A woman shares the experience of a middle seat passenger stuck between manspreaders.
@erinrempel why would anyone EVER need that much room??? i tried to get him to move but he wouldnt
She was flying within Canada from Winnipeg to Edmonton on Flair Airlines flight. The man at the window seat spread his knees into her space, and she tried to nudge his legs back but he didn’t oblige. She grabbed “something something and pushed his knee toward him more aggressively.”
The airline says, in a statement that’s enough to make me want to avoid them,
We don’t think we should be stepping into this disagreement between two customers.
Perhaps the most egregious case of manspreading is a passenger who encroached on an aisle seat from across the aisle:
@claireandpeter GOODBYE
I’ve seen people argue that manspreading is justified because the airline offers so little space, though I think you have to acknowledge that most airlines offer seats with more space for an additional fee – whether it’s extra legroom space, extra seat width, or the opportunity to buy two seats.
- Someone may not wish to spend more money to travel, even if they need it
- That doesn’t give them the right to encroach upon the same, limited space another passenger paid for
Each passenger is entitled only to the space within the confines of their own seat, except that the window seat passenger can lean into the window, the middle seat passenger gets both armrests, and the aisle seat passenger can lean into the aisle at their own risk.
Here’s how to handle a seat-spreading situation.
- Try to start a polite conversation about it.
- Should that not help, look around to see if there’s an empty seat in the cabin. If there is, ask a crewmember if you can change seats.
- And if there’s not, enlist a crewmember to help ensure your seat opponent stays within the confines of their own space.
Passengers shouldn’t have to endure this, but there’s a limit to how much escalation is possible or wise while stuck inside a metal tube. What would you do?
Nice article, Gary, I’m 100 % agreed with your summary: “Each passenger is entitled only to the space within the confines of their own seat, except that the window seat passenger can lean into the window, the middle seat passenger gets both armrests, and the aisle seat passenger can lean into the aisle at their own risk.” This holds true for mansplainers, service animals (real or fake), overweight people, and anything else that’s steals space from others.
May not work for everyone but, I (M) had a guy encroach in my area as he had some nervous tick with his legs where he flapped back and forth repeatedly touching my leg. I asked politely for him to stop but he did not. I then got a pen and pointed it where his leg would be hitting mine (in my space) and he soon stopped after a few pen tip stabs.
Airlines can’t have an official policy on this, or else they expose themselves to “the passenger’s elbow briefly entered my space – I deserve compensation” complaints. But, the same logic about obese passenger encroachment obviously applies here.
The manspreader has too big and too sweaty genitalia so he should claim ADA disability if the flight were in the US. There, he should be seated next to the fake service animal.
Another ULCC story. When you fly on a garbage truck expect garbage.
Likely a staged video for Tik Tok but run with it Gary
The guy in the Aisle is not taking her space, he’s at the edge of his area.
The guy at the window is a different story. I suspect he wants to get off by rubbing his leg against hers.
And most likely of all – this is just staged content generated for clicks
It seems to me like this woman wamted to make a situation out of nothing towards another passenger that may of just been stretching his legs out just so they didn’t stiffen up at the time. I honestly think this woman wanted to cause a problem on this flight
Looks staged. Other than that, why does everyone always have to immediately go to social media to complain about everything? Geez, ever thought about just asking the person sitting next to you to get off? Old man in middle seat was doing this to me once with his elbows, even though he had both armrests. He was a good 3-4 inches into my own torso space. I let him self-correct for about 5 minutes and he wouldn’t. I asked him, he stopped and we moved on with our lives. I haven’t been mentally scarred for the past 10 years or staged an entire production of Who Moved My Feet on TikTok over it. Gen Z needs to grow a spine and stop being so attention-seeking.
@Gary, have you gone to her TikTok page and seen her other videos? This young women has issues. Talks about poisoning her ex-boyfriend in his sleep and has some other man-hate videos. Overly dramatic garbage; clearly this video was staged.
Suggestion: give a minute or two to check on these things. You lose credibility as a bonafide expert on frequent flyer/traveler topics when your conversations veer into Jerry Springer territory..
If that were me, I would have no problem shouting loudly “don’t touch me”. and if that didn’t work, I’d notify a flight attendant that another person is rubbing my leg against my will. And then see what happens.
I agree with Kimmiea, Michael, and Robin. Recently there was a photograph of a man that was more than a plus size getting into an aisle seat. This guy was one step shy of the Goodyear Blimp. At some point, the world is going to wake up (not woke up) and realize that while these people should be treated with dignity and respect, when that person doesn’t fit in the seat…HE IS TOO BIG! This is not “shaming” (what an idiotic term), HE IS TOO BIG…period. Why not sue General Motors, Ford, the local bus company, restaurants, et al for making their seats too small for plus size people? If the airline doesn’t want to help the person who is stuck (literally!) with people who are encroaching on THEIR space, take a picture and contact your credit card company for a refund and file a complaint with the DOT. Don’t whine about it on “Facecrook”, “Tick Tock Clock”, or any other social media crap. Get some cahones and fight back…legally.
Why is it that people think it’s ok to cross their legs at the knees and stick the bottom of their shoes into my space? What should I do when they say that they don’t invade my space that way?
A lot of followers and a lot of likes for the complainer so the suggestion that it was staged is a possibility. I’ve had people I am not traveling with end up falling asleep and leaning onto my shoulder. You rent the seat but you still have to defend your territory.
I’m going to take my pen and drive out about a half inch into the encroutchers leg.
A pen jab is a terrific solution. Morons who behave badly on airplanes deserve no finesse at all, just jab ’em if they don’t quit by request.
@Minmax, great job of letting the person stab themself with the pen. By not doing anything active yourself, you had plausible deniability.
Occasionally I see guys in the men’s locker room with avocado size doo-dads and I’m embarrassed. I make a squirrel look like John Holmes. I imagine what it must be like for them.
She should have planted her fists on their bo&&ocks. That would have made them close their legs.
I would firmly plant my foot at the border of the seats and push back. Just kidding. I would never fly a trash airline, with trash people.
Too bad the young lady won’t see this comment. Loudly (witnesses) tell the gentlemen to STOP and do the same thing with the crew (culpability). And when you do, mention SEXUAL HARRASMENT. If it does not immediately stop, as the plane is about to land, turn on your cellphone and when you have a signal and before you land and get to the gate, call 911 and report the SEXUAL HARRASMENT. Tell them that you are being sexually harassed right now and that you need help. Scream it into the phone if you have to. You have a plane full of witnesses. That video will help too. If it has sound of you tell them to STOP, even better. You’ll need to be forceful with the police. Tell them that you want to file an official claim of sexual harassment. Don’t let them off the hook. If they won’t let you make sure to get their names. Now go home, take a nice hot shower, have a drink, and call a LAWYER. I see nice paychecks in your future. One from the airline and one from each gentleman from a civil suit your lawyer will file against them.
Fake for F-ck Tock …. No news day ,ey? Yawn
Even if this is fake for TikTok, it is a real problem and FAs ought to help. Passengers get ejected for failing to obey or just for being rude. FAs are not powerless. Move the young lady to a better seat and if there aren’t any, warn the mansplainer if he doesn’t stay in his own seat space it is harrassment and he will be met at the gate.
Double standard for women. Yesterday, in premium economy, a big burly female with beefy arms wedged herself into the middle seat and her beefy arms spilled over the armrests. I just leaned over toward my window for the short two-hour flight, and silently told myself, next time, I’d more easily deal with pets and riff-raff in a slightly more spacious first class seat on AA/UA/DL. Under US law, women are a protected class; men are not. Good luck with that.