Flights are often seen as a luxurious way to travel, offering passengers a place to sleep, have a meal and even catch up on the latest film releases while on the way to their destination. However, often seated in close proximity to others, your seatmates can be the reason a flight turns from heaven to hell. That’s certainly true for two travellers who were caught on film going head-to-head in a battle over the window. The moment was captured on camera and posted to the Instagram account @PassengerShaming.
“It’s fine, he’s got something to say,” says the man behind the camera.
“I want this down.”
“I want this up,” the other man retorts.
The flight attendant can be heard talking to the two men, though what is said can not be made out. It seems she did little to ease the situation, however, as the two continue to argue.
“Are you serious man?!” the male in front can be heard demanding, before reaching his arm through the gap in the seats to touch the man behind.
“Don’t touch me, that’s assault,” he retorts.
The video begs the question, “who is in the wrong?”
Meanwhile, the caption accompanying the video states: “All windows were to be open for descent per this airline request, hence why dude in back had his open; not fake.”
The video currently has 127,582 views at the time of writing, whilst hundreds of viewers have shared their opinion on the situation.
“This guy filming is sitting next to a window that can close,” one traveller points out.
“The window he is wanting closed it the passenger in front of him.
“Therefore he has no right to want that shade down. He should put his own window shade down if it’s too bright or ask for an eye mask.. this guy filming is really just trying to pick a fight.”
Another said: “Plane windows now are often split between two seats because they add more rows. Whoever has majority of the window should get to control it. This one definitely is the guy in fronts to control.”
There were some who felt the flight attendant should have exercised more control of the situation.
A traveller wrote: “Why isn’t the FA intervening and telling the guy in back to stop??? You get one window, the one next to your seat.”
However, others have sniffed out a conspiracy to this video.
It seems that while the man filming is desperate for the window in front to be shut, the one directly to his right is still open.
“Why is he trying to close the window when the one directly to his right is open?” a traveller asks.
Another said: “Looks fake, probably 2 bros who wanted their video being talked about.
“Doesn’t make any sense that he wants the shade in front closed while the one just beside him seems open.”
Altercations on aircraft aren’t uncommon, though they are often related to alcohol consumption.
The number of drink-fuelled incidents has risen by almost 400 percent over the past five years but beleaguered attendants claim the vast majority go unaccounted with only the most severe recorded.
Civil Aviation Authority figures show 400 incidents annually but data from the airlines puts it at 4,000 – more than 10 a day – a nine percent rise on last year.
Airline staff want the Government to target drunk fliers with more prosecutions, stiffer penalties and schemes to identify potential problem passengers so they can be stopped from boarding.
They say aggressive and drunken behaviour is becoming almost normal on some routes with attendants dreading services to “party” destinations.
