The Good Life: Are These the Worst Airplane Neighbors Ever?

Newsweek

a day ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Are These the Worst Airplane Neighbors Ever?
By Cameron Schoppa
Have you ever been stuck on a long, exhausting flight, only to end up next to a terrible seatmate?
That happened to me recently—and it was miserable.
On a 10-hour flight, the passenger next to me took off his shoes, touched me with his toes, and eventually fell asleep leaning on me. I actually had to shove him off.
But I know I'm not alone. So I went looking for some of the worst plane neighbor horror stories Newsweek has reported. And of these encounters definitely top mine by a long shot.
Have any bad seatmate stories? Let me know at [e-mail].
But for now, check out the list below of perhaps the worst plane neighbors ever.
@quintenaje/TikTok
Imagine boarding a 5 a.m. flight expecting some quiet, serenity, sleep maybe—only to be surrounded by utter chaos. That's what happened to this man as he recounted his experience online. The video contains audio of passengers shouting each other's names and one of them asking for a speaker, with dance music heard playing later on in the clip. And sleep was out of the question. Yikes!
An airplane passenger revealed an unsettling incident that left her with a new hairstyle mid-air when a fellow passenger braided her hair while she was asleep. Yes you read that right. Check it out.
This one might depend on if you're a Taylor Swift fan. On a flight packed with Swifties en route to the Eras Tour, passengers broke into a full-on singalong of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" midair. While some joined in the fun, others weren't so thrilled—calling it a loud, inconsiderate disruption. What do you think?
Ah yes, the dreaded manspreading problem. A woman shared a video of herself wedged between two men aggressively "manspreading" into her seat. Her post went viral, igniting a conversation over personal space. When it comes to manspreading, this might be the worst I've seen personally.
An image of a woman's hair dangling over the back of a plane seat, covering the in-flight entertainment screen the person seated behind her. A post about the incident has sparked debate among users on...
An image of a woman's hair dangling over the back of a plane seat, covering the in-flight entertainment screen the person seated behind her. A post about the incident has sparked debate among users on Reddit. More
thekingofyoutube on Reddit
Enjoying that in-flight movie? Think again. A Reddit user posted a photo showing a woman's long hair draped over the back of a plane seat, blocking the screen of the passenger behind her. Here's what the passenger told Newsweek.
Finally, this one might be contentious. A Reddit user shared that after refusing to switch seats on a plane, the man next to them reached over and shut their window. The post sparked a fiery online argument over who "owns" the window view—those seated beside it or the entire row.
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Remote work has surged in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 33 percent of white collar workers being fully remote as of late 2024, according to OnePoll. However, the trend could be fostering a mental health crisis, new research suggests.
A new study from the Headway app found that 56 percent of remote workers go entire weeks without leaving their homes, and one in four do not speak to anyone for days. This has led to concerns over social isolation and even depression for employees who have become used to working all day from their bedroom or home office.
Read more from Newsweek's Suzanne Blake.
getty images
A new study has found a striking increase in appendix cancer in Americans born after 1945, with older millennials experiencing the most dramatic rise.
The study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that appendiceal adenocarcinoma diagnoses have more than tripled in those born around 1980 and quadrupled in those born around 1985.
While older millennials were those with the highest number of diagnoses, researchers believe that as higher-risk birth cohorts continue to age, it is likely that AA incidence rates will increase in the future. Read more.
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