An Airline Passenger Got Called Out For 'Manspreading' On A Plane & The Debate Is Heated

Space on an airplane is limited, so it's pretty frustrating when someone sitting next to you takes away from it.

One Reddit user shared his experience on a six-hour flight in which he says he got called out by a fellow airline passenger for "manspreading" and he's getting little to no sympathy from people who have read the post.

The 26-year-old man shared what happened on the Reddit page Am I The A**hole.

In the post, he writes that he was travelling on a Spirit Airlines flight and sitting in the middle seat, with two women on either side.

"I'm tall and am never comfortable on planes. My knees always dig into the seat in front and it can be quite painful," he wrote.

He noted that half an hour after takeoff he found a comfortable position and all was well for two hours.

"I found my left knee inching to the side for the sweet relief of open space -- specifically, the no-man's-land in between seats, level with the shared armrest," he wrote.

"I'll concede it's possible that at some point I was occupying space that rightfully belonged to my window seat neighbour."

That's when the woman in the window seat called over a flight attendant to complain about the man sitting next to her.

"She asked her something like "Could you tell him to keep his ****ing leg in his own ****ing seat," the Reddit user wrote, and added that he realized she was talking about him.

The Redditor says he instantly retracted his leg in "deep shame" and "frantically began to apologize" when the flight attendant left.

Unfortunately, things did not get better and his co-passenger ignored him for the rest of the flight.

"I went from embarrassed to confused. I kept replaying it in my head, wondering why she didn't simply ask me to move my knee instead of calling over the attendant."

The Redditor also pointed out that the woman was "profusely" texting on her phone and watching TikTok videos.

While the man may have shared his story hoping to get some sympathy from people online, he didn't get it.

"You KNOW you will feel better with more leg space. Stop pinching pennies and pay for an aisle seat or an exit seat," one person said.

"The window lady called the attendant for her protection, but also to shame you into compliance, and rightly so, you should be ashamed of your behaviour," another person explained.

Others went further to explain how frustrating it is because they often have to deal with the same issue when travelling.

"I'm a small woman and men on plane flights CONSTANTLY shove their knees into my personal space, even when they have enough room to sit with their legs together," another person wrote and added that it's "exhausting" having to figure out how to react in that kind of situation.

"How hard is [it] to be a bit mindful of your surroundings and the people around you?" another person asked. "Sounds like this woman had been putting up with this crap for a couple of hours and finally snapped."

It wasn't only the "manspreading" that was a problem for Reddit users. They also called out the airline passenger for snooping and reading the woman's text conversations.

With the thousands of comments he received on his post, it looks like the man has a lot to learn before his next flight!

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.