I flew from Hong Kong to New York recently. Unfortunately, I was in economy class (the premium cabins were full), but I fortunately had an aisle seat far forward in the cabin. I thought my luck was looking up when we departed and there was no one next to me in the middle seat — I’d be able to sleep, spread out a bit and make myself comfortable.

About 40 minutes into the flight, the flight attendant tapped my shoulder to tell me she was moving a passenger into the seat next to me. Well, there goes my personal space, I thought as I unclipped my seatbelt and stood to let the gentleman sit down. He looked at me and motioned to the middle seat. I wasn’t giving up my aisle seat. After a few minutes of back and forth with the flight attendant, he finally took his seat.

Throughout the flight, I was engrossed in season one of FOX’s New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel. A definite perk of my Cathay Pacific flight was the opportunity to watch entire seasons of select television shows. My seatmate did not turn on his screen, read or indulge in any other activity. He stared and he slept — with his hand over the armrest and in my seat.

Had he never been on a plane before? I spent most of the flight lifting his arm and putting it back on his lap. As it continued inch off the divider into my lap, I became more annoyed, and my actions of returning his arm to his own lap became more aggressive. 

About 30 minutes before landing, he got up and didn’t return. I can only imagine he returned to his original seat, begging the question: Why did he come sit next to me anyway? He didn’t watch TV, so it couldn’t have been a broken screen. If he could safely sit in the seat for landing, then there were no issues with it. And he certainly was not looking to move from a middle seat to an aisle.

Perhaps I could have been more understanding, but I believe there is a certain protocol we should employ on flights to ensure we are good seatmates. It would only take one time of my fellow passenger needing to move my hand (should it accidently fall) for me to be aware of it and make adjustments. The examples go on. I wonder, what are your approaches to handling seatmates who encroach on your personal space, are rude or disruptive or otherwise disturb your flight?

— Kim Krol, managing editor