On a flight from Arcata-Eureka airport to Denver the other day, I experienced something that has never happened in all my 200,000+ miles of flying. The flight was already a questionable early morning departure, not to mention a 1,000-mile hop in a CRJ-200, an aircraft I totally hate. But this took the cake when it comes to reasons to be upset.
Put Your Bag Under Which Seat?
Traveling with a carry-on and personal item is a very routine part of travel. The carry-on goes in the overhead bin (well, not on a CRJ-200) and the personal item goes under the seat. Which seat? The seat in front of you.
Except for this lady. Never have I seen anyone stow their bag under their own seat. Until now. I happened to be the person behind her, so this was in my footspace.
I likely would have notice immediately, except that I’d already placed my laptop on top of my pullover on the floor under the seat. My feet weren’t in the way. The space was sorta taken, except not quite enough of it. She managed to squeeze her small backpack through the space under her seat on top of my stuff.
I’d be surprised that I didn’t notice sooner, except I was a little too engrossed straining my neck to look out the tiny, horribly-placed CRJ window as we took off from ACV. I’m not sure if she placed her bag there immediately, or once we started moving.
Remedying the Situation
Any normal person probably would have asked her to remove it, or even just pushed the pack out with their feet, claiming the space back. I definitely thought about it. But I also thought about not wanting to get into any sort of altercation. It was a total jerk move on her part, and I shouldn’t have let her get away with it. Yet I was also not really using the space for my feet, as my laptop was stowed there much of the flight (I worked for maybe 40 minutes of the 2-hour hop to Denver).
I ended up leaving it in place. I’ve definitely seen some poor passenger behavior, and the idea of getting into an argument with someone in an enclosed space is awful. However, I also find that I end up being too passive when it comes to interacting with strangers.
Still, this has to be pretty much the jerkiest move anyone can make as a passenger. Sure, there is the battle over seat reclining, which has two sides. But to take up someone else’s limited footspace completely? Not okay in the slightest.
Has this happened to you? What would you have done in this situation?
Happened to me a few times before, I prefer to avoid confrontation, normally bring it to the attention of the flight attendant.
That’s definitely the best way to handle it.
Good grief, the woman’s ignorant, not a jerk. She probably doesn’t know the usual protocol for an under-seat bag. And if this is the worst jerk behaviour you’ve seen, you need more miles.
That is more likely the case, the more I’ve thought about it.
I’ve seen my share of odd things, but I guess my flying has been fairly tame. *knock on wood*
I would call you lucky, as your laptop could have been stolen with the blink of an eye transferring such to someone up front before leaving the plane . And who would be the wiser?
I had my eye on it after her bag ended up on it!
wow that’s a pretty jerk move! Didn’t encounter this before, hopefully she’s just a new traveler and doesn’t know better.
Same! That’s what others are guessing.
I agree that it is very possibly not a jerk move. The person may not travel enough to know better. In most any other setting, your own belongings go under the seat in which you are sitting.
True. I see that this is a likely possibility now.
This is, by far, not the worst jerk move you can make as a passenger. Painting your nails, or removing nail polish, in the middle of the flight gets my vote. How about eating chicken wings? Changing your baby’s diaper on the seat? Ringing the call button every five seconds when everyone else is trying to sleep? However, the truth is that a good flight is any flight that lands safely.
So…I’ve not personally seen any of those. But they would certainly be in the running! Except for maybe eating chicken wings. Change a diaper on the seat, and I’ll be ringing the call button to call the attendant!
This has happened to me several times, always with new passengers seated in the bulk head that didn’t know any better. I just ask them to move their bag and they do.
I can see the issue in the bulkhead, but she was in row 2. I’ve just never seen anyone do this!
Not necessarily a jerk move as she may have not known seat/bag etiquette. That being said, I can see a couple of options I here… politely ask her to remove the bag (or mention it to the flight attendant). Or for more fun, take the bag and put it in the overhead compartment and see if she can find it.
True. I did think of this. I do like your idea of moving the bag to the overhead bin!