To wake someone up on a day flight?

[hmwbele]

I was recently on a 9 hour flight. It departed at 10am. Sat in economy in a row of three. I got allocated this seat and couldn’t change it.

I had the window seat and then two strangers next to me. After the lunch service, the person sat in the middle decided to have a nap. They slept about an hour before I decided I wanted to get up to stretch my legs and go speak to my friend who was sat somewhere else.

I like to get up every two hours to try and avoid leg issues.

After I woke them up and apologised and said I needed to stretch my legs they seemed annoyed and said it’s pretty selfish to wake someone up for that.
AIBU?

When I was younger and more agile, I used to climb over anyone asleep - by stepping on the armrests.

Nowadays I always book an aisle seat. Dh usually wants the window, so that often means someone in the middle who thinks it a bit weird that we don’t want to sit together! Sometimes we’ll be in different rows, but that doesn’t bother us.

I probably would have said that you need to use the bathroom rather than stretch your legs.

They probably were just grumpy being woken suddenly rather than it being anything personal. I wouldn't give it much headspace

This is why I always book an aisle seat!

This is one of those give and take things..

You're perfectly entitled to get out of your seat, the passengers inboard of you were perfectly entitled to grab some sleep, even though it was a day flight....

...but by them choosing aisle and middle they'd have to accept there was a risk the window occupant might need to disturb them.

YANBU. I like to sleep on flights whenever possible but they have to expect to be woken from time to time.

I don't think it matters that it was a day flight. I'm not sure if you were unreasonable as, in one sense, you didn't need to get up, but then you should be able to get up if you want to. then again, if you knew you were on a flight with a friend, not booked together, and likely to want to chat, you should have either booked together sit with them or booked an aisle seat.

It might have been a 10 am flight but you have no idea what their journey was before that flight. I am going to the US in about 6 weeks, the longhaul bit is Amsterdam - Seattle which leaves about 10am local time. BUT by the time I get on that plane I will have been up since about 3am to get to the airport for 4am for a 6am flight to Amsterdam to make that connection. I will be knackered and I will be sleeping!! I have booked a window seat though.

So he is not unreasonable to sleep and you are not unreasonable to wake him. But it is very annoying to be in the centre or aisle seat with someone who is up and down like a yo yo.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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 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.

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!

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.

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

YANBU

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

You wete both equally wrong and right.

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).