What began as a routine boarding moment quickly turned awkward for one flyer who realized his seat was being used in a way he never anticipated.
On Reddit, user Choco_bo7 shared a photo of his seat on a United Airlines flight with a caption that said, “Didn’t know my seat was a coat hanger for the passenger behind me.”
The photo showed the man’s seat with the passenger behind him placing his coat over it.
“New feature for economy class?” the original poster (OP) quipped.
‘It would never occur to me’
Many commentators on Reddit expressed disbelief, amid more than 700 remarks, that someone would treat another passenger’s seat as storage for personal belongings.
“People are so weird… it would never occur to me to put my coat on someone else’s seat,” a supporter wrote.
Another response summed up the prevailing mood in just two words: “Hard no.”
Several pundits said the problem was not just the coat itself, but the assumption that it was acceptable to place it in someone else’s personal area without asking.
With limited room on most commercial flights, commenters said passengers rely on unwritten rules to avoid making an already uncomfortable experience worse.
While some Redditors suggested politely alerting the other passenger, many argued that no explanation was required.
“This isn’t even a conversation. You just simply… remove the coat from your seat. From experience they don’t put it back,” a supporter shared.
When asked if he told the other passenger to remove the coat, the OP responded saying, “Nah. Would speak up when people try putting their bags or shoes under my foot rest area, but didn’t wanna be a pr*** to pick on him as I naturally looked back when he put his coat on my seat and we made an eye contact, but he didn’t do anything about it, so I figured he’s not willing to remove it.”
Familiar Friction in the Air
Situations like the one described by Choco_bo7 regularly surface online where air travelers post photos and accounts of behavior they find intrusive.
Newsweek covered a couple that was left in shock after they noticed another plane passenger draping his hair over the headrest of his seat—partially blocking the screen of the person seated behind them.
In a June 2023 survey of 1,000 plane passengers in the United States and Canada, conducted on behalf of the travel booking website Kayak, many travelers took a definitive stance on hair placement on planes, Newsweek reported.
Passengers believe, “you are not allowed to hang your hair over the headrest,” because 74 percent of travelers, “don’t want your mullet in their fruit salad,” the survey found.
Another Newsweek story covered a plane passenger who was slammed online after he was photographed barefoot, with his legs spread out on a flight.
Newsweek has reached out to Choco_bo7 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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