Skirmish

On my flight back from DC last week, there was a skirmish. With the charge for baggage these days, there's even more competition than ever to get bags in the overhead compartment. It means that it's even more of a douchebag move than ever to put all of your bags in the overhead when you have a seat in front of you.

I was in the second row of coach, and a woman sitting across the aisle in the first row (we'll call her Lady A) started freaking out. Apparently, the woman sitting in the aisle seat of my half row (we'll call her Lady B) took Lady A's bag out, because she felt like it belonged under the seat in front of its owner. (In Catherineland, sitting in the bulkhead row is the only excuse for putting everything in the overhead). Lady A started yelling about it and how expensive her bag was and asked to talk to a flight attendant, who offered to find her a customer service representative. Lady B continued to act as if she'd done nothing wrong, and then started complaining of back pain. The customer service agent took Lady A out to the jetway, and Lady B started whining that she hadn't done anything wrong and that there wasn't enough room for her bag.

The sour-faced lady who sat in front of Lady B apparently had had enough, because she turned around and said, "What you did was EXCEPTIONALLY rude. EXCEPTIONALLY." And then she stormed out to the jetway as well. Lady B mocked the "exceptionally" so the guy across the aisle from her also started to rebuke her. And then Lady B started with the, "I'm tired and don't feel well, and I'm just trying to make room for my bag."

The guy sitting between us tried to reason with her. And that's when I put my earplugs in.

I consider putting all of your bags in the overhead to be a cardinal sin (it's only the 1,349th time I've written about it here), but holy moly, MOVING someone's bag OUT of the overhead compartment to make room for yours, and then WHINING when you get called out on it? That takes some serious moxie. Where do these people come from???