Flying can be a stressful experience, from navigating airport security to dealing with cramped legroom on the plane.

To make things a bit more bearable, passengers usually get to book their preferred seat – whether that’s a window view or an aisle spot. But imagine boarding your flight only to find someone else has nabbed your seat.

That’s exactly what happened to one man travelling across the US from Florida to California. He was left baffled when he found a woman sitting in his booked seat and when he showed her his ticket, explaining she was “probably in the wrong seat”, she simply rolled her eyes.

She admitted she should be in seat 24C, right behind the 23C seat she was occupying, but her nonchalant attitude reminded the now-irate passenger of someone “playing Yahtzee”. Sharing his story on Reddit, the frustrated man recalled: “After a 15-second stare down I say ‘Well?’ and she says she is ‘comfortable already’ and ‘not moving’ and ‘wants to sleep’ blah blah.

“Okay, I see how it is. Real dumb to put someone upset with you in the seat behind you.” Taking the vacant seat behind her, the annoyed passenger began plotting his revenge, sparking a debate among fellow Reddit users.

He continued: “I proceeded to set a silent timer on my phone that went off every two minutes to remind myself to kick her seat, violently, and then every time the seat belt sign went off I’d get up, grabbing the top of the seat to lift myself up pulling her seat back and forth and one time (accidental but worth it) pulled her hair she put over the back of the seat.

“Safe to say she had lots of extra ‘turbulence’ and got absolutely no sleep. There were MANY death stares and head turns. Each time I would just smile and wave. I knew she wouldn’t say anything either because she was not even supposed to be in that seat anyway. Happy travels.”

Several social media users cheered the man’s mischievous tactics against the woman’s audacity, while others thought he should have taken the moral high ground and called for an attendant’s intervention. One person praised: “Smart move. Better her be in front of you than vice-versa, and just the right dose of petty revenge.”

Another voiced disapproval: “Nah, sorry man but you gotta call the flight attendant. They’ll take care of it for you. If she tries to pull something on you then you can call the attendant back. Best case scenario, the flight attendant will actually upgrade you if possible.”

A third user humorously suggested: “I’d have said, ‘Well since you’re in my seat, I’m gonna sit there anyway’, and proceed to sit in her lap.”

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