Window seat passenger caught off guard by seatmate’s invasion of privacy

Which seat is better: aisle or window? Photo / 123rf

You might want to think twice about booking the window seat on your next flight.

Most travellers already know about the age-old debate in air travel: “Which seat is better: aisle or window?”

Aisle seat supporters love the accessibility and extra legroom that the aisle seat offers, while window seat fans boast about added privacy and sky-high views.

But no matter what your preference is, one thing that aisle and window seat lovers usually agree on is a shared dislike for the middle seat - especially if the person sitting in it has questionable plane etiquette.

Germany-based au pair Fanny Gagnon O’Donnell recently shared on TikTok her weird encounter with a male middle-seat passenger during her flight back from Spain.

In the viral TikTok video, which garnered 3.4 million views, O’Donnell first shared how happy she was to snag the window seat. She even sent a picture to her mother showing how excited she was.

The photo was then followed by a series of video snippets showing a man’s arm cutting through O’Donnell’s camera view.

The man was extending his arm in O’Donnell’s space with his phone, seemingly taking a photo or video of the view outside.

At first, O’Donnell didn’t mind the man’s behaviour. She thought it was confusing, but brushed it off as a one-time thing.

She was wrong.

The man continued to invade her privacy by continually shoving his arm and phone into her personal space, even after O’Donnell side-eyed her seatmate.

@fanntayeule

Thank god it was only a 3h flight 🥵 #flightreacts #windowseat #fyp #windowseatview

♬ Awkward Situations - Eitan Epstein Music

O’Donnell later went on to share with Newsweek that the man was oblivious to the situation and how his actions affected her. She said he continued taking photos of the clouds and the window, and when she closed the blind, the man asked her to open it again.

“I closed the window to signify that it was over but he then seemed confused,” she told Newsweek. “He tapped me on the shoulder a few minutes later to tell me to open the window again. I felt bad so I did.”

Those who commented on O’Donnell’s video were as confused as she was.

O’Donnell replied to one of the comments asking if he asked permission, saying, “Not once.”

A few questioned why the au pair did not ask him to stop instead of filming him, to which O’Donnell clarified that she did, but the man continued regardless.

Meanwhile, some joked about the situation.

“Honestly sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live like this guy instead of my anxiety that has me apologising for breathing.”

“I would’ve closed the window and been like ‘it’s my window not yours’,” another joked.