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?

And this is why I only book aisle seats when traveling alone...

I used to climb over until one day i slipped and landed on a guys bits 😬Haven't done that since, can still hear him scream.

You didn't do anything wrong OP. If people want peace they can book a window seat.

Irrelevant that it was a day flight - I was zonked out on a three hour day flight this week because I’d come off 2x 12 hour flights plus transit time and hadn’t slept.

i haven’t been in a window seat for years because I pay to avoid it, but in the past I have got the (awake) aisle person to stand up and then stepped over the sleeping middle seat person without waking them up.

As per pp in this case since you’d woken the chap up you could have offered to swap with him.

@PizzaPowder 😮

Once at travel the designated travel elevation they can move people around if there is space or inquire if someone might be willing to swap for your seat.

I didn’t suggest to involve cabin crew because there were a few frank words exchanged 😆

Sorry, I misunderstood! I didn't realize you meant for her to ask if there was a free aisle seat she could move to at the beginning of the flight. I thought you meant to speak to them after this exchange with the middle seat passenger - which seemed pointless!

I think you were very unreasonable to wander around a flight talking to someone you weren’t sitting with. I hate that. And if you like to sit in an aisle you should book it, it’s awful to be forced to get up constantly during a long flight no matter if you’re asleep or not. He didn’t have the right to sleep for 9 hours straight of course, but getting disturbed 4 times is a lot.

You have every right to get up but since it wasn’t an emergency and you knew you’d be getting up sooner or later, it would have been more considerate to get up right after lunch service, when the other passengers were definitely awake. Alternatively, I think the bathroom excuse would have gone down better than saying you needed to stretch your legs 😬

hmm I think on balance a flight isn't a bedroom and if you want to get up you can.

but yeh maybe if it was just a leg stretch i'd wait while they slept.

It's annoying to be woken if you've managed to sleep (I never can!), but travelling by plane is full of annoyances. As others have said, I wouldn't have volunteered why I needed to get past him, but it doesn't really matter. There are people with conditions that require them to move every so often, and you could just as easily have needed the toilet. On such a long flight, it's not surprising that some people will need to get up once or twice.

That said, if I knew I'd be getting up and down a lot and was seated next to someone trying to sleep, I might offer to swap seats with him so you won't disturb him every time.

Having known a family member collapse from DVT after a long flight, I'm on OP's side. Yes the man was slightly annoyed being woken up, but would you rather the dreaded thing happened?

Did you offer to swap seats to stop inconveniencing him?

Sleeping in a public place is not a right . Tough . And some random telling me I was selfish for arising from my seat - which is a right - would be told to go fuck himself . How dare he entitled shit .

He should have booked a window seat if he didn't want to be disturbed. Does he expect his fellow passengers to pee on his schedule?
Saying that I find passengers who sit separately from their friends and family and spend the whole flight leaning over your seat chatting are equally annoying 🤷

It might be a day flight but doesn’t mean to say that person doesn’t need sleep. I’m about to get on a day flight but with connecting flights and cancellations I’ve now been awake 36 hours.

Very selfish to book a window seat when you know you want to get up every 2 hours to stretch, book the aisle if thats what you do. And just because its a day flight and 10am for you, doesnt mean the person next to you hasnt already been on a flight for 9 hours. They may be on their second leg of a much longer journey and its actually the middle of the night for them.

I think you're fine to do that.

I wouldn’t have woken them up then unless desperate for loo (ie no choice).

It was a bit unnecessary and selfish after an hour just because u were a bit bored and wanted to go off and chat to your friend.

You justified waking someone by it being a day flight but you have no idea why they needed to sleep.

The fact it was a day time flight is irrelevant, you don't know how long they had been awake before boarding. How many time did you wake them? Most people expect to get woken if someone needs to use the toilet but it sounds a though it might have been more often than that.

They can do leg exercises in the seat it’s not necessary (and often inappropriate) to keep getting up.

Edited to say sorry about your family member but OP just wanted to chat to their friend. Sleep is also important for health.

Not unreasonable to want to get up. I always book an aisle seat as I have travelled alone a lot and like to be able to get up without disturbing people but I am perfectly aware that the two people beside me will need to get in and out at some point even if I'm sleeping (not that I can do more than doze most of the time anyway!)

I wouldn't get up to stretch my legs after only a couple of hours. If I needed the loo then I'd have to get up, but otherwise I would try and wait until they were awake. It's normal for someone to act grumpy if they're woken up. But ultimately that's what happens if you're not in the aisle seat.

I always try to sleep in flights, it passes the time. I always have an aisle seat as I get claustrophobic if I am blocked in. However I am always happy to let the others in the row out and will even mention to them that they can ask me.

I fall asleep as soon as a plane takes off - just can’t stay awake! If I get allocated an aisle seat I always tell the people the in the middle/window seat that I can’t stay awake and to just wake me up when they need to get past. I feel like consideration for others’ needs has gone out the window for many people. Yup, I’d love to stay asleep but equally I’m sure they’d like to be able to pop
gp the toilet or have a walkabout

I sleep a lot due to grief, day or night. I’ve just flown Dubai to India to Bangkok to Australia. Slept on all flights , a lot. I would definitely be annoyed if you woke me up too much.