Plane Passenger Says Fellow Traveler Started ‘Slapping’ His Head to Get His Attention

A plane passenger is detailing how a fellow traveler broke a common travel etiquette rule during their recent red eye flight – and it led to a heated exchange. 

The passenger says he were traveling on a red-eye flight from Portland, Ore. to Newark, N.J. with hsi wife when the ordeal happened mid-flight, according to a Reddit post shared on Sunday, June 8. 

While the Original Poster (OP) says he has trouble sleeping on flights, he was able to “doze off” shortly after takeoff, making the unexpected interaction he had next especially irritating.

“Maybe 45 mins into flight, I feel a ‘slapping’ on top of my head (I was wearing a ball cap). This was not a gentle nudge, this was more of a hard rapping on the top of my head,” he writes. 

Despite being “a bit dazed” after waking up, he says he asked his wife if she hit him on the head while he was sleeping. “Of course she did not and would not, but I’m groggy,” he adds, before realizing that it might have been the person sitting behind him. 

“I turn around and this clown in the window behind me says, ‘Move your seat up, I dropped my earbud.’ So I move my seat up for him,” he writes. “This guy was rapping on my head because he needed me to move my seat up.”

While it’s bad enough he was woken up during a red eye, he adds that the fellow traveler had the nerve to do it again, sparking a heated reaction. 

“Not two minutes go by and ONCE AGAIN, the same obnoxious, intrusive rapping on my head. This time he says, ‘Found it, thanks pal,’” the OP explains. “I turn around and glare at this guy, and say, ‘If you need anything else from me on this flight, the one thing you WON’T be doing is putting your hands on me again,’ to which he responds, ‘That’s fair.’”

The OP says that the interruption left him “awake for the remainder of the flight” and that the commotion was loud enough for a flight attendant to notice. The flight attendant acknowledged the other passenger’s rude behavior, according to the OP, leaving him “happy” that she “recognized the facts” of the situation. 

After the flight, the OP says his wife had noticed the same traveler “acting somewhat obnoxious” and being “loud at takeoff,” but he didn’t hear the ruckus because he was wearing noise canceling headphones. 

“What makes a person think they are allowed to touch another person?” the OP asks, concluding his post. 

In the comments section, many users were quick to share the OP’s outrage over the other traveler’s behavior. 

“People, man. They check their common sense and common decency at the airport drop off curb,” one wrote, followed by another who added, “Handled it better than I would have. Kudos.”

Another expressed their disbelief over the traveler making the OP move when it was their fault they dropped their earbud.

“I’ve dropped stuff on the plane that I can’t reach. My reaction is, ‘Well that sucks, I’m going to have to wait until they move their seat,’” the user writes. “It was my fault I dropped the earbud, pen, or whatever. It never crosses my mind to bother the person in front of me let alone assault the person in front of me. Some people are just f—ing wild.”

A different user agreed that his neighbor could have handled the situation better.

“I agree that hitting you on the head is a bit much especially for the non-urgent reason the person behind you had. On the other hand a gentle tap on the shoulder or arm would not draw such a bad reaction from me especially if it was done in a fairly apologetic manner.”

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PEOPLE previously spoke to travel expert, writer and advisor, Nicole Campoy Jackson all about in-flight travel etiquette. While this particular situation didn’t escalate any further, Jackson has said it’s always best to ask for a flight attendant’s help when it comes to a mid-flight altercation.

“I am always in the camp of getting a flight attendant involved for sticky in-flight situations,”  she said. “Tensions run high when we’re traveling plus they would know, for example, if there was…another solution to this problem. They have more context than we, the passengers, do.”