Middle plane seat gives you right to use both armrests

It’s the plane seat no one likes to sit in — but it’s also the one that gives you the automatic right to something others don’t get.

From reclining to shoulder surfing and hogging both arms rests, many have their own grievances and pet-peeves when it comes to sitting next to a stranger on a plane.

Videos on social media regularly go viral when tensions flare on-board an aircraft with many unleashing on the long list of bugbears.

Prof Jim Salzman of the University of California, Los Angeles, described how crammed airlines combined with passengers hoping to take up more space results in the inevitable.

He told the BBC: “[The airlines] are able to pass on the anger and frustration of cramped seating to passengers who blame each other for bad behaviour instead of the airlines who created the problem in the first place.”

Another common gripe was armrest hogging, particularly for those caught in the middle seat.

One flight attendant for a major US airline explained how she often ends up sitting between “two guys with both their arms on armrests” when she doesn’t get to opt for a specific seat.

“I wait until they reach for a drink and take the armrest. One [guy] kept trying to push my arm, and I just had to give him a look: ‘We’re not doing that today.’”

Passengers opting to recline their seat may find a disgruntled traveller behind them.

According to a 2023 Skyscanner survey, nearly a third of UK passengers found those taking up armrest space annoying.

However, cabin crew member Boris Millan explained on Confessions on the Fly podcast that one benefit to the middle seat is the armrests.

“They did a lot of research in the UK for some reason about this – when you sit in the middle seat, you get to have [both armrests],” he explained.

In a viral TikTok, a woman sparked a heated debate after sharing a clip alongside the caption “Airplane etiquette people”.

It showed her sitting in the middle seat on a plane with the two passengers on either side of her taking over her armrests.

She can then be seen pushing off their arms to dominate both arm rests.

Travel expert Rosie Panter from UK comparison site Dealchecker backed up the armrest theory, telling Cosmopolitan it is “universally accepted the middle seat passenger has drawn the short straw, so they should get the luxury of both armrests”.

But the debate of which seat earns top spot – window or aisle – has long been a discussion.

Yet, no matter which one you prefer problems can escalate when your seated neighbour needs to go to the toilet.

With over half of Americans suggesting that climbing over someone to use the rest room on a plane was unacceptable, others may be at a loss of what to do when someone has fallen asleep.

The long list of grievances seems to differ between passenger destinations.

A former flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic, Zoe, raised the issue of how alcohol consumption can heighten the need to head to the loo.

She described a flight bound for Ibiza with a number of passengers having a drink to hand.

This meant that as soon as the seatbelt sign was switched off, “everybody stood up” and some even got “quite aggressive”.

Eventually, they were forced to ask everyone to sit back down with one passenger having “a wee in a carrier bag” as he was unable to wait.

On a similar note, many find a grievance with passengers choosing to stand up just as the plane has landed.

Especially with the ground crew often needing to hook up the passenger boarding bridge or stairs which can take a few minutes.

The list goes on with people using mobiles without headphones, draping hair over the back of a seat, removing shoes or just being generally inconsiderate.

William Hanson, an etiquette coach, advised: “If you don’t want to temper your behaviour to get along with other people then there’s something wrong with you, to be blunt.”

- with The Sun