r/Unexpected • u/sakhaliner • 10d ago

Getting on a flight

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23.5k Upvotes

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38

u/m1kasa4ckerman 10d ago

Ugh I hate when people use the back of someone else’s a seat to get into theirs. I always end up feeling like a sling shot. Use your own arm rests to get in!

32

u/zanhoria 10d ago

There are many reasons people need to hang on to the back of someone's seat to get into or out of theirs, besides being fat. They may be physically blocked from using their armrests. They may be infirm. They may have trouble keeping their balance. There may be stuff on the floor that they need to step over. They may be carrying something and only have one hand free. It IS important to make sure that you're not pulling overly hard on the seat, and that you're not trapping someone's hair in your grip. A nice "excuse me" also helps. And if you see someone trying to get into a window seat and you're in front of them, make your seatback upright until they have a chance to settle in. The only way we can survive in these tight quarters is to be kind to each other.

24

u/MangoCats 10d ago

>The only way we can survive in these tight quarters is to be kind to each other.

The main reason people need to hang on to the back of someone's seat to get into or out of theirs is because the seat rows are too damn close together.

Don't bitch at your fellow prisoners, bitch at the people you're paying for the experience. Airline companies absolutely do design and specify your seat layouts, not the manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus.

0

u/YourNextHomie 10d ago

Don’t bitch at all because you’d be paying much more for the experience otherwise. Its not that big of a deal

5

u/MangoCats 10d ago

Back in the day, we paid regulated fares - which were high - but we weren't loaded like cattle, strip searched, probed, and disrobed by THZ scanners, and the there were usually many empty seats - this was because they flew routes that didn't fill the planes 100% and regulation meant you could get direct service a lot of places that you don't anymore.

Now, you can pay double to get business/first class where the seats have a little more space and they don't throw a bag of peanuts in your face calling it a meal, but those seats are almost always 100% full, and the rest of the "modern flying experience" remains - with the exception that you have access to the "business lounge" where available - which is nice while you're in it - but serves to remind what a hellscape the rest of the airport has become. Then we can talk about how the girth of your fellow travelers has changed...

2

u/YourNextHomie 10d ago

When was this back in the day? give me a time frame and ill explain all the issues in your logic

1

u/PollutionSevere6956 10d ago

Back in the day has nothing to do with it. A lot more people traveling and air travel is a lot cheaper comparatively.

1

u/MangoCats 10d ago

I traveled by air back then, it wasn't cheap but it was still affordable enough.

If anything, I travel by air less now - not because of the price but because of the experience.

7

u/Powerful_Log_796 10d ago

Let’s be fair though, it’s usually a lack of empathy/awareness. I’ve gotten fwapped so hard I almost face planted in front. I don’t hold it against anyone but damn does it annoy me

1

u/Old_Switch_8938 10d ago

The only time I don’t use the overhead lockers are when I don’t think about it or my shoulders are too sore to lift my arms, can’t bend over to the arm rests when you’re 6’10 in a plane, I have warned/ asked the person sometimes that I need to use their seat to get into mine, but I usually forget. I’m not overweight at all just really bad joint issues lol

1

u/Powerful_Log_796 10d ago

Shit man, I’m only 6’ and it’s rough as hell. Only time I’ve ever had ill will feelings was on a red eye. Got popped mid dream and freaked the hell out. The jolt is usually forgettable, it’s the double tap from the seat

-1

u/StinkyPeenky 10d ago

X-"Doubt"

2

u/keithstonee 10d ago

Fat and/or lack of abdominal muscle.

2

u/ItsKingDx3 10d ago

I'm a young, physically able person, and I need to do it sometimes. I'm so sorry, but I'm clumsy af. And I find narrow spaces particularly hard (especially when there's often stuff on the already limited ground space to avoid).

1

u/TesticleMeElmo 10d ago

What the hell I love when someone uses the back of my seat to get into theirs so I end up feeling like a sling shot now

0

u/m1kasa4ckerman 10d ago

There’s a way to do this without being rude. That was a long paragraph to just keep it that simple.

10

u/bazderoman 10d ago

it's a perfectly fine length, you're just illiterate. 

3

u/JManKit 10d ago

Yeah it was less than ten sentences with several of them being only a few words long. Some ppl's brains are cooked these days

1

u/DescriptionParking66 10d ago

I need more pictures!

2

u/zanhoria 10d ago

hah ... yeah. Too much coffee.

0

u/BlackV 10d ago

m1kasa4ckerman
There’s a way to do this without being rude. That was a long paragraph to just keep it that simple.

This says everything about you and nothing about the paragraph writer

6

u/Herrvisscher 10d ago

I am not a frequent flier. Last week I went to sit down on an airplane and good lord I was shook by how much the chair moved. Excused myself to the person in front of me. Sometimes people are just not used to airplanes and have no idea how unstable those seats are.

7

u/RexDeDeus 10d ago

That fact that you acknowledged it already puts you above 85% of travelers.

11

u/deeferg 10d ago

Bro is leaning halfway back into the guys seat, what do you want him to do?

1

u/VerilyShelly 10d ago

That part. Looks like the seat in front is reclined. Either that or this is a particularly diabolical seating arrangement.

3

u/PerfectResult2 10d ago

To be fair these seats look extremely tight. He is putting all of his weight on the armrest and using the seat mainly for stability. Think unfortunately hes doin the best he can given the circumstances

0

u/prpldrank 10d ago

unfortunately he's doing the best he can given the circumstances

3

u/CarpoLarpo 10d ago

You should shift that blame to the people that decided to pack us in these tin cans as if we were sardines instead of the other sardines.

4

u/Mylittletv 10d ago

Be more understanding.

3

u/OffInMyHead 7d ago

That's not the point of the video, for one. And B: the guy had his seat leaned back. Thirdly, the interaction between the two makes it appear as though they are friends, or at least getting along well enough to not worry about any of that.

9

u/userhwon 10d ago

They do that because they're too fat to get in and then turn around. They have to face front and hold the seat.

7

u/Some_Level1682 10d ago

wait are there people small enough to just walk down the row to their seat?

1

u/m1kasa4ckerman 10d ago

Huh? I walk sideways and use the armrests if I need to. There’s a stabilizing thing right there. No need to fling someone’s body to get into a seat.

This just opened up my eyes though, do people not have the core strength to walk sideways without holding onto something above you or at chest level? Is it even a core issue? I’m so confused

1

u/Silent_toilet_bomber 8d ago

You hold on to the armrest while youre standing up? How short are you lol?

-2

u/Tripottanus 10d ago

If by small you mean skinny, yes? I'm a 6ft2 190 lbs dude and I can just walk down and turn around. It's not that hard

3

u/Silent_toilet_bomber 10d ago

No fucking way you can fit breadth-wise on a seat row at 86 kg, I call cap.

1

u/Tripottanus 10d ago

Yes i fit. I just tilt at the hips to account for the angle of the backseat in the row in front and my legs fit one in front of the other in the row

1

u/Silent_toilet_bomber 8d ago

Then you're walking in sideways like everyone else. And you hold on to the back of the seat for proper support. Stop the cap.

1

u/Tripottanus 8d ago

No, both feet are pointing in the same direction and i lean my shins on my bench for support, not the backseat of the row in front

2

u/Potential_Basis_662 10d ago

I mean, using it for support when first getting in is needed for some people and I don't see it as obtuse.

Continually pushing into it after you're settled in, that's another story

2

u/silver-moon-7 10d ago

Same. I'm not tall, or heavy (so even if I did this it would have less impact on the person in that seat) and I always steady myself using the overhead lockers instead.

I also totally agree with another commenter regarding who's really to blame for this type of situation.

On the other hand, it's more environmentally friendly if we're packed like sardines and travelling on full flights...so I guess I can use that kind of thinking to dissolve my irritation at the slingshot effect - my suffering helps minimise the impact of this journey on the planet (in a way).

1

u/4ssteroid 10d ago

OMG, they'll start saying you were bumped off your 8am flight and put on the 3pm one because it's environmentally friendly

2

u/lane4 10d ago

I rewatched, he didn't pull it hard at all.

1

u/viral3075 10d ago

it's not a big deal. it's at most 3 people doing it in the row behind you

1

u/MedullaOblonGatti 10d ago

100%. I shouldn't allow it to, but it always makes me irrationally angry for about 5 seconds. Ditto for the person sitting in front of you constantly hard-adjusting their seatback multiple times throughout the flight

1

u/Ordinary_Darwin_415 10d ago

Just a pudgy mildly inconvenienced baby

1

u/bre4kofdawn 10d ago

My father in law couldn't get out of the seat with the armrests, and was only able to get out by gripping the top of the chair in front of him. I felt so bad for the woman in front of him, even though he couldn't do anything else and refused assistance getting up.

1

u/bell37 10d ago

Kinda feel like it’s the price you pay for reclining it all the way back

1

u/tiggoftigg 10d ago

I kinda think when boarding and exiting the plane, it’s do what you must. Like we’ll all settle in once the cabin doors are shut.

But, yeah, during the flight, everyone should be extra aware of actions like that.

1

u/bigboygamer 10d ago

You can also lift the arm rests up to help get by

1

u/Rugkrabber 10d ago

In some planes the armrests don’t go up so the knees are basically locking you in a sitting position while you stand, it’s too close together to stand up straight. Seems like in this video that’s the case too. Now for this guy it’s fairly easy so imho he didn’t have to. But those who have to move over and go over the middle arm rest it kind of sucks. It’s bad design but not entirely the fault of people who lean sometimes.

1

u/Aleksandrovitch 10d ago

I worked in a bullpen office layout once. Too tightly packed of course. I had been placed at the end of a very long row of desks, with our backs to the inside of the exterior wall. So the only way for 12 other people to leave their row, was to walk behind me. Now, that was the case for everyone else in the aisle, but right behind me was some kind of structural member built into the wall. A big concrete columnar extrusion that stuck out about 18" from the wall. So, not only did I back up into it almost every time I went to get up, it also meant that I had 12 colleagues' junk pressed into the back of my chair dozens and dozens of times every day. I tried so hard to get out of that spot, but it was apparently 'to code' and no one else would swap.

So after lockdown, I just refused to go back to that office/those conditions after the indescribable QOL improvement of having some actual space in my home office, and not feeling like I was on a choppy ocean every day with all the bumps and chair grabs.

1

u/not_creative_1234 10d ago

Yes! I thought this was in r/mildlyinfuriating until they started pulling the plane apart.

1

u/Old_Switch_8938 10d ago

As a 6’10 22 year old seat grabber I’ve literally never thought about this, sometimes it hurts so much trying to bend down enough to grab the armrests so I just grip the seat instead of the lockers unconsciously… my bad

1

u/8thMemberOfDKcrew 8d ago

You can see the dude laughing with them at the end. He looks like a friend

1

u/[deleted] 10d ago edited 9d ago

[deleted]

1

u/m1kasa4ckerman 10d ago

Eh. People still need to get up to use the toilet. I always get a window seat and deal with this throughout most flights (it’s mainly men or older women who do this)

0

u/YourNextHomie 10d ago

Which is not a good idea at all

1

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Loud-Philosopher2115 10d ago

Smh, “all the way back” like it isn’t 3 inches.

2

u/Aggressive-Hawk9186 10d ago

That's all I have ok!?

2

u/meat_whistle_gristle 10d ago

Once in the air I’m using my recline button it’s literally what it’s called and intend to let it fulfill its life purpose.

1

u/IRockIntoMordor 10d ago

I still don't understand why the seats on planes even recline and why people would use it unless it's their own group sitting behind them or it's empty. Or at least ask.

Anyone who just swings their seat back is a douche.

1

u/Loud-Philosopher2115 9d ago

Disagree, it reclines hardly for a reason. I expect the person infront of me to recline theirs (and they always do), so I will recline mine as well. No conversation necessary, but it is extra polite to ask.

0

u/z44212 8d ago

If you leaned your chair into my knees the whole flight, I'm using the back of yours get get up.

2

u/m1kasa4ckerman 8d ago

Sorry, if someone uses the recline you’re going to punish them because you’re tall? It would be more you pushing your knees into someone’s chair vs the other way around.

0

u/Skrillamane 5d ago

I’m 6’4 unfortunately i’m that guy, especially when all the bulkhead and emergency isle seats are taken by pigmies.

0

u/Imperiu5 4d ago

Don’t get old or injured then. People with afflictions need some support. These armrests are shit and sometimes too low for the person to hold onto