Flight passengers get territorial over the empty seat between them: 'This is war'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 2, 2024 8:00 AM EST

There is no sweet relief like the discovery that the empty seat next to you on the plane will remain empty for the duration of the flight… that is, unless you have to battle over the empty space with another passenger.

The anticipation begins when you board the plane and realize there is no one in that adjacent seat yet. You pray and pray to whomever until the boarding process is complete. Once the flight attendant confirms that everyone has boarded the plane, you can relax and enjoy the fact that you have a little extra arm and leg room. However, this Redditor discovered on her 14-hour flight from Los Angeles to Shaghai that she was going to have to fight for that extra space with an older woman two seats down who immediately usurped that extra seat for herself. The petty revenge that ensued involved consulting flight attendants, making it so that this woman could not get up to use the bathroom, and finally taking over the space when she did. Keep scrolling below to see what happened when the older woman finally had an outburst. 

For more stories like this, here is one about an entitled boss who threw shade at her employee for not giving her their first-class seat on a work trip.

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  • 01
    "STOP TALKING"
    via Suhyeon Choi
  • 02
    I fought a petty territorial war over an empty flight seat and won I boarded my 14-hour flight from LA to Shanghai and settled down in 62H. There were four seats in the middle of the plane: 62E F G H. My 62H is the aisle seat on the right. On my left in 62 E and F sat a mother (in her 50s) and a son (college age). Between me and the mother there was 62G, empty. As boarding coming to an end, in rare chirpy mood, I leaned over and said to women, "hope the person doesn't come so we both have more e
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 03
    As soon as "boarding is complete" was announced, to my surprise the woman moved to the empty seat next to me, effectively moving the "elbow room"from between us to between her and her son. The next thing I knew, she was pulling the upright armrest divider between us down. Still surprised, to her I said "why? More space for both of us with it up." She obliged in silence and the armrest stayed up. Still couldn't decide how upset I should be though.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 04
    Flight took off and seatbelt sign came off, I reached for my shoes under the seat in the front. Imagine my outrage when my foot felt her foot in my area. Oh woman, I see you woke up today and chose violence. One more attempt of diplomacy, as a good Asian woman who knows the virtue of filial piety that I was, "ayi, your foot is in the way". Ayi is Chinese honorific title for older women. My underlying message was "aren't you ashamed for behaving the way you do as an elder??" She pretended she did
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 05
    Next I did what any red blooded American would do; I complained to multiple flight attendants. One went to talk to her while I waited from not too far away. With that woman sitting steadily in that seat, I knew no justice was upheld. Flight attendant reported back apologetically, "the passenger said she has to sit there because there's something on her .." Now, I failed to see the correlation between an empty seat and hemorrhoid, but the impartial judge was ineffective. I thanked the flight atte
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 06
    At this point, I knew this street problem needed a street solution. You can't reason with someone who's willing to share (/make up) some problem just to win. My attempt earlier to shame her with a honorific title felt laughable. I'll just put my legs up on the seat when she gets up to go to the bathroom, I thought, easy! Oh the sweet summer child that was me.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 07
    For the next 12 hours, I repeat, 12 hours, she did not drink water, did not lift up ever so slightly from the seat, nothing. She knew the consequences of getting up. She had done this before. This was not her first territorial war.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 08
    I should add that she sounded perfectly normal talking to her son, a caring and pleasant mother. Early on I heard the son say "mom why don't you move back over" and she went "nah don't worry about it", chirpy, like my mood before she ruined it.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 09
    I tried everything to tempt her too. I got up to use the restroom liberally ("look at this freedom that you too could have!"). With the two cups I got from those flight attendants, I transferred water from one to the other ("listen to this trickling water sound!"). While she was sound asleep I turned on my overhead light. The bright beam just so happened to be slightly off centered to her side. Waking her up felt good. But seriously what was her bladder made of??
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 10
    Whatever it's made of wasn't turbulence proof. After 15 minutes of genuinely terrifying turbulence, which probably led a much-needed reassessment about her life choices, she got up and headed to the restroom when the plane steadied. I put my legs up across the newly freed seat. The son watched me from the other end of the row, next to a seat full of little pillows, blankets, and other accessories they got to accumulate. He said nothing.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 11
    The woman returned and having seen me sitting across two seats, to my amazement she tried to sit down on my legs while murmuring "my seat..I need to sit in my seat.." to the air way above my head. This can't be happening. With the unexpected to leg contact, I collected myself and said "Ayi ('shame on you woman!'), you've been using this public seat for the past 12 hours, don't you think it's now fair for me to put my feet up?" Still making no eye contact, she jerked to retrieval and started rear
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 12
    "If your problem calls for two seats, you should have purchased one more. I'm afraid you didn't", as I talked she murmured "stop.. stop.." and as my sentence finished she simultaneously shouted "STOP TALKING!" Everyone turned around to look at her. Somehow I thought this development was just the funniest thing and started laughing. It's been a week since my flight and I still couldn't stop wondering how she would have escalated had I kept talking.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 13
    With my legs up on 62G I had the best 2-hour nap of my life. I never saw them again after the flight.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 14
    CoderJoe1 2 hr. ago Roid rage, obviously. 141 Reply Share
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 15
    andytran1111 · 2 hr. ago Some people just shouldn't fly if they can't be polite and respect other people personal space.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 16
    Independent-Ebb4789 2 hr. ago Petty but good. You showed her. Mainland Chinese i presume?
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 17
    404notfound420 2 hr. ago Could be worse, last time I was on a 14hr flight from hongkong to England I was in the middle of 3 seats on the window side and the dude in the isle seat was coughing, sneezing and spluttering the entire way. This was about 3 years ago....
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 18
    JasonLokiSmith - 46 min. ago This was extremely well written. Gave me a good chuckle OP.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 19
    Comfortable-Elk-850 35 min. ago My last 8 hour flight I had a guy in front of me lay his seat all the way back the entire flight. It was hard using the trey or get up to use the restroom since seats are so close today. He decided he needed to sleep, not me, I pulled out my book and turned the overhead light on the rest of that flight. It was right in his eyes since he was laid back so far. He shot me several disgusted looks but never once shifted his seat back.
    via u/Mel0pomel0
  • 20
    Frank Lloyd Wrong_3305 18 min. ago I would have gone back immediately after the flight attendant episode and loudly said "SORRY ABOUT YOUR O PROBLEMS. FEEL FREE TO USE THIS FREE SEAT TO RELIEVE YOUR PROBLEMS" and then pretty much every 30 minutes I'd loudly ask her how her problem was feeling.
    via u/Mel0pomel0

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