A woman stood up in the aisle for her whole seven hour flight, according to another passenger on board who shared the incident online. The passenger was up whenever the seat belt sign was off. This was even her preferred position for watching a movie.

@envisionaries #onthisday ♬ original sound – ❧☙

Standing in the aisle, rather than back by a galley and lavatories, meant she was impeding traffic flow in the cabin, getting in the way of other passengers headed to lavatories and flight attendants performing service.

I certainly understand wanting to stand up during a long flight in coach. Modern ‘slimline’ seats take up less space in part by being less padded. I find some implementations, like United and even Southwest, to be hard enough that I’ll get a back ache on flights over 3 hours long. And we all know about deep vein thrombosis (‘economy class syndrome’)!

Ultimately I don’t think this is as bad as sticking your foot into someone else’s seating area, and she’s making the most of tight space on the aircraft. So while it’s an unusual choice, it’s only impeding flight attendants that’s problematic if she’s consistently in the way. But since she remains seated when the seat belt sign is illuminated this could certainly have been worse!

Nonetheless, for your own safety it’s better to remain belted when you don’t need to be up due to the risk of clear air turbulence. We’ve certainly seen plenty of flights with passengers and belongings unexpectedly strewn around a cabin.

Aftermath of major turbulence on AC19 today
byu/HefetzHashud inaircanada

(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)