Passengers confused over correct etiquette for watching intimate movie scenes on plane

Flying, for all its convenience, is nonetheless a fundamentally unpleasant experience, and anything which can provide some relief from it is welcome.

An in-flight movie is a good way to pass the time, and to distract yourself from the fact that you're trapped in a metal tube 30,000 feet in the sky being held up by a few sheets of metal.

But even the welcome diversion of watching a movie intended for the IMAX on a tiny low resolution screen in the back of a seat can sometimes lead to all manner of social embarrassment.

Yes, I'm talking about when you found yourself confronted by a sex scene while sitting next to at least one complete stranger.

It's bad enough if you're unlucky enough to watch a new movie with your family only for a seemingly endless sex scene to begin and then just continue interminably.

At least if you're watching it at home you can go to the toilet or to make a cup of tea. But then even that could make it worse because it's like you're acknowledging it.

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In a plane though, that option is simply not open to you. Sure, if you're watching on your own device then you could mercifully skip through it, but that's not what we're talking about here.

We're talking about when it's on the plane's device and there's nothing you can do except stare like Alex out of Clockwork Orange.

People took to Reddit to express their thoughts on how to get through the ordeal, and it's safe to say that people had a number of different ideas for how to survive it.

One person suggested simply freezing.

They wrote: "I usually go completely still and hope that the other passengers can’t perceive me unless I move. Like T-rexes.

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"Or I’ll put one hand on my chin in a ‘this is an integral part of the plot and I’m forming an intellectual thought about the scene’ kind of move."

Another said: "If its your movie that you've brought along on a laptop or phone, I would say skip the sex scene. If its in a movie provided by the airline on the little tv, let it run. That's the airline's issue if someone is upset about seeing it."

And a third made a suggestion which is unhelpful but certainly seems more realistic.

They replied: "Squirm nervously until it's over."

Someone else took a, hopefully, more joking approach to the scenario, writing: "Go 'Hm', nod your head inquisitively, and take notes in a notebook."