Passenger’s huge coat blocks in-flight entertainment, sparks viral debate

The bulky coat of a passenger blocked the in-flight entertainment of the passenger behind her. Photo / Reddit

Who’s sitting on a four-hour flight without access to their TV screen? Definitely not us.

An incident now dubbed a “coat-astrophe” occurred on a Delta Air Lines flight after a photo of a passenger’s coat covering the TV screen of the flyer behind her started trending on Reddit.

The post, titled “Ready to get triggered?”, described how an elderly woman in a wheelchair was helped onto the plane and into the middle seat by two airport employees and a family member. The family member then placed the woman’s large, fur-lined, hooded jacket over the seat, obstructing the entertainment screen of the middle-seat flyer behind her.

Ready to get triggered?
by in delta

“I actually had to leave my row to give them space to manoeuvre,” the Reddit post continued. “Then her family member proceeded to make it more comfortable [for] her by putting her gigantic jacket over the seat, resulting in what you saw here.”

The author said the passenger behind chose not to say anything and spent the four-hour flight scrolling and texting on their phone.

The Reddit post has garnered more than 235 comments since it was shared last week, with comments expressing their disbelief and sympathy for the middle-seat flyer. Many speculated that the obstruction was intentional, while a few shared how they would assess and solve the situation.

A Reddit post started trending after a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight blocked a fellow flyer's TV screen. Photo / Markus Mainka

“This definitely triggered me,” one said. “Nobody is that clueless, it was done on purpose and nothing can convince me otherwise. They counted on the person behind being passive …”

“At some point, I would have simply asked an [attendant] walking by or buzzed one and smiled and laughed that the jacket is intruding into my seat and covering my entertainment screen.”

“4 hours!? Hell no. I’d offer to help them move the jacket for her to ‘help her make it even more comfortable’.”

“As a [flight attendant], please tell me,” someone else implored. “A lot of the time they don’t realise it’s covering the monitor. People go through life in their own bubble.”

The original poster expressed regret that the flight attendant did not intervene. A few commenters criticised the airline for assigning the elderly woman a middle seat towards the back of the plane, suggesting that the real issue lay with the seating arrangement.

In the wild world of air travel, every day brings new drama.