A holidaymaker has sparked a debate after voicing his frustration about an overweight traveller encroaching on his space during a flight.
He shared his experience of boarding a three-hour flight to the Caribbean, where he had anticipated a comfortable trip to begin his vacation.
However, his expectations were dashed upon sighting his seat neighbour. Sharing his ordeal on Reddit, he recounted: “Sitting with my wife in E and F (wife in F), our row mate joins us in D and he is a large person. Easily 40% into my seat.
“Luckily for me, I’m not a huge person but the arm rest couldn’t go down and I had to have my right leg in my wife’s seat in order to fit and he and I were body to body the whole flight.”
In an attempt to resolve the issue before take-off, he excused himself as if heading to the lavatory but instead sought out a flight attendant for a discreet conversation.
He continued: “I tell him that I am only asking for the entire seat that I paid for and nothing more. He makes a couple of calls, comes back and aggressively tells me there’s nothing he can do because the flight is 100% full (yeah okay, that’s fair) and then threatens me by saying he is happy to have a red coat escort me and make me take the next flight.”
The man was left bemused by the crew member’s reaction, insisting he never raised his voice or used inappropriate language towards the flight attendant. Reflecting on the incident, he shared: “I never once insulted the person sitting next to me.
“I did sarcastically say that they should make this guy take the next flight, but that was after he became aggressive towards me. He responded by saying ‘See, that’s the vibe I don’t need’. I promptly shut myself up.”
Enduring the uncomfortable situation for three hours, he expressed his dissatisfaction, noting: “Ultimately I just dealt with it for three hours – not the end of the world – but now just unhappy with how the flight attendant reacted (versus what they could or couldn’t do).” In search of validation or criticism for his reaction, he turned to social media to gauge opinions.
Someone weighed in, commenting: “You’re not being unreasonable unless there’s more to the story, but Delta does really need a better customer-of-size policy. The number of times I’ve flown with someone in half my seat is too many.”
Another chimed in with advice based on personal experience, adding: “My wife had the same issue last month but with AA to London. She skipped the Airline and complained directly to AMEX and was refunded the flight cost. This course of action could be an option.”
Further adding to the conversation, a third individual suggested: “You know how we get the cards to give out when a flight attendant does a great job? They should issue cards to give out to the company when they do a rubbish job. I know we can comment, but it would be even better if there was some kind of formal ding to them.”