We put up with travel because typically we’re pretty excited to get to the destination. But often the more exotic the endpoint, the longer one has to sit in a plane, train or automobile. Which also means being in close proximity to other folks who can really make or break your trip.
So we’ve gathered travelers tales from across the internet of the absolutely worst flight seatmates they’ve ever had to deal with. Get comfortable as you read through these tales of discomfort, upvote the most nightmarish examples and be sure to share your own stories in the comments below.
#41
I once had the people behind me change their toddler's poopy diaper right there at the seat and oh god it was awful. We all turned the vents on to blow it away but it was pretty futile. People were gagging.
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3points
#42
Look, this isn’t the *worst* per se, but until this happened, it wasn’t even something I would have considered before.
On a long flight (AKL->LAX) I was sitting at the back of a 777 on the side so there were only two seats. The guy next to me was a very pleasant (and interesting) Brit. We talked for a while. He explained that (at that time) it was cheaper to fly to the Caribbean, buy a boat, and then sail it back to NZ than it was to just buy it there, so that’s what he was doing.
BUT…
As you’d expect on a 14+ hour flight, eventually the lights dim and nearly everyone sleeps.
Here’s my problem with this guy (that I liked up to that point): he was a snuggler.
I woke up 3 times during that flight with him asleep on my shoulder and “snuggling” with my arm (his hand in *my* armpit.)
The fact that he was a heavy sleeper (I pushed him off me all 3 times and it didn’t even seem to impact his sleep in the least) probably made things even worse for me. At the end of the flight his attitude and demeanor hadn’t changed in the least, so I sincerely doubt he even knew what he’d done….
On a long flight (AKL->LAX) I was sitting at the back of a 777 on the side so there were only two seats. The guy next to me was a very pleasant (and interesting) Brit. We talked for a while. He explained that (at that time) it was cheaper to fly to the Caribbean, buy a boat, and then sail it back to NZ than it was to just buy it there, so that’s what he was doing.
BUT…
As you’d expect on a 14+ hour flight, eventually the lights dim and nearly everyone sleeps.
Here’s my problem with this guy (that I liked up to that point): he was a snuggler.
I woke up 3 times during that flight with him asleep on my shoulder and “snuggling” with my arm (his hand in *my* armpit.)
The fact that he was a heavy sleeper (I pushed him off me all 3 times and it didn’t even seem to impact his sleep in the least) probably made things even worse for me. At the end of the flight his attitude and demeanor hadn’t changed in the least, so I sincerely doubt he even knew what he’d done….
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3points
#43
Was flying from NYC to London on Norse Airways economy light and this family of 4 was sitting on my row and in front of me. East Asian woman/white man. I'm an East Asian female myself. The dude sat in front of my, while his wife sat next to me. He was HUGE and when he reclined his seat, it felt like the seat dropped down a few more inches. She was being weird and fidgety, elbowing me randomly, getting in my space, etc--just really uncomfortable and I retaliated a few times so it was a silent war of making each other uncomfortable. If she was gonna mess around, I was gonna make her flight hell. This went on the ENTIRE 7.5-8 hours of this red eye flight and I did not sleep one bit. If you don't know much about AW/WM dynamics, this is not an uncommon behavior among the women in this type of relationship towards other Asian women--tons of hostility.
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2points
#44
Sat next to a guy outta SF that scratched his junk every 30 seconds to a minute for the entire 4-hr flight. Outside and inside his pants.
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2points
#45
I was taking my girlfriend to London and this guy sat next to me and he started making small talk. Eventually it got weird, and he told me that I sat next to him on a flight to London with my mom when I was a baby, and he had saved up his whole life to go to London and try to make the Royal Guard laugh but because I cried so much he couldn’t rest and was too tired to make them laugh and since then he’s waited and waited for his revenge and so he dug through my trash and found my itinerary (I think he got bit by a rat, but he said it wasn’t gross) and he said he was gonna cry the whole flight. He started to yell, and then the flight attendant said he was in the wrong seat and he asked why he couldn’t just pick his seat because you can at some concerts but they made him move. The rightful owner of the seat accidentally stepped in the way he had to go to get to his seat and he got mad, but he eventually took his seat. After that I listened to music and the next day my girlfriend and I had our dream London vacation.
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1point