An airline drama has been lighting up Reddit, attracting more than 4,000 reactions and over 2,000 comments in less than 15 hours.
A man describing himself as 18 years old said he was traveling "to my home country" (he did not say which one) and had just boarded a second connecting flight — which he said would last roughly 12 hours — when things seemed to get ugly very quickly.
"I had the delightful sight of an obese man who was taking up a good chunk of my seat," the man, identifying himself as "L4l0_Salamanca," wrote on the subreddit known as AITA ("Am I the a--hole").
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The man, continuing his no-holds-barred narrative about the situation, went on, "I am not a small guy myself. I have quite broad shoulders and am around 190 cm [nearly 6'3"], so a full seat would already have been uncomfortable."
He added, "I told the flight attendant about this issue, and she told me that the seat was paid for by this obese person and the flight was full."
The man continued, "I asked the flight attendant how it’s possible that my seat still rendered as available if it was being used for someone’s literal rolls."
The Reddit writer went on, "I then added on how this airline wasn’t absolutely terrible just a few years ago (it wasn’t just this incident; they just went downhill in quality)."
The Reddit writer then further noted, "These comments prompted the flight attendant to call me rude and just made her double down on [having me] kicked off the plane — though she reassured me I’d be compensated for this trouble, as I told her I wasn’t traveling for vacation."
Then the Redditor provided further color: "The fat man took his opportunity to call me a fatphobic sh--. Some other people around gave me the stink eye."
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The Redditor went on, "I know they think I’m a bad person for this, but on the other hand, I’m having to pay for the lack of discipline of another person as well as this sh---y airline’s booking system."
The man continued, "The airline staff sent a letter of complaint that I got appealed and the consequences in the complaint (being a temporary ban) were removed less than an hour later."
He also wrote, "In the letter of complaint, it said I was being rude to other passengers and the staff. Since it got appealed so quick and I got to travel the next day anyway, I’m really not sure if I’m TA [the a--hole]."
Asked the man in conclusion, "AITA for my comments that have offended both the fat man and the airline staff?"
Fox News Digital reached out to a psychologist for insights into the conflict.
Redditors, meanwhile, held nothing back in their replies to the original poster's query.
Wrote one commenter, in part, "It probably would've been handled very differently if you had handled it differently."
This person added, "I know air travel can make people turn into idiots, so please everyone, don't be that idiot."
Another individual in the comments section minced no words and considered the original poster "an a--hole" for his actions that day on the plane.
This person wrote, "The statement ‘the lack of discipline’ got me to vote this way. Sure, maybe this guy had a lack of discipline. But maybe he has a medical issue that keeps him from losing the weight."
Someone else wrote, "I'm also a tall and broad-shouldered person. But learn some damn tact."
This person went on, "[The original poster] WAS fat-shaming the guy. Did he even TRY asking the dude to move over a bit or did he go straight to b----ing at the flight attendant?"
This same commenter concluded with, "Learn some diplomacy."
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Another person stood up for the airline personnel: "Flight attendant can't really do much unless there is an empty seat they could have [put] him in. They don't make airline policy."
Yet another person shared this: "It's interesting he says that he shouldn't have to deal with someone else's lack of discipline — yet he made the entire plane deal with his as he threw his baby tantrum."
