How to Be a Good Seat Neighbor on an Airplane

I recently took a flight from Honolulu, Hawaii The airplane I flew on had rows of three seats on each side of the plane. My husband sat in the window seat and I sat in the middle seat. As I watched the people boarding the plane I wondered who would be seated next to me in the aisle seat. Finally a young man took the aisle seat. I looked over waiting to catch his eye to say hello. After all we were going to be close neighbors for 5 1/2 hours of the first half of my flight home. Not once did he look my way. Not once did he make an effort to speak to me or my husband. As the stewardess started to speak to us I notice he has done something that is going to be our first problem. He has taken over both arm rest with his elbows. Apparently he felt he deserved to have both of them. My arm was bumped off ever so gently . I thought to myself ...self...it's not worth arguing over. Okay, I will let you have it for now. He eventually fell asleep at which time I reclaimed my arm rest. Tip #1~ Don't assume that you get to have two arm rests because you are in the aisle seat!

Now we are an hour into the flight. I notice that his left leg is across and in front of my seat. He has stretched it out so that his foot now rests underneath the seat directly in front of me where my carryon bag is sitting on the floor. I grabbed my bag and pulled it straight out from beneath the storage area. It caused him to wake up and move his leg and foot back to his side of the seat. Tip #2~Don't invade my personal space!

One long trip I had a very nice man sitting next to me on the aisle seat. He was friendly and wanted to talk the entire flight. Usually that would not have bothered me. This time it did. He must have eaten tuna fish before he boarded the plane. He tended to lean into my seat as he spoke to me and my husband. It was a long flight , about 9 long hours smelling fish breath. Tip #3~ Please don't eat something smelly before you get on the plane!

My worse neighbor on a flight was a young man who was pretending to be asleep for a 7 hour flight. I know he was pretending, he kept his sunglasses on the whole trip but I could see on the side of the glasses that his eyes were open. This trip happened when we actually were given meals on planes. Do you remember the good old days of inflight meals? We were given our dinners. My husband and I started to eat them. Of course he had his on his tray table but he pretended to sleep. Well next thing I know is he has crossed his arms and reclined his seat. His head turned towards me. Seriously, you aren't fooling anyone with that act. I know you aren't asleep! I couldn't eat because I knew he was staring at me. He practically had his head on my seat back now. Yes, you guessed it, next comes the stealing of my arm rest. He over took my arm rest while I ate my dinner. Sneaky move! After we had finished our dinner, the trays were taken away. I leaned back in my seat. His elbows were now out to the middle of my seat back. I could not lean all the way back in my own chair. I just decided to plop back and see what happens. He moved his arms out of the seat but still took the arm rest. As the flight continued he still pretended to be asleep. He kept leaning his head closer to my side of the seat. Then he started to snore...oh no! To make matters worse, he blew three puffs of air at my head! Okay, enough is enough . I made him move, saying I needed to use the bathroom. Tip #4~Unless you are my family keep your body on your side of the seat and don't stare, it's impolite!

I have been on many flights over the years. I must say that I have had great conversations with people sitting next to me and my husband. I love to fly and I am always considerate of the person sitting next to me in the aisle seat.