She “leaned” into her opinion.
A mother of two found herself in the hot seat after uploading a video complaining that a plane passenger rudely reclined their air chair in front of her and her two children.
A common thing that many flyers hate.
“When the guy in front of you puts his seat back when he has an empty seat right next to him,” the TikTokker wrote in the clip, which boasts over 4.3 million views on TikTok. The bedraggled parent added that the man’s seat was “30cm from my face.”
The incident reportedly occurred while she was flying three hours from Cairns to Adelaide in Australia. Norton was supposedly sitting in the middle seat with her 10-month-old infant on her lap and her 2-year-old toddler in the window seat.
In the clip, Norton is seen struggling to corral her kids as they play chaotically with toy airplanes and tractors, ostensibly due to the lack of space afforded to her by the passenger in front.
The flyer told TODAY.com that his alleged intrusion made it hard for her to breastfeed and retrieve toys her toddler dropped on the ground.
Norton found the man’s move inconsiderate, claiming that he could’ve “moved over and put the other seat back, where there was no baby behind him.”
“Or, when he laid down across both seats, he could have at least put his seat upright since he wasn’t even using it,” the flyer vented on TikTok. “I know everybody has the right to put their seat back, but where is the common courtesy? We had no space.”
However, many passengers were torn over Norton’s situation.
“As a mom of 2 toddlers: Don’t make others responsible for your choice to fly with small children,” critiqued one.
“It’s HIS seat. Hope that helps,” another wrote, while a third suggested, “Just switch seats with your camera.”
“I think airlines need to get rid of reclining seats in economy,” defended one person.
“You could have put your seat back a little and voila — you have more space,” someone else suggested.
“So let me get this right. You won’t switch places with your kid because you want him to have a window (as you wrote), but expect a stranger to give up their comfort for you?” spluttered one critic. “That’s a new level of entitlement (and yes, I fly with 2 kids internationally at least once a year).”
Despite the leaning backlash, Norton thinks she was in the right, claiming, “I wasn’t trying to come across as entitled. What people said was absolutely outlandish and rude.”
She added that she didn’t confront the man because he’s “allowed to recline his seat,” and she didn’t like confrontation.
Coincidentally, air experts are divided on the modus operandi when it comes to reclining one’s seat inflight with many agreeing that the practice is poor form on domestic flights.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it,” etiquette coach Tami Claytor told HuffPost. “Reclining your seat and interfering with someone else’s comfort violates the basic principle of etiquette.”
“If it’s a long flight, it’s unreasonable to expect each passenger not to do what they can to get comfortable,” seconded fellow decency expert Diane Gottsman. “If it’s a red eye, sleep is important and reclining is acceptable, especially since everyone else is reclining at the same time.”
