A plane passenger’s infuriating encounter with a seat stealer is going viral.
The traveler, who was flying from New York City to Atlanta on Nov. 25, had upgraded to a “great” window seat with “tons of legroom” ahead of their flight, they explained in a Reddit post under the username Confident_Junket_181.
After boarding the aircraft and making their way to their row, they noticed something wasn’t right.
“I get to the row and there’s a guy in the aisle seat, empty middle seat, guy w headphones in my window seat taking a fake nap,” the user writes. “I say loudly, ‘you’re in my seat’ thinking he should probably be in the middle.”
When the passenger called out the stranger, they claim the man then “acted confused,” which prompted the aisle seat passenger to get involved, asking the napper for his seat number and making the same assertion that he’s likely supposed to be in the middle.
Instead, the redditor says, “The window seat guy gets up and says, ‘My ticket’s in the back.’”
Once the seat stealer started “climbing out of the row” to make his way to his actual seat, the user then recalls how the aisle passenger got really angry.
“The guy in the aisle starts loudly berating the seat stealer saying, ‘This isn’t a bus, you don’t just sit where you feel like,’ and ‘Who does that? This is a full flight did you think no one would notice,’ etc.”
Reflecting on the confrontation, the plane passenger says they were “so grateful” that their seatmate spoke up, adding that there was “no way I was giving up that seat.”
Tons of Redditors flocked to the comments to share their opinion of the bizarre incident.
“Seat stealers should be banned from flights,” one person wrote. “It is so obvious when you are stealing a seat versus accidentally sitting in the wrong seat.”
Another user echoed, “Pirates like these should be suspended from flying. Ban length based on degree of disrespect.”
One person sympathized with travelers who try to switch seats after everyone has boarded the aircraft, however they agreed that straight up stealing is “just dumb and classless.”
“I can sort of understand somebody moving to an open row once doors are closed or something but to just board and sit in a random seat, like wtf is the owner of the seat going to do when they show up? Surely the seat thief doesn’t think someone is going to just walk away or something.”
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Travel expert, writer and advisor Nicole Campoy Jackson previously explained to PEOPLE that travelers should never anticipate that other passengers might be willing to swap seats on a plane.
“Generally speaking, don’t board a plane expecting passengers to shift for you, especially if your seat is not as comfortable as (or more than) theirs,” she advised.
Jackson also noted that it’s always best to communicate with a flight attendant if they need help settling a seat swapping or stealing situation as they have access to more information than passengers do.
“I am always in the camp of getting a flight attendant involved for sticky in-flight situations,” she said. “Tensions run high when we’re traveling plus they would know, for example, if there was another aisle seat or another solution to this problem. They have more context than we, the passengers, do.”
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