Airplane passenger complains seatmate started eating their in-flight meal before she received hers: 'We are not eating together on the same table in a restaurant'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Oct 31, 2025 10:00 PM EDT

Table manners are more important to some than they are to others. You know this if, as a kid, you ever went to someone else's house and found out the hard way. Maybe in your home, you played things pretty fast and loose. You all ate on your own schedules, and you didn't wait for anyone else. Then you go to your friend from 5th grade's house after school, and you learn a whole other way that families can behave. This family all sat around the dinner table together. They all waited until everyone was served and seated before they started eating. Maybe they even said grace and held hands. This is all new to you. But how were you expected to know? Everyone grows up with a different set of expectations when it comes to manners. 

But it's your job to be flexible with your own expectations. You don't get to control everyone, and you don't get to control how they present themselves. Especially if they're a stranger, maybe you can quietly judge, but you certainly shouldn't make it their problem. 

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • Cheezburger Image 10569683968
    via Unsplash+ (Roberta Sant'Anna)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • That's what happened, though, on this plane, when a fellow passenger had a weird expectation about mealtime. The way she saw it, she was being disrespected by her seatmate. The way the seatmate saw it, she was just living her life like she normally would. Scroll on to read the whole story and find out what happened. 

  • Seatmate in a flight complained that I started eating my special meal before theirs arrived.

    Apologies, English is not my native language. On long flights I preorder a special meal online because I am vegetarian. On most flights, the flight attendant brings the special meals first and then start the normal meal service for the rest.
    via u/ElRanchoRelaxo
  • On my last flight, a perfect stranger sat next to me and told me that I was rude and inconsiderate because I started eating my vegetarian food before their meal arrived. They said that it was basic rule to wait until everyone in the row got their food and that I ruined their flight. Their face was red and rolled their eyes several times
    via u/ElRanchoRelaxo
  • I stared at them. This is next level entitlement, right? We are not eating together on the same table in a restaurant.
    via u/ElRanchoRelaxo

  • Commenters agreed that this was a weird response.

    cruzer4lyfe • 2h ago . I'd be eating my meal while it was hot. If it was my family next to me, they would tell me to eat while my meal is warm/hot.
    via u/cruzer4lyfe
  • Cloudsrollby10 • 2h ago I'd look them in the eye while taking slow bites of my meal.
    via u/Cloudsrollby10
  • infomanus 2h ago . Did you have to go to the bathroom at the same time as them as well?
    via u/infomanus
  • Cheezburger Image 10569683712
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Specialist_Spare_820 2h ago people really act like airplane etiquette is fine dining etiquette now? Like, come on, they brought your meal first for a reason.
    via u/Specialist_Spare_820
  • KCHonie 2h ago . I respond to people like this with "I don't recall asking your opinion"
    via u/KCHonie
  • Francesca_N_Furter 2h ago • That's hilarious....a perfect stranger tells you that you need to wait for their food? Do they get upset in restaurants when other people are served first? Do they stand up in the middle of the restaurant and announce "Please put your forks down until my food arrives"?
    via u/Francesca_N_Furter
  • That is freaking crazy. I would have told them that any issue they have can be directed at the flight crew.
    via u/Francesca_N_Furter
  • rglogowski 2h ago That is common courtesy when sharing a meal with someone. You arent having a meal with your seatmate, youre just sitting next to them.
    via u/rglogowski
  • Fuzzzer777 • 2h ago If you are seated at a table it is "proper etiquette " to wait until everyone is served. According to Emily Post, if your food is going to get cold, you are fine to go ahead and enjoy your meal.
    via u/Fuzzzer777
  • Having said this, NONE of this is as RUDE as criticizing a stranger's etiquette, especially since it does not apply to airplane meals. The seatmate was a jerk.
    via u/Fuzzzer777
  • Sewing-Mama 2h ago . This is hilarious! As if they are hosting a dinner party and you are the guest.
    via u/Sewing-Mama
  • . Odd_Tea4945 • 2h ago This is hilarious! You ruined their flight by eating? This stranger must have e very boring life since he cares a person eating before him in a flight
    via u/Odd_Tea4945
  • scrubjays 2h ago "ruined their flight" - if the plane got you there, the flight isn't ruined.
    via u/scrubjays
  • . KetoLurkerHereAgain 2h ago hahahahaha - okay, that might be a "rule" when you're at a table with people in a social or work setting (though, I always want to tell people to eat when their food is hot and do not wait for me!) but the audacity of that guy to think it applies to airplane rows!
    via u/KetoLurkerHereAgain
  • Ok_Bit2704 • 2h ago Does this person also think everyone at the next table at a restaurant should wait for them also if they order around the same time.
    via u/Ok_Bit2704
  • Stage_Party • 2h ago I'd just tell them we aren't on a date and carry on eating.
    via u/Stage_Party
  • Prestigious-Name-3... • 1h ago You're sitting next to each other on mass transit, not sharing a meal. If this ruined their flight, they must have a lot of days ruined over tiny things.
    via u/Prestigious-Name-323
  • andmewithoutmyto... • 1h ago You're not dining together, you're dining next to each other. This isn't a dinner at a restaurant or party, this is an airplane. Enjoy your meal on your own time.
    via u/andmewithoutmytowel
  • Linux4ever_Leo • 2h ago You should have smiled at the stranger and said "aww, bless your heart, did you forget to take your meds?" Followed by an epic eye roll, putting in your earbuds and you resuming to eat your meal.
    via u/Linux4ever_Leo
  • readergirl35 • 2h ago It isn't a family meal, you don't need to wait for everyone before eating. If something that small can ruin his flight his life must be one ungodly long bad day.
    via u/readergirl35
  • Terrin369 2h ago . Tell them that you are flattered, but you are taken and can't date them. Whenever they try to talk to you, just continue to insist that you aren't interested and their persistence is making you uncomfortable.
    via u/Terrin369
  • ZCT808 2h ago • Wow. That rule might exist in an especially formal gathering, uptight families, formal black tie dinners etc. But it is next level delusional to think those rules of etiquette apply to eating a meal on a flight while sitting next to a stranger.
    via u/ZCT808
  • I've eaten on planes a couple of hundred times in first class and I've never once seen a seat mate sit waiting for everyone to be served before eating. I'd have told them to fuck right off, and that lecturing a stranger about etiquette is a far bigger social faux pas than eating an airplane meal once it is served.
    via u/ZCT808
  • TootsNYC 1h ago . it's a basic rule to wait until everyone in your party gets their meal. you didn't choose to get a meal with them. This is not a social occasion. And that it ruined their flight? S
    via u/TootsNYC

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

drama FAIL planes flight community drama plane reddit story karen neighbor etiquette story reddit thread Reddit airplanes karen airplane
Scroll Down For The Next Article