I’m a flight attendant – here’s what to do if someone is hogging the armrest
A WOMAN has reached out to cabin crew for advice after an “aggressive” passenger hogged the armrest on her flight.
The woman was sat in the middle seat on a plane and had difficulties with a man sat next to her, whose elbows were digging into her arms during the journey.
She explained that he had become angry after she politely asked him to be more considerate with his armrest use, but didn’t know what to do to sort out the situation.
In a post on Reddit, the woman reached out to cabin crew members for help, in case she finds herself in a similar situation in the future.
She wrote: “I was in the centre seat and the man in the aisle seat had his elbow across the arm rest pressing into my arm.
“I politely assured him he was welcome to both armrests but asked him if he could turn his arm so his elbow wasn’t poking into my arm.
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“He became really angry, refused to move and spent the rest of the flight with his arms folded in his lap, his elbows pointed out, literally pinning my arm to my side.
“I put my folded sweater between his elbow and my arm and spent the rest of the flight trying hard not to escalate the situation but it was still a very uncomfortable flight, my arm was sore for quite a while after we landed.
“I considered asking a flight attendant for help but, honestly, you all seem to have enough on your hands.
“I’m about to fly again and I’m dreading it, when I got home I discovered that two of my friends had similar experiences of their own.
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“If a situation like this happens again, where a fellow passenger is deliberately coming into my space and polite requests fail, is it appropriate to approach a flight attendant for help?
“Are you able to do much in a situation like this?”
In a stream of support for the woman, flight attendants revealed that in that situation, the right thing to do is to ask them for help.
Some even said that if they could, they would move the woman to another seat where she would be more comfortable and give her extra snacks.
One wrote: “It might seem like you’re bothering the flight attendants but in this situation where you’re literally in pain and uncomfortable don’t hesitate to ring the call light or act like you’re going to the bathroom, come to the galley and tell us.
“We can try and reseat you if there are open seats or if he gets aggressive with us then he can get off.
“I get there’s some discomfort that comes with the middle seat but man spreading and just being downright mean for no reason grinds my gears.
“Part of our job description is babysitting grown adults who forget how to act in a public setting. I’m sorry that happened to you and if it happens again don’t hesitate to let one of us know.”
Another said: “I promise, you wouldn’t be bothering us. Your comfort is just as important as anyone else’s. We can’t help if you don’t let us know.
“As others have said we would reseat if there’s anything available if not we’ll have to have a good old fashioned polite chit chat with the gentleman about his elbows and his space.
“Who knows you may get a few extra snacks.”
A third said: “In this case, I would 100 per cent hit my flight attendant button. You paid for this flight. You are just as important as him.
“Your comfort matters and you are in pain. The flight attendant is trained in handling situations such as these.
“I would not speak to him more than twice and just hit the call button.”
According to a number of flight attendants and travel experts, the man shouldn’t even have used the middle armrest.
Travel expert Rosie Panter has previously revealed the person in the middle seat should get both middle arm rests.
Rosie told Cosmopolitan: “It’s universally accepted that the middle seat passenger has drawn the short straw, so they should get the luxury of both armrests.”
But behaviour expert Judi James previously told Sun Online Travel that the no man’s land of the armrest is a battle that will never end, because the battle for space is inbuilt into us as human beings.
She said: “Space is something that humans and animals fight wars over – it’s the most inflammatory thing.
“It’s why people whose garden wall if half a centimetre to the right can fight with their neighbours for years. We can’t avoid being territorial.
“We even adopt personal ownership of things that really don’t belong to us, like our chair in the office, or our seat on a plane. It brings out the warrior in us.”
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Meanwhile, this travel expert revealed how to always get a row to yourself when flying.
And these are the three etiquette rules flight attendants wish all passengers would stick to.