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Air travel really brings out the worst in some people. It’s not uncommon to see passengers placing their feet in areas where they really shouldn’t be on planes (like on arm rests, or using toes to control the inflight entertainment), though I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.
Video footage is going viral of an incident that happened on a recent Qatar Airways flight from Doha (DOH) to Moscow (SVO). The flight was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, and involves the passengers who were seated in 23C and 24C, which are the aisle seats on the left side in the first two rows of the second economy cabin.
It appears that what happened is that the person seated in front reclined her seat, which the person seated behind wasn’t happy about. So she decided to take revenge by placing her feet on top of the headrest of the seat in front. I’m not sure whether to be more dismayed by her pettiness, or more impressed by her flexibility.
Fellow passengers filmed the situation, with quite some commentary (translated from Russian):
- The woman seated in front says “this is freedom, you just don’t get it… freedom other people take away”
- A bystander jokes “this is business class,” due to the way that the woman stretches her legs
- The woman seated across the aisle says “I returned to my homeland earlier than I had planned, this can only happen in Russia”
- The woman seated in front then says “as the saying goes, you can take a person out of the dirt, but the dirt doesn’t come out of the person”
A flight attendant can then be seen kneeling down next to the passenger, presumably asking her to knock off what she’s doing. However, she refuses to stop.
Throughout all of this, the woman in back remains silent, and her only additional action is that she “claps” her feet together, when she sees the camera pointed directly at her. You can see the video for yourself below (sorry for linking to the New York Post, bleh, but it’s the best version of the video I could find).
A few thoughts on this bizarre Qatar Airways incident
First of all, the woman seated in the back is behaving completely inappropriately, and there’s no justification whatsoever for her behavior. I just don’t understand what goes through someone’s head when they behave this way…
It can’t actually be comfortable to sit this way (at least for extended periods of time), and she’s just making a fool of herself, while trying to prove a (losing) point.
Next, unfortunately this is probably an area where Qatar Airways flight attendants are a little too passive, and aren’t very good at being firm. This is a case where we need an American Airlines crew, who are going to yell at the passenger, have the captain announce the flight will be diverting, etc… or something.
Lastly, the woman seated in front probably isn’t being terribly considerate either. It’s quite simple — seat recline is a right and not a privilege, but we should still try to be respectful to fellow passengers. The woman seated in front is in the exit row with infinite legroom, she’s working on her laptop, and they’re seemingly going to start the inflight service shortly.
So while it’s absolutely her right to recline, it’s also probably not a “best practice,” if you will. That in no way excuses the behavior of the woman in back, but it does seem like this is a case where deescalation techniques also weren’t prioritized.
Bottom line
A Qatar Airways passenger wasn’t happy when the person in front of her reclined, so she decided to place her feet on top of the headrest of the seat in front. While that shows an incredible amount of flexibility, it also shows an unbelievable level of disrespect and pettiness. While the crew tried to speak to her, she seemingly continued with her antics.
I’ve seen a lot of situations of passengers putting their feet in places where they don’t belong on planes, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.
What do you make of this Qatar Airways “footrest” situation?
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