Most U.S. airlines have air vents above the seat. You can turn them on if you’re hot, and turn them off if you don’t want to be blown on. But who controls the vent? Does each passenger have dominion over the one above their seat – or is it a common utility, and you have to accommodate the preferences of everyone around you?
Conflict on a plane can take place over the seemingly simplest of things, as one Delta Air Lines passenger learned.
Currently on a flight head westbound. I am on the right side of a 3 passenger row. The person sitting in the middle has now 3 times closed my AC vent either while “adjusting” their own vent or when I stood up to go to the bathroom. The vent is pointed towards my face, no where near their direction. I will politely bring it up if it happens a 4th time…
And it happened again! About 20 minutes prior to landing, the air vent miscreant went to make the adjustment. The passenger whose vent it was “asked them to please leave the one for my seat as it is as I’ve adjusted it to my liking.” And “[t]his dude looked me in the eyes and said I paid for my seat, not the communal AC system” so they had no right to it.
But surely the passenger has more of a right to the vent above their seat than the passenger in an entirely different seat has, right? Each seat has a vent! But the man said “it doesn’t work like that” and that “people don’t always get their way in public transportation and that the current temperature was “more than comfortable”.”
A flight attendant got involved, and the man “demanded a cup of hot water” to warm up from the freezing chill of the air vent. The crewmember obliged, and the man “held it against his pulse points while animatedly shivering.”
What would you do in this situation?
- Confront the vent hog
- Get a flight attendant to intercede
- Tape the vent open
- Go all Mike Tyson on a JetBlue flight
Surely the first step is to calmly ask the passenger to stop, and then involve cabin crew. But you can easily see how this would escalate.
You have a right to be comfortable just as any other passenger does. You can control your own vent. if he an control your vent then you can control his.
All of the arguments the vent hog made to the passenger could just as easily been directed back at him (i.e., “you don’t always get what you want” and “you don’t have a right to the communal A/C system”). Unreal.
I would handle as the passenger that wanted the vent open the first two times. The third time I would call the flight attendant. If a fourth time came about I would tell the offender he will leave the flight in a wheelchair if he touches it again.
Best thing to do for that traveler is to press the flight attendant call button.
Most decent and reasonable people will have the instinct to politely ask this seat neighbor to stop closing the vent, BUT from the sound of it this seat neighbor might be anything from merely having a bad day and acting a little overly entitled, through to passive aggressively belligerent and trying to create conflict where there is none. So before voices get raised and your other seat neighbors, who are potential witnesses but they’re probably zoned out at the moment, can vouch for who is doing what, just get one of the flight crew involved- you’ll have the initiative as the innocent party.
And FTR the vent closer in this story is an idiot.
Divert to Birmingham, Alabama and call the police! DYKWIA!!!!
I tend to want more air because I believe air circulation is better to reduce airborne pathogens. Therefore, when I board, I immediately try to open all 3 vents near me as well as the 3 in the row ahead. However, I only open them slightly. If they are opened too much, the passengers will likely close them completely. Therefore, a little is better than zero.
For my own, if there is a nasty passenger, I may try to divert the air slightly away from him or her. If there is an empty seat, that might be an excuse to move. However, then the bully wins because now they have 2 seats.
I really don’t care if the vent above my seat is open or closed, it doesn’t make a difference to me. I am always dressed in layers specifically for the reason that airline cabins in their entirety may be hot or cold.
I say “Sir/Ma’am, I think that’s my vent,”, and if I hear anything back other than an immediate and profuse apology, I can only assume the person is psycho and/or having a REALLY bad day and I disengage immediately.
Everybody should do what I do as my m.o. throughout life is what allowed me to become a 7 figure earner (may be 8 figures next year). Dealing with all kinds of people, diplomatically, is my strong suit and I am compensated lavishly for that.
I would TRY to adjust my vent away from the offending jackass and turn it down a bit. BUT…it is MY VENT. Next time, pick a seat that is more to your liking but leave my vent alone.
Why are people so much less considerate of others these days? Is the nearly daily display of poor etiquette by POTUS and other powerful people having an effect?
I’m with @JimC2, try to be polite, communicate, compromise, and if that’s not working, de-escalate, get an authority involved if needed, build a coalition to defeat bullies. Anyway, that’s logical.
This is why I frequent VFTW; mostly so that Gary can recycle unverified Reddit posts, and to hear from you, the fellow regulars, your ‘hot takes’ on the ‘episode,’ whatever it may be.
My only disappointment is that no one has made it overtly partisan or racial yet. Can anyone add some gasoline to this fire, please. We need spice!
For instance, take the word ‘communal…’ while some may think of Catholic Mass, how about the ill-perceived political/economic ideology with a similar name. Add the ‘ism…’ Go! Fight! Go!
@Unintimidated — With those 7-figures, you really should just fly private then. Do with all the vents as you wish! Just remember, you’d have to park the G550 at SXM, then take Winair to SBH. Ugh. Oh, how money can’t solve everything… Also, is @Un you, like for short, or are you different people? Because @Un is pro-CCP, and it’s pretty lame… Hope you’re a different fellow.
Just tell them you are travel sick and you projectile vomit without fresh air.
@1990 That person is too poor to fly private. If someone makes 7 figures a year, say that is US$5M. Can they reliably make that every year for 25 years? Many times, there is not that certainty.
The G550 has a list price of over $60 million. It costs $10,000 per hour to operate. In my opinion, one would need a net worth of $600 million to afford that and a reliable yearly income of $50M per year (assuming the aircraft is flown 500 hours per year). That poster doesn’t have $50M per year income reliably over many years.
That would get me boiling. I often find the interior of airplanes too hot and appreciate it when there is a vent for me to direct and use. By directing the air at the top of my head, I can usually tolerate the hot conditions. In fact, on a longer trip, I can dry out pretty much completely. Fortunately I have never been seated next to such an entitled person.
Actually, I don’t see how this escalates. 800k miles, never has happened. And I’ve been in an emergency landing- twice at the same airport over the years, Knoxville, and all in coach at the time.
Tell the passenger that without airflow I will vomit, and I always miss the airsick bag!
I thought everyone here was now taking Business class to avoid the plebian experience in the dregs of the airplane? Why is Mr 7 figures even sitting close enough to talk to a fellow passenger much less share the same air? I detect some embellishment in someone’s story.
The FA took care of it. I would just laugh at them. It will annoy them more than just about anything else that won’t get me banned.
@derek — Inflation strikes again! @Unintimidated can’t even fly private on a $5 million/year income these days. Next, you’ll tell us we can only ‘lease’ that megayacht; we’ll have to slum it in the Maldives at a mere 5-star resort with overwater bungalows, like a peasant. What next? Only 2007 Dom? Ugh. I suppose we’ll also have to sell the fifth condo in Monaco, and the ski chalet in Chamonix… Zut alors!
Drama queen vent closer is 100% an arrogant, entitled leftist
Like 1990
Next time they close the vent, make a big show of taking off your shoes while making exaggerated “whew” noises and fanning your feet. Or if you’re in the middle or window seat, ask for a cup of water and then fail to grab it correctly when the FA hands it to you.
….and this kids is how I ended up on the no fly list….
I agree with Culo above, but I’m not sure about the leftist part. Precious yes.
The Germans are perpetually cold, and drafts frighten them. Americans do often want air. I’m always hot.
I was also a flight attendant for 35 years. I tell people to dress in layers and bring a fluffy. I also told them not to come aboard dressed for the beach. Duh.
This is why on planes you dress in layers. Adjust as necessary
Sir…when the day arrives where the First Officer reaches over and adjusts the Captains vent, then you can adjust mine. Until then, get your mittens off of my air….CAPICHE?
When will the entitlement end—the ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine’ mentality? There are three seats and three air vents, each angled toward its respective seat. For some people, going out in public must be such a rare experience that they forget basic social awareness. You’re not at home—you’re in a shared space. That means respecting others, compromising, and understanding personal boundaries
This will be deleted lol. Another clickbate that has no ending, got me again! Curious to see the results if I’m in that situation and nope. I hate it gave this site another tap, please follow me and block/avoid/ban this site as publicly and often as possible.
Dude, mess with mine and watch.
I HATE recycled air. The 1 time I left mine open I got covid from all the airborne sickos. Nope, reach for it, go head. See how that goes for you. Keep your hands to yourself, to your seat to your vent. Stfu and sit there, I’m not social.
Also, if you can’t fit in your seat correctly? Buy another ticket!! cause I dont want your sweaty *ss legs on top of mine cause your too big to fit your own seat. Ppl are rude AF
I’m surprised, I thought you were all well off like me. But as a 7 digit earner (we count the digits to the right of the decimal, correct?), apparently I’m supposed to reveal my secrets to living your life as to leave others in the dust. I have been derelict in my duties and will begin soon sharing ways to show you’re better than others. Here’s a preview: spend lots of time on the internet lying.
Dave W., you need to die of cancer.
Sounds like Vent Closer may have been ill with a fever. I would have tried to change seats to get away from the infection risk, but there’d probably be nothing available.
How about taking a small handheld portable fan with you on your flight?
I had the opposite of that happen. The person next to me kept directing his vent at me! I was freezing so I reached up and directed it at his seat and went back to sleep. Woke up with wind hitting me in the face again! This time I reached up and closed the vent. Problem solved. Neither one of us said a word to the other! Lol
If you haven’t lost friends and family to cancer you either have few friends or family, or you are young. You will watch people you love get cancer, often cancers that can’t be explained by lifestyle choices (not that there is some “cosmic” justification for that). Some will lose the fight. Others will win at a tremendous cost. No humane individual wishes cancer on anyone (though a Hitler hypothetical would test my resolve). We all desire a world without cancer. But, if it must exist, I’d so like Karma in charge of it. If that were the case, those wishing others develop cancer should start worrying.
Derek, you “tend to believe”? I tend to believe in Santa Claus. I also tend to believe that your vent is merely agitating and distributing “pathogens”. Do you have any empirical data either way? Or do you just “tend to believe” when doing so makes you feel warm and fuzzy?
In either event, you make me glad I don’t share your psychosis.
If it was up to me, there would be no individual air vents, no individual reading lights, and definitely no reclinable seats!
I bet the vent miscreant also is a seatback recliner blocker 😮
I thought of a good one for earlier in the flight. Instead of using the flight attendant for a confrontation you could call them and tell them that you’re having trouble with how to work the vent and ask them to show you how to open it.
The cabin temp is set by the crew. The vents are all ducted and air pressure constant. If you close one vent, the air will just flow more out the others… just like a ducted system in the home.
The vent blowing on your face or not will result in more comfort due to perspiration and how your body cools. It has nothing at all to do with the air coming from the vent “being cold”, because it isnt, at least not any colder than the rest of the cabin (airline cabins, in general, are kept cool because there’s 100+ bodies in a small tube)
The person sitting aside you needs basic.physics and biology explained to them
If one only paid for a seat that means that the adjuster only paid for a seat as well. I would tell him that the vent is pointing towards the Seat that I paid for so Do Not adjust it. I would reiterate that I am asking nicely now. The consequence would come if he did it again. If the attendant could not resolve I surely would.
Of course Americans are always hot and Germans are cold; look at the disparity in bodyfat percentage. Americans run about 8% fatter now vs 1970; Europeans are closer to the way Americans were when they weren’t fat wrapped sausages.
Lose the fat, chubbos!
For those of a certain age:
“Please don’t bother my friend. He’s dead tired.”
@Dave W. — I know you mean well, and I did like your joke above (decimals), though, we must recognize there are monsters lurking in the comments. I say, feast on @Un’s negativity… ‘let the hate flow through (him)!’ As for ‘that guy’ (in 1945), the only good thing he did was kill himself. Bah!
@Coolio — Oh no, so offended… Now, I’ll have to wash down my feelings with Beluga caviar… Please, do take me literally, I never joke on here… ever…
@Marshall — ‘Don’t stop… believing….’ ho..ho..ho…
You want everything to your liking? Fly private.
If you’re too cold on the flight, Bring. A. Blanket. It’s easy to add layers, but I can only take off so many before a judge gets involved!
Wow, @Jason Keirstead, I’m sorry you don’t believe that evaporative cooling is a thing. Here is a handy little experiment for you: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chilling-science-evaporative-cooling-with-liquids/
And to Unintimidated – there always one blowhard in every conversation. Thank you for taking a few moments of your oh-so-incredibly valuable time to demonstrate that to the rest of us peons.
The vent squatter is entirely at fault here. First and foremost, if he was dying of frostbite, he should’ve had the courtesy to ask his fellow passenger whether the latter would mind keeping the vent closed or directed further away from the former’s general direction. Instead, he employed sneaky, underhanded tactics like a complete sociopath, only to then following up with more reprehensible actions and statements to.all but confirm that diagnosis. Furthermore, if he disagrees with the existence of an air vent above the seat next to him, he can walk to his destination instead.
Sorry, but you only control the vent over your seat. If you are cold, that is your fault. Everybody knows that flights get cold. Why should I suffer because you didn’t wear enough clothes to stay warm. He should have brought a jacket, coat, or throw. Some people!!!
Don’t do the polite thing anymore. It stopped working in 2017. People only understand trolling these days.
Turn all the vents and lights on and direct it at his face. Or lift up the handrail and sit in his lap. Or just grab his fingers and start a fight. The old rules of politeness and courtesy no longer exist, and his behavior is proof of that.
@Unintimidated
Plenty of people making 20k a year in customer service that also take your approach. Glad it worked well for you but any lawyer, boxer, or competitive investor would laugh their butts off at your advice.
Respectfully, disengaging isn’t diplomacy, its cowardice. I’d rather be broke and confident than a well paid coward.
I tend to be cold on flights and do not like the air vent above my seat directed at me. I also wear contact lenses and the vent air on a longer flight contributes to drying my eyes. I always keep my vent off. When I board, if another vent next to me is directed towards me, I might direct it more toward the next passenger’s seat if that person has not yet boarded. If they have boarded, I would ask the passenger about changing the direction of their vent. When the other vent is directed at another passenger, it doesn’t bother me and it would never occur to me to try to close it. Because I’m often cold, I always travel with a shawl in my carry-on bag. The actions and words of this seatmate indicate that logic and politeness would not be effective. One never knows how unhinged a stranger might be and what action they might take. I would either live with it or get a flight attendant involved.