Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Grace Hoffman

'I lied to get empty seat next to me on plane - but flight attendants threatened me'

Flying on a plane can be incredibly uncomfortable, but a decent seat can undoubtedly make the journey more pleasant. Passengers who can't experience first-class flights will argue that an empty seat beside them is arguably the next best thing.

A woman was raging, therefore, when a man sat beside her on a flight which wasn't 'even half full'. Taking it upon herself to make an excuse on why she wanted the seat vacant, the anonymous Reddit user claims flight attendants threatened her for her white lie.

Taking to the popular forum, the woman questioned: "Am I the a**hole for not wanting someone to sit next to me on a plane?"

She was initially excited about the empty seat beside her on the 'half empty flight' (stock photo) (Getty Images)

She explained: "I (25F) had a flight. As we board, the gate agent says the flight is not even half full and they need us to spread out for even weight distribution. I was sitting in the middle seat and they kept repeating the flight was only half full, only 75 people on the flight.

"Almost literally the last second a man (50ish) walks on and states 'I'll sit next to you' not even asking so that gave me a red flag about him and I say 'actually my husband is going to sit here'. The truth is I am traveling alone but as a young woman I avoid telling people that."

Despite having several empty seats throughout the plane and claiming her husband was sitting beside her, the man still insisted that he was keen to sit beside the woman.

She went on: "He states 'then ill sit at the window' so I say 'the flight is only half full there's tons of room' and he just stands there.

The man insisted that he sat beside her despite the empty seats (stock photo) (Getty Images/EyeEm)

"So I move to the aisle seat to avoid a problem and he says 'so where's your husband?' I ignore him. He asks again, 'should we have the flight attendants hold the flight for your 'husband'?' with literal air quotes and I ignore him again.

"And he says 'so you're just lying to me then? You're probably a democrat' and I cant stand it anymore unfortunately and get loud saying 'can you shut the truck up like who cares I don't owe you anything'.

"Then he wont stop calling me a liar so I say 'my husband is actually deployed in the middle east so you can mind your own business' (this is true) and a flight attendant comes over and asks me what's happening so I begin to explain and of course he talks over me so another flight attendant comes over and says I have to move.

"I look at her dumbfounded because I was there first and I didn't cause the problem he did. So she says one of you needs to move or you're both off the flight. So I just grab my bag and move."

Seeking advice, she questioned: "Am I the a**hole for lying to a stranger because I didn’t want to sit next to them on a barely full flight?"

Since posting, the woman's thread has raked in over 500 comments to date - with several people assuring that she wasn't being unreasonable.

Taking to the comment section, one person wrote: "Huge not the a**hole. I guarantee this dude thought he was entitled to your company and conversation through the entire flight as well.

"I'm so sick of having to be polite to entitled men just so they won't fly off the handle," they added.

Meanwhile, someone else said: "The flight attendant should have made this a**hole man move."

Do you have a story to share? Email webfeatures@trinitymirror.com

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.