A man has been praised after he admitted he made a woman he was sitting next to on a plane "uncomfortable."
Taking to Reddit's infamous 'Am I An A**hole' thread, a man recalled his experiences on a long-haul flight where a woman refused to get up to let him go to the toilet.
"I (40M) just got off a long flight, the kind where even the comfiest seats feel like torture racks," the man told Reddit users in the thread. "Now, I'm a big dude. Not yet book 2 seats level, but enough for plane seats to be absolute hell. Booked a window seat, figured the extra space would help..."
He then went on to state that two women were sat by him, one in the middle seat and one in the aisle.
"The flight attendant assigns a woman to the middle seat. Nice person, we exchanged greetings, no problem," he continued.
However, "here's where things get tricky," he said.
"Nature called a couple of times during the flight, and let's just say squeezing by in that cramped space is an exercise in contortionism at the best of times. The woman in the middle seat politely refused to get up whenever I needed to use the restroom. (The lady in the aisle seat was very accommodating and would get up any time either I or the lady in the middle needed to get up)," he recalled.
Given the fact that he was a pretty big guy, he knew he would have to make the extra effort to avoid contact with the woman in the middle seat, but even despite "[sucking] in my gut" and "[holding] my breath" he couldn't fully avoid contact with her.
"At the end of the flight, the woman makes a passive-aggressive comment about 'personal space' and how uncomfortable I made her feel throughout the flight," he said before adding: "Honestly, I felt terrible. Didn't mean to make her feel that way, but what else was I supposed to do? Hold it for 8 hours? Ask her to physically get up? (Since she repeatedly didn't get up and indicated I should squeeze by, I had no reason to think she was too bothered by it)."
Thankfully, a lot of Reddit users gathered to tell the man that he was not the a**hole in this situation.
"NTA," one user wrote. "You’re nicer than me, my response would have been: 'Ma’am you refused to get up, so my only options were to either encroach on your personal space or pee on you. I’m sorry you feel I chose the wrong option.'"
"If she was so concerned with personal space she shouldn't have gotten on an airplane," another added.
A third also agreed that he was not the a**hole, though did ask why he picked the window seat if he needed "more space."
"NTA. But first, on what planet does someone pick the window seat on the theory that it might offer more space? An aisle seat, sure. I've seen that plenty. But a window seat? I've actually flown numerous airlines many times and never had someone say that. But I digress..." they wrote before adding: "The lady in the middle chose not to get up when nature called. Not your problem. I guess she'd better buy a first-class seat from now on, so she won't have to put up with people invading her personal space."
Who do you think was in the wrong here?
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