To wake someone up on a day flight?

Just say “don’t be ridiculous - this is economy and people need to move and use facilities. If you wanted to be undisturbed you could have paid to book a window seat”

Get up and down as you need. I always tell people I’m going get up frequently because of a health condition and let them decide if they want to swap with me.

I think that I'd have said: 'I'm sorry, perhaps I should have booked an aisle seat, but I didn't think of that. I need to get up every so-often because I have arthritis (or whatever) & need to stretch out, perhaps we should swap seats so that I don't keep disturbing you?' That way they have a choice swap seats or be disturbed. On a long flight it's recommended that you get up & walk around every couple of hours anyway so no big deal.

At the end of the day it's unlikely that you will meet them again - so what if they spend the next few months moaning about the pain in the arse woman who kept waking them up?

Tbh it was a but selfish of you to wake them for that reason, it would have been different if you needed the toilet. They may have been on a connecting flight beforehand and already been travelling for hours. If you know this is what you like to do on a flight why didn’t you book an aisle seat so you wouldn’t be disturbing anyone?

You could have offered to swap with them so they could sleep un disturbed

I would have said I had to use the bathroom (in other words HAD to get up) rather than just wanted to stretch my legs. But of course you were entitled to get up. It isn't clear if you tried to get up as soon as they had collected the rubbish from the meal service, which would be the obvious time. If you'd waited, say, 15 minutes, giving him just enough time to get comfortable and fall asleep, and then decided to get up, I can see why your seatmate was annoyed. But if you don't have the window seat you have to be willing to get up at any point in the flight.

I like to have the option to get up and move around whenever I want, especially on a long flight, so I try and book an aisle seat when possible. Similarly, my husband likes to sleep and often doesn't need to get up even once on a long flight, so books the window seat when possible. But, ultimately, it's not a private plane. Your seatmate may have been annoyed but it is what it is.

It was pretty selfish to wake them just because you fancied a wander and a blether with your pal.

There's plenty of leg exercises you can sitting in your seat so that excuse doesn't wash either.

Try thinking of others for once and not be so selfish.

Sorry I disagree with others and think YABU.

If you wanted to chat with your friend why didn't you book seats next to each other? Or if that wasn't possible, book an aisle seat so that you can easily get up and go and see her?

I have sat in the window seat plenty of times and accept that if I don't know the people next to me and they're asleep, I stay put (unless I desperately need to go to the loo).

Its the nature of Mass Transit. You have to work around other people.

You wete both equally wrong and right.

I don’t think YABU, but if you’d woken me I’d be pretty grumpy, because that’s just how I am if someone wakes me from a nap, takes me a while to calm down. So I don’t think the other passenger was BU either. 9 hour flights in economy are just pretty miserable really.

I think you were pretty selfish. It sounds like you wanted to get up rather than needed to.

Just say you need to go to the loo next time.

Neither of you were right, neither of you were wrong. But if it is important to either of you to be able to get up and move or to not be disturbed, then you should book the appropriate seat.

If you know you need to get up every 2 hours then you need to book an aisle seat. It's really selfish to wake people up on a flight for no good reason. It may have been daytime to you but they could have been on a different time zone.

That's not necessarily true. If there's an equipment change/rebooking due to missed flight you can and up in a very different seat than what you booked.

If the middle seat didn't want to be interrupted they should have booked the window seat. Anytime you are blocking people in you need to be prepared to get up.

It's best to get up when everyone else is, if possible, as you are minimizing the amount of disruptions.

If they want to guarantee they aren't woken up they need to book the window seat - even on a night flight

YANBU

People saying OP should’ve booked an aisle seat if she wanted to get up a lot but equally man should’ve booked a window seat if he didn’t want to be disturbed. I don’t think there was anything wrong with you waking him to move.

You put your needs above the theirs. Valid for you. Valid for them to be grumpy about it.

no one can tell you if your need to stretch your legs was more important than their need for sleep.

move on!

I think on flights everyone should always be able to get up if they need to.

I have claustrophobia and OCD which means I need to book an aisle seat (even though I’m having therapy for OCD, I’m not going on a flight unless I have the aisle).

I also like to sleep on the flight (the motion sends me to sleep) but I accept that the inside passengers are totally free to wake me at any time.

If someone wants to sleep without a chance of being woken they need to pay to reserve a window seat, and book in time to do so. You could always be woken by the flight crew for various reasons anyway so best not to bank on undisturbed sleep.

Honestly, I don't think I'd have woken them up just for a leg stretch and a chat. If you'd needed the loo, fair enough, but this wasn't as urgent and sounds like a want more than a need. That said, if they're not by the window, they can't expect not to be woken at some point.

I think if you want to stretch your legs every two hours on a 9hr flight it is probably better to try to sit on the aisle. “Night/day” is a bit meaningless on a flight that long as you’re probably crossing time zones and people will have had connecting flight. I think in general most people try to limit their moving around during the long period between food service and I’ve noticed some airlines will dim lights during this time even if it is technically day.
I like to take a sleeping pill and snooze through as much of the flight as possible to try to always book the window.

I feel like YABU to tell someone you want to stretch your legs. It’s always jarring being woken up by a stranger. Why did you need to tell them anything? When someone has just been woken up on a long flight isn’t when they are at their best socially and you come across as a bit entitled - not for wanting to get out but for wanting more of someone socially than they were likely to give in that situation. It’s a stranger on a plane, they don’t owe you their blessing for being woken up for such a frivolous reason. And now you need validation from MN. Do you often need people’s good opinion?

You did nothing wrong.
And apart from being grumpy, neither did the occupier of the middle seat. But then I'm pretty grumpy if woken unexpectedly.

Yes and No, I think sometimes we forget people do have the right to negative/selfish emotions or behaviours. You to walk him to be annoyed by it.

You say allocated which means that you hedged your bets rather than booking it - if it means that much to get up and about and you had a friend I guess you could have pre booked but I see the issue with money

Your entitled to get up. We cant all sit in aísle sit can we.
Ignore them.
I've never met anyone on a flight like that.

I can think of nothing worse than being on a 9 hour flight at a window seat. The thought alone gives me anxiety. In future you should book ahead, but I don't think you were being unreasonable. You have as much right to get out of your seat as the person beside you does to sleep.