Plane Passenger In Middle Fumes Over What Woman With Window Did—’Excuse Me’

A flight passenger endured an awkward encounter when a fellow flyer who seemed unimpressed when he asked her to move her bag from the footwell of his seat, joking that he didn’t leave his legs at home.
Ray Chao, a 29-year-old lawyer, was flying from his hometown of Chicago to St. Louis for a conference when he had the unfortunate interaction, during which the other passenger gave him an “eye roll.”
“Preflight, the airline indicated that the flightwas full,” he told Newsweek. “As I approached my seat, I saw a very large backpack on the floor under the seat in front of my assigned seat. The young lady sitting in the window seat was looking intently at her phone.”
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Chao shared the photo he took in a Reddit post, which has received 74,000 upvotes and thousands of responses. “I was eye rolled when I politely asked if the window seat passenger could move her backpack,” Chao wrote in the post. “I guess I should have left my legs at home.”
After boarding, Chao briefly sat in the aisle seat and eventually moved into his assigned middle seat, when he received the eye roll from his fellow flyer.
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“I sat down in the empty aisle seat to allow other boarding passengers [pass], snapped a photo before I said hello, and said, ‘Excuse me, I’m in the middle seat’ and pointed at the bag,” he said.
“She looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, rolled her eyes, and seemed irritated as she wrestled with the pack back and squeezed it under her seat.
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“I sat in my seat and she ignored me.”
“Luckily—for both of us—no one claimed the aisle seat, so I was able to put some distance between us for the short 50-minute flight,” he continued.
“Interestingly, she put the bag back under the middle seat, and during the flight, used the middle seat for her snacks (gummy bears).
“We never spoke again, and probably never will.”
Over 5,000 comments were left on Chao’s post with Reddit users sharing their thoughts on the incident.
“Ask if they would prefer the middle seat so they can be close to their bag?” joked Twotgobblin.
“I’m not sure why anyone would think this is OK,” said ChelsieDawn89.
Livid_Till9229 commented: “My dirty ass shoes would be all on top it, hope nothing is breakable inside.”
Fun-Strain7445 said: “Audacity of some people. Raised in a barn.”
“That’s not their space to take and that bag is actually too large to fit under the seat. Next time bring it up with the person or the flight attendant,” shared chewedgummiebears.
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