Long-haul economy can be miserable enough without a seatmate leaning on you, touching you, and brandishing cutlery at you. The line between “annoying” and “threatening” often comes down to context, and 14 hours is a long time to feel trapped.
A passenger’s video about flying Qatar Airways coach from Doha to New York is blowing up right now — even though the flight happened nine months ago, and the videos were posted last month. It features cramped economy seating, an unruly seatmate, flight attendants who don’t seem to fix things, and a meal service butter knife that becomes a weapon.. maybe.
- The customer was at a window seat and her neighbor in the middle was an elderly woman traveling alone. That woman leaned on her shoulder, spread into her space, used both armrests, and kept mkaing physical contact.
- At one point the woman held her metal meal knife that seemed to threaten. She captioned, “I’m taking this knife hold as a threat.”
- Later, the woman lies on the floor of the cabin, bracing herself against the passenger’s leg, and also partially sitting on her.
- She asks for flight attendant help several times. They eventually had the aisle seat passenger move, givin gthe elderly woman the aisle and her middle (a reward!) but her legs still extended into Essie’s space.
After the trip, a report was filed with the airline but they didn’t acknowledge the incident or apologize.
Now, I’m not super worried about the buffer knife that came with catering. It wasn’t a “security incident.” But the passenger’s behavior with it seems inappropriate and they don’t get a pass because of their age. And crew here could certainly have been more proactive but on Qatar this doesn’t especially surprise.
Meth use apparently isn’t just for the youngins.
In my many leisure economy travels to and through through the Middle East, including QR, I have learned that the only passenger more entitled than the stereotypical Western K@r3n is the elderly female passenger from some Old Country in the Middle East, Africa, or Asia. I can sympathiize with Essie, here.
Granny should lay off the meth pipe.
I feel sorry for Essie having to deal with this. Essie seems like a nice person.
@George Nathan Romey — 3rd times the charm!