Passenger's Plane Drama: Fellow Flyer Kicks Her Calves Mid-Flight

Sarah Johnson
March 30, 2025
Brief
A plane passenger shared her ordeal of a fellow traveler invading her personal space mid-flight, sparking a viral Reddit discussion on airline etiquette and handling rude behavior.
A plane passenger took to Reddit to share what many would call a nightmare flying experience: encountering a fellow traveler who repeatedly invaded her personal space.
In a post on the "r/delta" forum, the woman revealed how she had to physically push back against the man's encroaching feet. "They decided halfway into the flight to start kicking/pushing on my calves with their feet/shoes," she wrote, describing the discomfort caused by the stranger sitting behind her.
But it gets worse. According to her account, the male passenger even stuck his entire foot and shoe underneath her seat and over the bar, encroaching on her designated space. "I could see at least half his shoe before I did the shove... almost his entire foot/shoe was where MY FEET should be," she added, clearly exasperated.
She ended her tale with a no-nonsense PSA: "DO NOT do this to the person in front of you. EVERYONE is uncomfortable – not just you." It was evidently a first-time experience for her, and one she wouldn’t wish upon anyone else.
The Reddit post sparked a lively conversation, with users chiming in with similar horror stories and their own creative solutions for dealing with boundary-crossing passengers. One user commended her actions, saying, "Kudos to you for pushing back. Guy sounds like he was raised in a barnyard." Others showed no mercy in their suggestions, with one remarking, "I’d dump a drink on their feet. Oops." Another joked about tying the offending passenger’s shoelaces to the bar.
Some commenters suggested escalating the situation to flight attendants. "Definitely push the FA [flight attendant] call button," one recommended. Another described how they handled a similar scenario: "I turned around and said, 'Will you please stop touching my body? I don’t want a leg massage.' And luckily that was enough to put a lid on it for the rest of the flight."
Amid the chaos, Jacqueline Whitmore, a longtime etiquette expert based in Florida, weighed in with some advice on proper airline behavior. "Seats may be getting smaller by the day, but that doesn’t give you the right to spill over into someone else’s space or put your head on another person’s shoulder – unless, of course, you know that person well," Whitmore told Fox News Digital.
While flying often comes with its fair share of discomforts, one thing is clear from this story: personal space on an airplane is sacred ground – and trespassers will face consequences, whether it’s a Reddit rant or a physical shove.
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Editor's Comments
Honestly, this story is both frustrating and hilarious. Imagine having to defend your legroom like it’s some kind of medieval battlefield. The audacity of sticking your whole foot into someone else’s space is wild – was this guy testing the limits of human decency or just oblivious? Either way, kudos to the poster for standing her ground!
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