Viral Reddit thread sparks debate over ‘manspreading’ on planes

A Reddit post accusing a passenger of manspreading on a flight has sparked a debate about good etiquette when travelling.

User Emily Kauai shared a photo on the social media platform’s “Wellthatsucks” subreddit, showing her legs and the legs of the man next to her while seated on a plane.

“This was how my entire four hour flight went today. I am a 5’8” female,” she captioned the picture.

The image shows the man’s legs spread wide, clearly encrouching on her space as his knee is in line with the seatback pocket on the chair in front of her, while her legs are squashed close together.

“A couple of times I mentioned it to him, and he would move over... but his legs would casually return to where they rested during his movie.”

The post attracted more than 1,000 comments, with people weighing in from all sides depending on whether they thought the man’s behaviour was reasonable or not.

Numerous redditors thought the male passenger was in the wrong, branding him “rude” and “inconsiderate”.

“This photo makes me angry on OPs [original poster’s] behalf. People should have some basic self-awareness and courtesy,” wrote one user.

Other commenters said they sympathised with the man, as they also struggled not to encrouch on people’s space on flights due to their height.

“Yea, I’m 6’5 and, especially on flights that start and end outside of the US, I feel terrible because I have to either spread like that guy does, jab my knees into the seat in front of me, or pay for a bigger seat,” said another user.

“A lot of people think it’s so disrespectful to do stuff like this, or to be tall in a movie theatre and whatnot, but oftentimes we don’t have a choice. I’m not exactly well-off and I can’t just go buying comfort+ or whatever every time I have a flight.”

Another person added: “Hijacking this comment to apologize to OP, as I do this 10x worse than most people due to being 6’8”.

“I always feel embarrassed when flying.”

Others claimed the real problem lay with airlines not providing big enough seats for everyone to sit comfortably.

“This is why we need government regulations. If we had a regulation stating ‘aircraft seats must have X inches of leg room’, we would not have to be picked like sardines in a can,” said one poster.

“It’s horrible what the airlines have done to the seats. No room, no recline, and no comfort,” agreed another.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US received more than 26,000 comments after requesting feedback from passengers about seat sizes on aircraft, which have shrunk from an average of 18 inches in width to about 16 inches since the 1990s.