It’s no secret that some people, especially travelers, seem to have lost their minds and manners since the pandemic. I read about it daily while researching news stories and see it every time I fly, go to the beach, eat at a restaurant or shop at a grocery store.
When you’re in a shared and public space, common courtesy to others should be common sense (like not watching movies loudly on your phone without earbuds at a restaurant or on an airplane) and I wish I had the nerve to give people who do this a taste of their own medicine like Larry David (see embedded video below):
Anyhow, here’s a scenario that really made my blood boil, as detailed by a TikTok user named Malia Makaila (@maliamakaila).
Malia was sitting in between a couple who had booked an aisle seat and a window seat on a recent United flight. Many savvy travelers know to book a window and an aisle when there are three seats in a row. That’s because the middle seat is usually the last to go and you have a much better chance of getting an empty seat.
The problem is that these days, airline capacity is at an all-time high so it’s rare tol find a vacant seat on a plane. When couples try this strategy, they usually let the person in the middle take either the window or aisle so they can be next to each other. However, this couple didn’t move. I’m guessing because one of them prefers the window and the other the aisle.
I’ve seen this happen before but usually couples book the seats on opposite aisles or they each take a window. I once sat next to a famous lawyer from DC who was sitting in the window, I was in the aisle and his wife was across the aisle in the other window. We were on a Washington DC to Los Angeles flight in first class so the cabin was configured 2×2. I asked if he wanted me to switch seats with his wife and he said, “No, we prefer windows.” They didn’t speak to each other except when using the loo and boarding and deplaning.
Unfortunately for Malia, the opposite happened, which she detailed and showed in a video (embedded below) of the couple talking to each other and passing food and drinks over her laptop. Personally, I would have snapped because whenever a flight attendant comes by with drinks, I always close or lower my laptop just in case there’s a spill. I’ve seen accidents like this happen on planes either from turbulence, fumbling fingers or plopping ice in a cup.
@maliamakaila I just googled “how to get my own private jet by 2025”. ?? #fyp #travel ♬ original sound – Malia Makaila ??
Malia captioned her video with, “I’m on a flight sitting in an economy plus middle seat in between husband and wife who purchased the aisle and window seat.” She then used overlays to describe what we’re seeing, “They’re just passing chips and drinks over me having a full conversation, meanwhile the guy in front of me pushed his seat so far back I can’t open my laptop and the WiFi doesn’t work.” She then says: “they’re now talking about the weather.”
Some passengers are just weird and I don’t know how Malia ended up in the middle. Did she take an earlier flight that only had middle seats left (that happened to me a few months ago)? Or was she not savvy enough to set a seat alert (here’s how)? Or was she not diligent enough to keep checking?
Here are the most popular comments on Malia’s video, which has received close to 150,000 views:
Sue Bossert: Come on people speak up!
Caroline Lily: I would never let them pass things in between me.
ren_eee: I would’ve asked,”I’m sorry, did you guys want to sit next to each other?” if not, then I would tell them it’s ridiculous to be interacting that much and being in my space. heck no✋?
Sigils_In_Ash: passing anything that could damage that laptop. I’d be livid
Fabbiha: omg my anger issues could never
How would you deal with a rude couple like this? Would you say something?
KEEP READING
–Stuck in a middle seat on a plane? Here’s how to get out of it
–Did you know your electronic devices should always be charged when going through security?
–The travel gadget flight attendants never leave home without
–Going on a cruise? Be sure to bring this
–The genius phone hack to try when your plane doesn’t have an in-flight entertainment system
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