About my flight neighbour?

[ReasonablyIntelligent]

Just boarded an 8 hour, overnight flight.
I'm flying solo and on the aisle seat.

I get to my row and find a strange man in my seat, the seat next to him (middle seat) is empty.
He initially tries (quite aggressively) to deny that the aisle seat is mine, but eventually relents and moves over to his spot.
He takes both blankets and both pillows with him.

I get seated and then ask if he could kindly pass my pillow and blanket (both stashed about his person). He denies having either and demands that I check my seat because I'm "clearly not looking properly".
Whilst I perform a polite seat sweep (God knows why, I can see the fucking pillow) he slides my pillow behind his back and then drops the blanket to the floor and kicks it under his seat .

Having no idea why I've offended Strange Man, I decide to juts play dumb and ask an air steward for a new set. No bother, though they're super busy so I'll imagine they'll forget for better things to do.

Strange Man has now proceeded to man spread in such a way that my shoulder is at an odd angle from my seat and my legs are skew whiff.

I am not a ballsy person. In fact, I have a fairly strong social anxiety.

There are no other seats on the plane.

AIBU to silently seeth, or am I being a right wet blanket?

Put your hand on his inner thigh. When he questions it, explain you assumed he was making sexual advances due to the unwarranted physical contact and presenting his crotch.

The only risk here is that he responds positively, in which case you peer at his groin expectantly, then say 'ah... never mind'.

Either way, he'll shut his legs.

Speak up and get yourself a different seat! !

Put your hand on his inner thigh. When he questions it, explain you assumed he was making sexual advances due to the unwarranted physical contact and presenting his crotch.

Let us know how it went OP.

I used to. Fly a lot.
I pointy move and bump them so they move and say sorry but then don't move back so my seat space is mine.
Put some headphones on and watch the in flight film.

Plz update!!

After a few uncomfortable long train journeys, I have mastered the art of beating the space stealer/manspreading. I claim all my space, and nudging or squashing is dealt with using a bit more force back, and if you nip to the loo I will have the whole armrest when you get back. All with a pleasant face and while reading a book. Never aggressive but always assertive. Some people don't know how to be civilized in shared spaces.

Just here to see what happened!

I hope you went and spoke to the crew op, asked for another blanket and pillow and explained the issue privately

Can't recall which airline - perhaps Qatar - have an unofficial policy of not placing lone female passengers next to men, because of situations like this.

Hope the rest of the flight was hassle free OP.

People who are saying we won’t get an update for 8 hours - lots of planes these days give you access to Wi-Fi once you are in the air. You can’t use the phone but there is no problem with the internet.

Can you womanspread? I love sitting next to manapreaders with my legs as wide as I can get them.
Always sneak in the itchy boobs too. Kinda freaks them out.

AIBU to silently seeth, or am I being a right wet blanket?

YWBU. If you can't say anything to him yourself, speak to the air crew and ask to be moved to another seat. If there are no other seats you are going to have to tell him to get back in his own space and not encroach on yours again.

speak quietly to the crew - if they can't move you they will probably have a quiet word with him

This is when you need to start farting and wafting.

I'd report him to the stewardess for sexual harassment and ask to be moved.

I speak to the crew about passengers like this. He's a twat.

So what happened, OP?

Come back, OP!

Ask him if you could use his sick bag because you have found one bag doesn't hold it all and sometimes you even fill three bags on an 8 hour flight.

In a totally non-malicous way, I very much hope the OP got the worst attack of silent but violent flatulence she's ever experienced on this flight and was able to shift to her side, take aim and fire at this lumpish oaf.

What an arse. I hope your flight wasn’t too awful.

Cough, wet if you can.. all over the place, mention your fever and how your holidays been so crap after you caught this. Retch into your hand.. not the bag, cause obviously you’re not going to be sick but that’s more fear inducing. Pet his hair.. it reminds you of good old Freddy your grandmas giant wolf dog.. recant memories of said dog at nausea. Cuddle into his shoulder n sneeze.. he wants your space you want his. Maybe even try to share his blanket.

My favourite coat is heavily studded and dotted with safety pins and bits, so I’m a human hedgehog, obviously the pins are closed and the spikes are short but if you lean on my shoulder you get the point(s)

I had
this on a flight back from Madrid to the UK. Guy was sitting in my seat and refusing to move. I stared him down. He said: " Oh, this was my seat on the journey out." Jog on.

would he do this to a man?

He wouldn't do it to anybody who showed they were not going to tolerate it!