A man who was criticised for 'manspreading' on a six-hour flight admits he was left speechless by the ordeal. Being squished in to small seats on flights is a struggle known to many excited holidaymakers.
Some enjoy taking to the skies, while others can have journeys from hell, especially if sat next to strangers for a long period of time, which can cause issues over space. One man who was met with problems of this ilk, took to Reddit to tell his story, reports the Mirror.
The anonymous passenger, who claims to be tall, says he's never very comfortable on flights, but that after being sandwiched between two women on six-hour stint, he was both shocked and confused at how the journey unfolded.
Sharing his story online, 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 or so he started inching his left knee into the "no man's land in between seats, level with the shared armrest". He added: "All was well for about two hours. [But then], the woman in the window seat called over the flight attendant.
"She asked her something like 'Could you tell him to keep his f***ing leg in his own f***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."
The man admits he was speechless but did offer an apology to the aggrieved passenger, who was having none of it. He continued: "I had been shocked into silence. She acted like she didn't hear me.
"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."
But the passenger didn't quite get the response he was hoping to on Reddit, with many people believing he was in the wrong. Some women responded to the man's post on the popular site and were fully insistent that he shouldn't have put the woman in the position of having to ask for "basic personal space".
One user responded angrily saying: "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."
Another backed up that the man was way in the wrong, saying: "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."
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