How to get out of a window seat on a plane without annoying fellow passengers

Grabbing the seat in front of you when getting up can upset the passenger in front.

There’s a lot to love about the window seat on a plane; great views, a place to rest your head and control over whether the window shade is up or down.

However, when it comes time to using the restroom, things can get a little awkward.

Fortunately, one flight attendant has shared the most annoying things passengers do when standing up on planes and a different, less disruptive approach.

Shanna Miller, a flight attendant who shares videos about her job on TikTok, said she often sees passengers grab the back of the seat in front of them, to help them stand up.

“You know when you’re on the plane and you’re sitting in your seat and you need to get up for whatever reason and you grab the seat in front of you to pull yourself up?”

Miller warned viewers that this was one of “the most common fights” she saw people get into, as the act can disrupt the person sitting in front.

“When you grab the seat, sometimes people will grab the person’s hair or they have a drink in their hand, and then you pull them back and they spill it on themselves,” Miller said.

“Or they were in the middle of a deep sleep, and now you’ve pulled on their seat or whatever.”

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♬ original sound - Shanna Miller

So, what should passengers do instead? Miller recommends using their armrests, as it’ll cause the least issues for those around them.

“The best thing to do is always use the armrest, pull yourself up, and then use the back of the seats as a guide,” she said.

Miller said avoiding the back of someone’s seat was “just a common courtesy”.

While the video has gained just 2786 views and six comments, many tended to agree with the flight attendant.

“So Irritating..though I never say anything! usually it’s an older person,” one person wrote.

“So true I hate this and will give you the stare of death and ask what are you doing,” another added.

Elsewhere on the internet, travellers agreed that passengers who were seated in the middle or window seat, or who were older, tended to grab the back of the seat in front of them, to help themselves stand up.

On TripAdvisor, a discussion about seats and standing up reached similar conclusions, especially when the seat in front was reclined.

One person said, that for elderly travellers, there really wasn’t another way to get up from the seat, other than to take hold of the chair in front.

“What are you to do when there are instances where you really can’t get up without grabbing the seat in front of you?” they wrote.

“This is particularly true of the elderly, for instance, who might need a little help getting out of a seat.”

The person said they knew this was considered a ‘no no’ but said sometimes, it couldn’t be avoided and believed passengers should be a little more considerate.

“I have been sleeping when someone behind me grabs my seat or jostles my seat but - that’s what happens when you travel in economy,” they said, suggesting that travellers who wanted their space “protected” should fly in Business or First Class.

In response, one person said not all “seat grabs” were the same.

“There is a world of difference between gently using the seat to assist and grabbing it and often the hair of the passenger and shaking/kicking/bumping,” they said.

However, another traveller said the act was never acceptable.

“I think there should be a fitness test prior to getting on the plane,” they proposed. “If you cannot get up without pulling on the seat in front you don’t get to board.”