A traveller has sparked a furious debate on airplane etiquette after a passenger sitting behind him decided to put her blazer on his seat.
During boarding, the man was walking towards his aisle seat when he noticed a lavender-coloured coat draping off the back of his head rest.
‘I can’t believe how rude or unaware people can be,’ he said in a Reddit thread.
Upon sitting down on his allocated seat, he noticed the woman didn’t even bother moving her blazer, leaving him ‘mildly infuriated’.
As he tried to pluck up the courage to ask her to remove the jacket, he ‘feared’ that ‘speaking up’ would lead to an excruciating eight hours of tension.
‘It was a super long-haul flight so I didn’t want the bad vibes behind me,’ he said.
‘I tried making eyes with the flight attendants but nobody helped me.’
Fortunately, he ended up getting the whole row to himself so he moved himself to the window seat.
A traveller has sparked a furious debate on airplane etiquette after a passenger sitting behind him decided to put her blazer on his seat
‘I sat in the jacket seat for five minutes internally dying until the plane door closed and I could swap to the empty window seat next to me,’ the man said.
He said he struggled to confront the woman because he had ‘massive conflict avoidance’ and ‘crippling social anxiety’.
When he woke up from a nap, he noticed the woman was wearing her blazer.
‘The plane was freezing and she had taken it down and curled up with it,’ he said.
The traveller added: ‘Apologies to the person in the future who eventually has to teach her a lesson because I didn’t want to deal with it.’
Despite the positive outcome for the man after he was able to move to a window seat, many took particular issue with the man for not attempting to ask the woman ‘nicely’ to remove her blazer.
‘I think too many people think it’s socially awkward to inconvenience others or even confront them. This entire photo can sum it up. The guy posts online instead of just asking nicely to move it and going on about their life,’ one said.
‘People are far more often oblivious than malicious, and 95 per cent of the time if you politely point out something that’s bothering you – they’ll apologise and your problem is solved,’ another suggested.
Others weighed in on the woman’s ‘selfish’ act.
‘I want to know how people walk around through life with this kind of mentality. Are they stupid, or just entitled?’ one said.
‘I hope it’s me when she sits behind me. I’m confrontational. I love embarrassing a**holes and putting them in their place.’ another shared.
Meanwhile, others shared amusing ways they would’ve confronted the situation.
‘I’d take the jacket and wear it. Argue it came with your seat. Social anxiety sucks, I feel that,’ one said.
‘Next time a flight attendant walks by, say, “Sorry, someone forgot their coat on my seat” and hand it to them,’ another suggested.
One agreed, saying: ‘I would do this genuinely believing that someone forgot it there. Sometimes being oblivious works out great.’
