Y ou sit in your seat at the bulkhead in the middle section aboard the large airplane which has two aisles. There is no one seated in front of you; so you know that the back of a seat will not recline into your space. The airplane departs and ascends into the sky; and you start to get comfortable…
…until the sign to fasten your seat belt is no longer illuminated; and here they come: fellow passengers who barge through in front of you, using the bulkhead row of middle seats as a through way to get to the other side of the aircraft.
I personally do not prefer bulkhead seats anywhere on the aircraft; as — more often than not — there is not enough leg room for me. I certainly would not want a train of people moving across in front of me, straddling over my legs in there attempts to climb over me with their crotches or posteriors in my face — only to inadvertently bang into me or step on my foot before continuing onwards with nary an apology. It is bad enough when that happens in other rows — or having that large bag whack me in the face by some clueless moron who does not know how to control it while I am sitting in an aisle seat.
Ah…more reason to enjoy a window seat aboard an airplane — but I digress.
When I am standing in an aisle — waiting to use a lavatory, for example — there may be times where the lavatory on the other side of the aircraft is vacant; but the flight attendants are blocking my egress because they are busy serving passengers. I would never use the space in front of the seats at the bulkhead in the middle section of the airplane as a short cut or a time saver. That space belongs to the passengers for as long as they are assigned to those seats — and in my opinion, that is indisputable.
Where does anyone need to go in such a hurry, anyway — especially if the arrival at our destination is not for another several hours? It is not like they have a business appointment to keep — or that they need to meet someone at a certain time. The airplane is not going to get there any faster — no matter how much flatulence a person may believe they can contribute to the jet stream while in flight.
Maybe the offenders believe that people would rather watch them move in front of the screen on the bulkhead instead of the movie itself being shown on that screen? Could it be their only opportunities to be in — or on — a motion picture in front of a captive audience?
Perhaps the people seated in those seats can charge a toll for anyone who wants to use the space in front of them as a passageway. They should be able to collect enough money to pay for their airfares and then some.
“Its got the point now where we sometimes pile a bag up by our feet to block it off”, posted FlyerTalk member psychocandy. “Still had someone last flight who steamed across the first two of us- saw the bag tower by person three and asked us to move it so they could get past!
“Am I right in thinking its a bit rude to use this as throughway?”
I believe it is more than a bit rude, psychocandy. I believe that their behavior is egregiously inconsiderate and unacceptable.
What are your thoughts?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
