While airline passengers now have the option of choosing their seats on flights, what they still have no control over is who they might be sitting next to.
Thankfully, most airline passengers keep to themselves, so someone’s next-seat neighbor is usually of little to no consequence.
Sometimes, however, people might find themselves seated next to a chatty individual who distracts them from reading or watching a movie or someone traveling with an emotional support pet to which they might be allergic.
If some flights are short enough that people can usually grin and bear it, people in these situations who have a long flight ahead of them might look for an alternative seat.
Redditor No_Interaction7823 and her husband were recently on a 14-hour flight.
So when the original poster (OP) discovered that she was going to be seated next to a passenger who was clearly going to make her flight very uncomfortable, she felt she had no other choice but to find another seat.
Unfortunately, not only was the OP unsuccessful in her endeavor, but her fellow passengers heard her request.
Worried she might have hurt their feelings, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**Hole” (AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for making a couple feel uncomfortable the whole flight?”
The OP explained how addressing concerns about her comfort to a flight attendant on a recent flight ended up making the passengers who shared her row almost equally uncomfortable:
“For context, I’m a very slim, small build 29 F[emale].”
“I was on a long haul flight last week (14hrs) and was traveling with my husband.”
“We were in the middle row of the plane, which has 4 seats, so my husband and I were on one side.”
“The other two seats ended up being quite a large couple, and the guy sat on the inner seat next to me.”
“He was spilling over into my seat, and he was literally pressed against me, which made me very uncomfortable.”
“I could tell he was trying to make himself as small as possible, but you can’t make your body smaller than it is.”
“My husband had just had some minor dental surgery, so I didn’t want to risk him sitting next to this guy and accidentally causing his gums to bleed, etc.”
“Hence why i was sat in the middle next to the guy.”
“Another thing was that they stank. I’m not being rude, but it wasn’t a nice smell.”
“It made me feel a little unwell, and the thought of having to sit there for 14 hours filled me with dread.”
“So I asked the air hostess if there was anything they could do, which I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t so bad.”
“This is where I may be the a**hole. I could clearly tell the larger couple were already uncomfortable and embarrassed, but I really couldn’t stand the smell or the thought of being squashed next to the guy for 14 hours.”
“There were no other seats on the flight so nothing could be done but the air hostess asked the man and woman to switch seats so that it would be less uncomfortable for me (she was slightly smaller but still pressed against me).”
“So, for the rest of the 14-hour flight, we were all sat in a row with them, knowing I complained about their size and smell.”
“AITA? Should I just have kept quiet?”
The OP would clarify in the comments how she approached the flight attendant about switching seats and how the couple next to her found out about her request:
“I did go to the flight attendant – did it out of earshot.”
“But she came over afterwards to tell me the flight was full and asked the couple to switch seats with each other.. hence how she made it very obvious that I’d asked.”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
The Reddit community generally agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for asking if she could sit elsewhere on the flight, owing to the size and smell of the couple next to her.
Most agreed that as long as the OP was discreet and considerate, she had every right to ask for another seat, feeling she deserved to be comfortable during such a long flight:
“NTA.”
“It’s on the passenger to make sure they fit in the seat or buy two seats or fly business etc.”
“That’s the rule.”
“And if they stank so bad, the flight attendant or gate agents should have stopped them from boarding.”- Princess-She-ra
“NTA.”
if you’re bigger than the seat allows then get two seats.”
“I’m sick and tired of airlines allowing this to go on; it’s utterly disgusting for you, and it’s not fair on the other passengers.”- On_The_Blindside
“You were already uncomfortable.”
“Just sharing the love.”
“Also – I doubt the FA shared the stinkiness issue with them, so there’s that.”
“NTA.”
“It’s that time of the year – I just did a 9.5 hr return flight from Gatwick to Tampa that was jam-packed.”
“I think that 75% of the passengers had never flown on a long flight as it was a complete amateur hour (you would have to be an amateur to be flying into Tampa in late July anyway).”
“Due to the crap BA website my son checked in late and was sat at the back of the bus by the sh*tter in a non-reclining seat.”
“I think he actually got a better deal as he didn’t have to deal with the table slammers, Pitch Perfect singing kids, screaming babies, and the wandering family members clambering all over the cabin.”- rexicle
“I was once seated next to a man on a flight with horrible BO, and I was super pissed off at him for allowing that to happen at all.”
“He tried to make some polite chit chat before and after we took off and I was so annoyed with him that I didn’t even respond.”
“I felt zero guilt for not being polite for the sake of being polite … despite that he was a priest.”
“NTA for trying to remove yourself from a bad situation you didn’t create.”- pip-whip
“NTA.”
“Lol this is some form of hell, like the first circle or something where the gloves aren’t off yet.”-_no_balls_allowed_
“NTA.”
“Assuming you were polite and discreet about it which it sounds like.”
“Who knows it could’ve been their second consecutive long haul and I KNOW I stink by the time I get to my second 12+ hour leg, I wouldn’t take it personally if someone noticed!”- ScubaSuze
“NTA.”
“They embarrassed themselves.”- nigliazzo5626
“NTA.”
“Flying is difficult enough, especially on a long haul leg.”
“You did not pay to be physically imposed upon.”- martintoconnell
“NTA.”
“And I felt claustrophobic and sick just reading this.”- papapay225
“NTA.”
“If you were discrete and polite when you spoke to the flight attendant.”
“I’m super sensitive to smells, so I always carry around a headache relief roll-on.”-
bunnylla
“NTA.”
“Simply asking the flight attendant if there was anything to be done was reasonable.”
“14 hours is a long time to be cooped up next to someone who stinks.”
“You didn’t say anything mean to the man sitting next to you, and he had been careless and disrespectful to the passengers around him by having poor hygiene.”- cascadia1979
While others felt that there were no a**holes in this situation, feeling it was an awkward and unfair situation for everyone involved:
“Did you ask the other couple if they feel like an AH for making your flight uncomfortable?”
‘Or you only care if you are an AH?”
“NAH, they made you uncomfortable, you made them, nothing was solved, and you all had a nice a long flight.”- forgeris
“NAH.”
“I think I would have left my seat once you were in the air and caught a flight attendant away from the couple to explain the situation.”
“The couple seemed both aware and embarrassed about the position they put you in, and it’s not their (or your) fault that airplanes cram in passengers like sardines.”
“Also in purely selfish terms, it would have made the atmosphere less uncomfortable to be in too.”
“Unfortunate that the flight attendant didn’t consider the couple’s feelings.”
“I guess the only thing you could have done differently was wait where you found the attendant instead of returning to your seat, but that’s hardly your fault.”
“It sucks but it is what it is.”
“Neither you nor the other couple was at fault.”- Hareikan
It isn’t fair that the OP should have to endure a 14-hour flight pinned in her chair by her next-seat, apparently smelly, fellow passenger.
But one also can’t help but sympathize with this couple, who have probably endured similar situations before and likely will again.
One can only wish the flight attendant had been as discreet as the OP in dealing with this matter; then, at least, feelings could have possibly avoided being hurt.