'Inconsiderate' Passenger's Act on Plane Sparks Fury

A viral Reddit post showing a woman's long hair covering a plane passenger's screen has sparked discussion about etiquette on flights. The post, shared by Reddit user thekingofyoutube, has garnered 74,000 upvotes since it was shared on October 16. The image depicts a woman's hair hanging over the back of her seat, covering the in-flight entertainment screen of the person seated behind her. A caption shared with the post reads: "Woman kept covering my screen with her hair during a flight." The picture was taken during a JetBlue flight to Las Vegas, Nevada, the poster told Newsweek. While the event itself wasn't overly disruptive, it raised broader questions about personal space and consideration in shared spaces like airplanes. "The person in the photo started putting her hair in front of my screen a couple of times towards the end of the flight. I wasn't too bothered since I wasn't watching anything, but I took a picture because I thought it was quite interesting," the poster told Newsweek.

Although the poster stated that the situation was more "interesting" than aggravating, they admitted that it would have been annoying if they had been watching a movie or a show. "It was a little annoying, especially if I had actually been watching something." The viral post sparked fury among other users on Reddit and the disapproval was echoed in a June 2023 survey of 1,000 plane passengers in the U.S. and Canada. In the survey, conducted on behalf of the travel booking website Kayak, passengers said "you are not allowed to hang your hair over the headrest," because 74 percent of travelers "don't want your mullet in their fruit salad."

'People Are Dumb'

The poster told Newsweek: "I mean, does she not know that her hair is on the back of the seat and thus covering my screen? I don't have long hair, but I assume you can probably tell if that's happening, right? Or does she know that she's doing it and just doesn't care?" "I think people just don't like inconsiderate people on flights who don't respect each other's already very limited space," the poster said. "I think there's been a decline in public etiquette in the last few years since COVID happened, and this was just one example of that," the passenger added. The viral post drew thousands of comments, with users offering a range of opinions, advice, and humorous suggestions. Reddit user Blunderoussy commented, "Speaking as a person with long hair, she must know! I always know where my hair is hanging." Creative and sometimes absurd solutions were also floated by commenters on how the situation could have been handled. User GlacialImpala joked: "Start making braids, if she turns say you were bored," while another, gooberfaced, suggested a less subtle approach, saying, "BIG, wet, sloppy sneezes are easy to fake and extremely useful." Others debated whether the original poster should have spoken to the woman about her hair. Parking-Worth1732 asked, "Have you told her? People are dumb and won't notice people around them unless spoken to." Desperate-Ad-6463 wrote: "Did you ask her to move it? You'd be surprised how well that works." User throwaway983143 said, "That's always my go to. Not sure why everyone is so afraid to just have a simple conversation, especially when they are not in the wrong." The Reddit user told Newsweek that they didn't confront the woman about her hair, explaining that they didn't care enough to escalate the situation. "A lot of people in the comments were saying that I should have said something to her, but I didn't really care that much since I wasn't watching anything. Otherwise, I probably would have." Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@newsweek.com and your story could be featured on Newsweek.