A man says he was ‘shocked into silence’ after being told off for ‘manspreading’ on a flight - but people had limited sympathy for him.
The 26-year-old said he was on a six-hour flight a few months back where he was sat in the middle seat with a woman in her 30s in the aisle seat and a woman in her 20s having the window seat.
The ‘tall’ man says that the flight had ‘even less leg room than usual’ - and says that part-way through the journey his lengthy limbs ‘inched’ their way over towards the window seat.
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Describing the incident on Reddit’s ‘Am I the A**hole’ he wrote: “About half an hour after take-off I found my left knee inching to the side for the sweet relief of open space - specifically, the no-man's-land in between seats, level with the shared armrest.
“But I wasn't paying attention to my knee the entire time. I'll concede it's possible that at some point I was occupying space that rightfully belonged to my window seat neighbour. All was well for two hours.”
However, a couple of hours into the flight the woman sat in the window called over the flight attendant and said: "Could you tell him to keep his f***ing leg in his own f***ing seat."
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At this point and ‘with horror’ the man realised she had been talking about him and ‘instantly retracted [his] leg in deep shame’.
“I had been shocked into silence,” he added. “But when the FA left I frantically began to apologize. But she refused to speak to me. She acted like she didn't hear me.”
The man said she spent the rest of the flight on her phone and so he - somewhat bizarrely - ‘started sneaking peeks at her phone’ where he claims she sent a message saying: "Men really do be too much sometimes.”
The long-legged passenger says he went from being embarrassed to confused, adding: “I kept replaying it in my head, wondering why she didn't simply ask me to move my knee instead of calling over the attendant.”
But if he was hoping that people would side with him then he was sadly mistaken as fellow Reddit users quickly branded him ‘the a**hole’, with many suggesting that if he needed more leg room he should have paid for it.
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One wrote: “[You’re the a**hole] full stop. Did she handle it great? No, but she should not have had to. The snooping is f***ing bizarre as well.”
Another said: “You knew you were in her space and hoped she’d say nothing and make herself smaller and uncomfortable so you’d feel better. She probably paid extra for the window seat so she could be comfortable and you felt entitled to occupy her space.”
While a third added: “Pay for extra legroom. Having some random guy pressing his leg against me is enough to make me get up from my bus or train seat because it creeps me out. I don't like being touched, and I make sure I always try to avoid it. You need to be mindful of those around you.”
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock PhotosTopics: Reddit, Travel, Plane Etiquette