Personal Space

I am currently at a conference in San Diego. I flew here on Sunday, after just returning from Atlanta to Houston on Saturday! One of the things I have noticed about flying is that people don't seem to have a concept of personal space when they are flying.

I mean, doesn't everyone know that there is an invisible line that comes up from the edge of your seat and goes all the way up to the overhead? No part of your body should cross the invisible line, including your legs or your head or your breath. I can assure you many people do not understand the invisible line concept.

Case in point? I am flying from Georgia. I am on the aisle. A young girl, possibly 12 years of age or so, doesn't speak English, comes in late and sits in the middle seat. I try to to help her see that my left arm is broken, so that she won't accidentally hit it. She looks at my arm, smiles, and nods her head as if to say she understands. Just to be careful, I tuck a pillow between my arm and hers. Now, she is an armrest hog, but she's twelve and she has to sit in the middle, so she deserves two armrests. But, she bends down to pick up her backpack, and when she comes back up, her elbow smacks me right in the broken arm. PERSONAL SPACE PEOPLE. Oh, and did I mention she had a cold, and kept a washrag in her lap the entire time for wiping her nose? True story.

Then, when flying to San Diego yesterday, even though I had made my reservations months in advance, I got bumped. They had overbooked the flight. I finally got a seat, toward the front, which was awesome, though it was a middle seat. All in all, I was happy to have a seat, so I couldn't complain much. However, the guy on the aisle had no concept of personal space. He sat with a wide stance, so his leg was not only on my seat, and perilously close to my leg; his leg was also under the arm rest, so it had the armrest raised up. Then, without warning, he would put his arm on the armrest, shoving it down over his leg, which would force his leg into my leg. This went on for the entire flight!! Not to mention, he had some bowel issues, if you know what I'm saying. Then, mercifully, as the 3 hour flight came to an end, I was looking out the window at San Diego, and I felt a sudden rush of air on my arm. I spun my head around to see Mr. "no boundaries" leaning into my seat, looking out the window as well, and exhaling very hard onto my arm. It was creepy to keep feeling his breath on my arm like that and to have his head clearly across the invisible line! PERSONAL SPACE!!

So, all that to say, I think perhaps when flight attendants are going through how to fasten your seatbelt, and how to breath oxygen out of a mask, they might want to add some useful information, like say, how to sit in your own seat and be courteous of other people's personal space. :)