One of the best things about Delta Air Lines is that they committed to keep seat back entertainment screens on their seats, after American Airlines removed theirs. It’s been such a success with passengers that United copied the move, and has been adding them to planes as they’re retrofit with that carrier’s new “United NEXT” interior.
I usually just work on my laptop rather than watching shows. Many other people like to use their device while watching something on the screen. I’ll leave mine on the ‘moving map’ showing our flight’s progress.
But other passengers can get in the way of your enjoying these premium comforts. One Delta passenger shared a photo of a woman whose big jacket was tied around her seat back – taking up space from the passenger behind them, and covering that passenger’s screen.
Coach seats can be uncomfortable, and a bit of extra padding is clever. Using your jacket for back comfort is actually an ingenious hack – except it takes away comfort from the person seated behind you.
Here that passenger didn’t say anything, because the woman with the jacket needed assistance on and off the aircraft. Here’s the story:
“There was someone next to me in the middle seat, and she had turned on her TV.
Then a veeery old woman was wheelchair’d on to the plane, and she was with a family member (probably a son), and it took two airport employees to carry her in to the middle seat. I actually had to leave my row to give them space to maneuver. Then her family member proceeded to make it more comfortable to her by putting her gigantic jacket over the seat, resulting in what you saw here.
The middle seat pax said she wasn’t going to say anything, so neither did I. But she had to sadly just scroll instagram and text for an entire 4 hour flight.
The passenger who shared this photo wished that the flight attendant had “said something” to the woman about her jacket, because the woman seated behind her was in a middle seat without even seat back entertainment as comfort for the flight. But it’s hard to expect a crewmember to say something when the passenger doesn’t flag the issue for them.
It’s actually the first time I’ve seen a jacket tied in this way for back comfort, but not the first time a passenger interfered with the space and screen of the person behind them. Passengers draping their hair over the seat back behind them is something that happens all the time. And it’s up there, and maybe even worse than, bare feet propped up on your arm rest.
Congrats to the ponytailed young woman in seat 22B. You've invented a whole new way to be awful at 35,000 feet. pic.twitter.com/VWTPMI5JrM
— Dante Ramos (@danteramos) March 29, 2016
On an @SouthwestAir flight right now and this is definitely a new one for me in terms of bad plane etiquette… pic.twitter.com/pjsPMvO2Av
— James Troupis (@JamesTroupis) November 2, 2021
Here at least it was ‘just a jacket’ and not the passenger’s hair covering up the seat back. But it’s worse to do on Delta, since that carrier has committed to seat back screens. Although it’s still bad even on American, since you’re covering up the device holder that pops out of the seat back so you can watch entertainment on your own device.
I thank God every single day my flying days are over. I most definitely would catch some kinda charge if I were still having to fly for work
@John T Burkholder — It’s not that bad. Gary regularly highlights salacious incidents (gotta harvest those ‘clicks,’ dawg.) Today is far better than, say, 1990, if you prefer non-smoking and WiFi.
Those ones with hair are staged for engagement
Clever? I’d go with selfish, stupid, and thoughtless but admittedly clever is not an adjective I would have used.
I would have politely addressed the issue along the lines of “excuse me, I understand you are trying to make the lady as comfortable as possible, but is there a way to secure the coat without blocking my TV screen?”
Perhaps I naive, but I like to think that most people don’t mean to be rude; they just aren’t always fully cognizant of their actions.
Yeah, so speak up! It’s cramped enough without someone else’s stuff!
Definitely would have said something to the old bat. Just because you’re old and almost disabled doesn’t give you the right to pass your being miserable to everyone else.
Absolutely nothing wrong with asking a FA to talk to that passenger to move the jacket. Requiring assistance on and off the plane is not an excuse for poor manners.