A lthough this is a minor annoyance to me, it can be rather humorous:
Why is it that at times, a person who wants to access a window seat or a middle seat will stand in my way while expecting me to give him or her room?
That happened to me earlier today aboard a Boeing 747-400 aircraft operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. I was the first to take a seat in the row to which I was assigned — and this time, it was an aisle seat. It is a good thing I selected an aisle seat because — as you can see in the photograph at the top of this article — not only was the seat over the wide part of the wing, there also was basically no window.
Anyway, a large passenger eventually arrives aboard the airplane and starts stuffing items into the overhead storage bin above my head, with his jacket hitting me in the face several times. I am certain that he did not realize he was doing that.
After he was done fiddling around for several minutes — and holding up traffic in terms of people boarding — he then completely blocks my access to the aisle while asking me to get up so that he may access his seat.
I was not sure what to say, even though this has happened to me numerous times before. I looked at him, wondering how in the world I was supposed to stand up and let him through if he will not let me out to do so? I could not walk right through him
Of course, this was resolved in a matter of seconds; but I just never understood that. If I were the passenger who needed access to a window seat — and that happened on my flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam — I either stand near the row in front of the one in which my seat assignment is located; or I stand on the side of the person whom I am politely asking to allow me in. Either way gives him or her room to stand and allow me to get to my seat.
Why is it that some people do not get out of my way when they ask for access to their seats? Has this ever happened to you? If so, how did you handle it — and do you handle it any differently if the person is impolite or rude in the request to access his or her seat?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
