The space underneath the seat in front of you usually belongs to you. Not every passenger respects this. Your seat opponent may use the space in front of them and the space in front of you. When you arrive at your seat, there’s already a bag sitting where your feet should go.
They might even put their stuff in front of your seat and not in front of theirs to give themselves the extra legroom.
New insane airplane etiquette just dropped: dude next to me took both of our under-the-seat storage spots
“Oh, are these both your bags?”
“Yeah sorry I needed your space too”— Allie (@Cluffalo) August 14, 2024
Is there actually any rule about what space on the aircraft you can use for storage, though? There’s a norm and custom that your personal item goes underneath the seat in front of you. That space ‘belongs’ to you for the duration of the flight. You may use unoccupied space, but not someone else’s space. But you’re not actually told this – you’re just supposed to know it.
The closest anyone comes to telling you this is usually that flight attendants may announce during boarding that “unless you’re seated at a bulkhead, your primary storage area is underneath the seat in front of you.” The implication is that the space underneath that seat is your primary storage area and not somebody else’s although that isn’t made explicit.
I’ve run into passengers who think they get the space in front of them and the space beneath their seat which is the space in front of the person seated behind them. That is not how this works. That is not how any of this works!
Equally problematic is someone that believes they can take the space underneath the feet of the passenger in front of them for storage. Then the passenger one row ahead can’t put their feet on the ground!
Is this the new norm??? When I politely asked the village idiot in 2F on Saturday if he could move his feet so that I could actually have my feet in front of MY seat, he aggressively replied “I’ve bought this seat and the space under it!” #flying #incredulous #avgeeks #assemble pic.twitter.com/FJwRuWWXta
— elayne grimes ✍️ (@ely_438) November 20, 2023
While it may not be published as a rule in the seat back pocket, it should still be enforceable – if you politely ask the person to move their belongings and they don’t, enlist the help of a flight attendant. The crewmember will certainly know these on board norms and help. If they don’t, well, then it’s a continuation of the war of all against all inside the metal tube.
I would not accept it but just had my own interesting experience yesterday. The poor girl in the middle seat, I was at the window she had to Pee, she tried to get up and was asked to sit down. We were landing and it was taking longer than she expected, she was taping her feet moving her body trying to do everything she could to hold it. But she could not, she took her top off, was a sweater and had a shirt on under neath. Took the sweater shoved it between her legs and did what she had to. Then placed the shirt in one of the airsick bags. She got wipes after we landed from the flight attendant and began to clean the seat. I felt badly for her but was not thrilled I had to climb over the seat. The other part of the story, I wanted to go home early, gave up a first class seat on a flight that left an hour later to get home a little earlier.
Just move the bag. That is your space. The dude or dudette can check something that won’t fit in their seat area or overhead bin.
Sorry, Charlie but you can’t have my bag space. Period. If they get aggressive, call the FA.
Nope, you can’t have my leg space either. They try to encroach, I hold my ground.
As for the under seat feet…oops, so sorry I stomped on your feet. Didn’t mean to spill that hot coffee, turbulence, you know.
@Patti – agree about the under seat but by “bag space” are you referring to putting it under seat in front of you (which I agree with) or in the overhead bin? If overhead bin that is shared space and, while it would be nice to leave it open for people that sit under it, that isn’t the rule and it isn’t “your” space!
Just politely tell them that that is your space.
See something, Say something!
“Unattended bag! Call the bomb squad! I heard it ticking!”
In the 737, the aisle seats in main cabin have less room than the middle and window, but that still does not allow the aisle to use the middle seat space. I shove my stuff in the smaller space but then, once we reach 10k I pull it out and tuck it behind my knees so I do have adequate leg room. Once, a passenger put their laptop in the space under his seat (in my storage area) so I flagged down an FA and said the guy sitting here previously must have forgotten his laptop. She was about to. take it up to the galley when he noticed that and claimed it and started to put it back but got scolded by. the FA, who stated quite clearly that space belongs to me (sitting right behind him). That guy bitched to his wife the entire flight about how rude I was while I just grinned and ignored him.
Yeah, no, that’s a foul
The space under the seat in front of you is yours. Period. If I get to my seat and find someone else’s stuff in my space, it goes into the aisle.
However, this hardly ever happens. What does happen is someone will store their small backpack or other item that rightfully goes under a seat, in the overhead bin. That problem is harder to resolve. I almost got thrown off a plane once for trying to “resolve” it myself.
I went through a streak where the folks in row 1 had either no concept their bags needed to go up or they were entitled to the space under their seat. Since I normally reserve row 2 on narrowbodies, that meant they’d try to take my space. Strangely, they were either just naive or were good at acting naive. The latter hasn’t happened for a while, but the constant necessity of an FA to get their legroom free amazes me.
The worst situation was Y on an AF 777. In going from 3-3-3 to 3-4-3, the center section was annoying. There were three slots for four people. Aisle gets 3/4 of first area, next gets 1/4 of first and 1/2 of middle, next gets 1/2 plus 1/4, and other aisle gets 3/4. There is no real solution for bags. How do yo do feet in three areas: 3-2-3 or 2-4-2?
Typical USA behavior. A terrible bunch of people. That’s why no one like Americans
If the person puts their bag below their seat in my footwell, I simply get a FA and tell him/her that I think someone on the prior flight left their bag behind. Problem solved.
Simply state… “I need you to move your bag in Five… Four… Three… Two… One… I MEAN NOW!!!!” Then I grab the bag and THROW it out into the aisle, around them or over them! Problem solved. Oh and I’m 6’6″ tall @ 240 lbs so don’t “F” with me!!!
GFYS LAX Tom – I want the space in front of me for my feet, so yeah, my backpack or briefcase is going up in the bins. No other carry on, and I have exactly as much right to a bag there as you do. Almost thrown off? Touch my stuff, and that’s going to be the least of your worries.
@ Australian noticed. You shouldn’t generalize from a few examples. There being more than 300 million Americans, I feel certain you and your fellow Australians haven’t encountered enough of them for your generalization. Such practices don’t apply to all Australians, I’m quite sure.
I believe that Scott has the most intelligent response – thanks for posting it.
@Walter – “Briefcase”? How anachronistic. I suppose you carry a wallet, too?
Listen old timer, I would take special pleasure in beating the snot out of someone who selfishly uses precious overhead bin space for their personal item. If there’s space up there after everyone has boarded, then go ahead. Otherwise, be a good neighbor.
I purposely fly with just a small backpack as my only carry on just so that I can use the space under my seat for my feet. Backpack is going in the overhead. End of discussion. Check your oversized carry on.
I generally don’t have a problem with this but maybe it is because I am a big guy. The few times someone was in my space, the problem was solved quickly. Someone trying to take my seat has occurred more often. All of these problems are lessened by boarding as early as possible in my boarding group.
@Vazir Mukhtar, the opinion expressed about Americans is common among those who have never visited the USA for an extended stay, at least it is from the people I met in other countries who were expats or travelers. The USA media likes to tear down the USA and other counties have media that also likes to tear down the USA. The media makes no attempt to portray the average person from the USA because it would not fit their agenda or narrative. If the USA was so bad, why are so many people trying to move to it and take up residence in it?
Um, not just no but HELL NO!!!
Really @Steve-YYX ? With your self-described personal description and aggressive demeanor to match, I would hope you would travel in a crate in the hold rather than up with the humans.
That is, of course, you are not on any airlines “no fly” list.
@Australian Noticer.
Really? Australia is one big trailer park. I spend most of my time in Bali, so we know all about Australians.
Why don’t you just pull it out and start going though it? My space, my bag.
I have solved this in the past by just grabbing the bag and tossing it into the walk aisle. It gets the FA’s attention immediately and I go on with my day.
WOW! Just WOW. Children grow up to be the love they have known. Think about it. Sorry.
YYX? Abbotsford?
Too funny.
It’s not as of you have a real airport to fly out of.
Wow, who would give even a minute’s time to this kind of boorish behaviour. “Is this yours? Please remove it”. End of discussion. If the item(s) aren’t promptly removed, I’d just chuck them into the aisle and call an FA. Utterly ridiculous … what are we? … raising a bunch of delicate flowers unable to take care of themselves when travelling? Worried about what someone might think of them for not putting up with overbearing idiots??