Man’s brutal comeback to rude passenger goes viral

A man irritated a fellow flyer after he used the arm rest between them on a flight. Photo / 123rf

A man sharing his witty retort to a fellow rude flyer on social media has gone viral.

On November 24, Reddit user u/FlacidPasta turned to the social media platform to share an awkward moment he had on a flight he took from New Orleans to Atlanta after a work trip ended.

The man, who did not reveal his name, explained on the subreddit r/traumatizethemback that he took the middle seat. Five minutes after take-off, a woman sitting in the aisle seat next to him appeared visibly aggrieved.

The woman, who the Redditor referred to as “Karen” – a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious and entitled woman – became “real restless, squirming and sighing and rolling her eyes and scoffing”.

“It was clear it was because I was using the armrest between us,” the man wrote in his post, which has clocked more than 28,000 upvotes.

According to the Redditor, he tried to make more room for her but couldn’t do much because of his large stature.

“Then she snapped at me, going off about how ‘nobody is impressed by your muscles, you take up way too much space, no one wants to deal with sitting next to meatheads like you’ blah blah blah,” he wrote.

“So I interrupted her little rant and very politely but very loudly replied with, “Miss, why don’t you simmer down? This is a short flight. And if there’s one thing no one wants to deal with, it’s a crying child on an airplane.”

Hundreds jumped into the comments, many applauding the man’s actions and defending the unwritten plane seat etiquette.

“Apparently she doesn’t understand airplane protocol. Window seat gets the window, aisle seat gets aisle and 1 armrest, and centre seat gets both inner armrests!” read the most popular comment.

“Middle seat gets the armrests. Both of them. Window gets the window and the window armrest. Aisle get the aisle and the aisle arm rest. Middle seat gets BOTH arm rests,” read another.

According to etiquette expert Diane Gottsman, the middle seat on a plane is the most uncomfortable.

Speaking to Newsweek, she said: “The etiquette of the middle-seat armrest is, as a courtesy because of the inconvenience, the middle seat should be able to select their favourite armrest. It’s not an airline policy. It’s simply good manners.”

Another unwritten rule on plane etiquette that tends to attract strong emotions from travellers is reclining seats.

Earlier this year, The Herald’s team of travel experts leaned into the issue to provide a definitive answer on whether or not reclining is appropriate on a flight.