

#14

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.

Image credits: teacher_anony

#15

**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.

Image credits: soil_nerd

#16

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.

Image credits: brinewitch

#17

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.

Image credits: herecomes_the_sun

#18

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).

Image credits: NetNo5827

#19

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.

#20

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.

Image credits: nim_opet

#21

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.

Image credits: wirebound1

#22

-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.

#23

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.

Image credits: Dang_It_All_to_Heck

#24

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.

#25

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.

#26

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.

#27

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.

Image credits: Glittering_Bid1112

#28

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.

Image credits: _CPR__

#29

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.

#30

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.

#31

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.

Image credits: my4floofs

#32

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.

Image credits: cava-lier

#33

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.

#34

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.

#35

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.

#36

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.

Image credits: Mammoth-Zombie-1773

#37

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.

#38

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.

#39

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 murder 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.

#40

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.

#41

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.

#42

My husband took his shoes off once mid flight… so, it’s him. He’s the worst neighbour I’ve had on a flight.

#43

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.

#44

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.

#45

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.

#46

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.

#47

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.

#48

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.

#49

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.

#50

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!

#51

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.

#52

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.

#53

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.

#54

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.

#55

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 bitching 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.

#56

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.