Plane passenger questions whether he’s to blame for making his neighbour uncomfortable

A plane passenger has questioned whether he was to blame for making his neighbour uncomfortable during their flight.

Taking to Reddit’s confession forum, Am I The A**hole, the 40-year-old man asked anonymous users their opinions after giving them the details of the situation. The Redditor started by setting the scene, describing his appearance and position on the plane.

“Now, I’m a big dude. Not yet book two seats level, but enough for plane seats to be absolute hell. Booked a window seat, figured the extra space would help,” he wrote.

A woman sat down next to him in the middle seat for the duration of the flight. According to the Reddit user, he and the woman “exchanged greetings” and everything was pleasant at first. However, things took a turn for the worse when “nature called” for him a couple of times, meaning he needed to get up to use the bathroom.

The original poster admitted: “Nature called a couple of times during the flight, and let’s just say squeezing by in that cramped space is an exercise in contortionism at the best of times.

“The woman in the middle seat politely refused to get up whenever I needed to use the restroom,” he added.

Unlike her, the woman in the aisle seat stood up every time he needed to get through to the bathroom. And even though it was the woman sitting in the middle seat’s decision to not stand up and get out of the row, he said she was annoyed with the Reddit user for brushing past her.

“Now, I get it. Nobody wants some sweaty dude brushing past them. I tried my best to minimise contact, literally sucked in my gut and held my breath like I was underwater,” the Redditor confessed.

But no matter how hard the Reddit user tried to keep out of her personal space, he inevitably got too close for her comfort.

As they were deboarding the plane, the Redditor’s neighbour made it clear she was bothered by “his behaviour”.

“At the end of the flight, the woman makes a passive-aggressive comment about ‘personal space’ and how uncomfortable I made her feel throughout the flight. Honestly, I felt terrible,” he said.

The original poster wrote that he felt bad, but he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t want to hold his bathroom needs off for eight hours, but he wasn’t sure if he should’ve asked her to get up.

Shaky on where he stands, the Redditor asked whether readers thought he was the bad guy in the situation – and an overwhelming majority said he wasn’t.

“You’re nicer than me, my response would have been: ‘Ma’am you refused to get up, so my only options were to either encroach on your personal space or pee on you. I’m sorry you feel I chose the wrong option,’” one blunt person admitted.

Another noted: “She was rude, you did your best to cope with a tough situation that was of her creation and the airline’s.”

“The lady in the middle chose not to get up when nature called. Not your problem. I guess she’d better buy a first-class seat from now on, so she won’t have to put up with people invading her personal space,” a third reader added.

Others questioned why the Reddit user would willingly choose the window seat.

“On what planet does someone pick the window seat on the theory that it might offer more space?” another person questioned. “An aisle seat, sure. I’ve seen that plenty. But a window seat? I’ve actually flown numerous airlines many times and never had someone say that.”