A woman on TikTok thought the internet would be on her side after she posted a video of an argument with a fellow passenger on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona. She claimed the other passenger expected her to accommodate a request simply because she wanted it and allegedly became “upset” when she refused.
However, as the clip racked up more than a million views, many viewers left thinking the woman was in the wrong.
From their exchange in the video, it appears the disagreement began as the plane was preparing to land. The other passenger, seated across from the woman, asked her to raise her window shade.
The woman refused, even after the passenger explained that she gets anxious during landings.
It is unclear how the disagreement escalated, but by the time the woman started filming, the exchange had clearly become contentious. “Look at this lady. She’s so upset that she doesn’t have a window seat,” the woman said while recording.
The passenger shot back that she was simply asking her to be considerate. She also argued that the window shade is meant to be open when the plane is landing.
While some airlines require window shades to be raised during takeoff and landing, no blanket FAA rule requires passengers to keep them open. The airline for this flight is unclear from the viral clip.
The other passenger called the woman a “terrible, terrible” person and said she felt “really sorry” for her.
The woman, in turn, accused the passenger of throwing a “temper tantrum” and told her to “exercise self control.” She told the passenger that if she wanted a window seat, she should have booked one in the first place.
The two continued to go at each other for a while until the other passenger eventually put in an earpiece and appeared to disengage from the argument.
Viewers Turn on Window-Seat Passenger
Many viewers criticized the woman in the comments, with several arguing that she escalated what could have been a simple disagreement. One person said, “The person recording is THE PROBLEM.” Another wrote, “Just say no but you keep going and going.”
Someone else said, “Telling her to ‘exercise self control’ when you couldn’t control yourself to not berate her for asking to open the window for 5 minutes upon landing is nuts. You just wanted to be upset with someone that day.”
Some also felt that the passenger’s request was harmless enough that there was little reason not to accommodate it. “Her request was reasonable, she just asked you to open the window shade for landing… you’re the unreasonable one,” one comment read. Another added, “Kindness costs nothing. I hope you learned something from that video.”
A few people did side with the woman, arguing that she had done nothing wrong and that the other passenger was at fault. “Book a window seat if you want the window. lol how hard is that? Her terrible planning doesn’t require entitlement for window access,” one netizen wrote.
Despite the backlash, the woman has stood by her decision. She later explained that she intentionally booked the window seat because she wanted somewhere to lean comfortably without sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with another passenger. She maintained that choosing the window seat came with controlling the shade and continued to characterize the other passenger’s request as “entitlement.”
The woman may have had control of the shade from her window seat, but that wasn’t really what most viewers were arguing about. For them, the bigger question was whether refusing such a simple request needed to become a prolonged argument in the first place. Judging by the reaction to the video, plenty thought the answer was no.
