While some people can't wait to jet off on holiday, others perish at the thought of having to sit in a tiny plane seat for hours on end. That's exactly what was running through one 26-year-old's mind when he was 'doomed' to the middle seat for a six hour flight.
He explained how he was sandwiched in between a woman in her 20s and another in her 30s throughout the duration of the flight - with no room to stretch his legs when needed. Taking to Reddit, he said: "I'm tall and am never comfortable on planes. My knees always dig into the seat in front and it can be quite painful.
"I usually try to take a walk around the airport before flights to stretch my legs, but neglected to do that this time.
After about an hour, the man started inching his left knee into the "no man's land in between seats, level with the shared armrest".
He admits he wasn't paying much attention to his leg placement - and easily could have crept into his seat neighbour's space every now and then.
"All was well for about two hours. [But then], the woman in the window seat called over the flight attendant," he added.
"She asked her something like 'Could you tell him to keep his ****ing leg in his own ****ing seat.'
"With horror, I understood she was talking about me. I instantly retracted my leg in deep shame.
"She added something about 'his enormous d***' - my understanding was that it was meant to be a snide reference to the idea that spreading your legs is about male genital comfort.
"But she wasn't speaking very clearly, and the flight attendant didn't seem to understand her.
"The flight attendant asked her some sort of clarifying question but she didn't answer and eventually the attendant went away."
The man tried to apologise to the woman after the flight attendant left - but his seat neighbour wasn't having any of it.
"I had been shocked into silence. She acted like she didn't hear me," he said. "Aisle seat woman said she had some extra space on her side I could use, but then promptly went to sleep.
"I tried again to apologise to window seat woman, but again she ignored me.
"I went from embarrassed to confused. 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.
"She ignored me the whole rest of the flight and I ignored her. I got a good but painful workout of whatever muscle it is that keeps your knees together."
Wanting to know whether he was in the wrong, he has taken to Reddit to ask for users' thoughts.
In response, one user said: "Woman in her 20s books window seat to have a quiet time during the six hour flight. Woman in her 30s knows better, books aisle seat just in case people next to her might be annoying.
"Dude 26, tall, still hasn't realised women want to be left alone.
"He spreads out on the wrong side towards the younger woman where there is already less space than on the other side.
"He does not ask for permission, does not confirm with her that it's OK.
"Apparently doesn't realise that he makes her uncomfortable with his knee going 'unsupervised' for two hours and is 'surprised' that she complained.
"Why did she react so harshly? Maybe she has had enough, maybe she had problems on her own, maybe something had happened to her previously? We will never know.
"Lesson to learn: Leave women alone, book a seat upfront if you are tall, ask for permission before spreading out."
Another user added: "I'm a small woman and men on plane flights constantly shove their knees into my personal space, even when they have enough room to sit with their legs together.
"It's exhausting having to try to figure out if I should bother asking them to move, especially because I dislike conflict and sometimes they either get mad (and then I'm stuck sitting next to an angry person much larger than me for hours), or else fake an apology and then go back to doing it ten minutes later.
"If you physically can't fit into your space, I'm not going to get mad. Maybe you should book a larger seat, but I don't know what your financial situation is or why you need to fly.
"But if you are able to fit, even if it's less comfortable, keep your goddamn body parts to yourself and don't put me in the position of having to ask for basic personal space."
A third user 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 payed extra for the window seat so she could be comfortable and you felt entitled to occupy her space.
"I'm a super small girl who travels a lot and men do this to me all the time and I have scrunch myself up in my seat so I'm not touching them.
"You could of asked if it was alright for you to spread out - I've had tall men ask me before and that super small gesture makes me feel so much better.
"I'm never going to say no, I've even switched seats. Yes, she handled it poorly and she might be an a***hole too but you're the a***hole.
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
