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By Shannon Power
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
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A fierce debate was ignited on Instagram over who gets to use the armrests on an airplane flight after a video of one passenger's solution went viral.
Originally posted to Twitter, the video shows a man in the middle seat of an airplane row roughly pushing the arm of a man who was in the window seat until it falls off their shared armrest.
The man who was sleeping when his arm was shoved then wakes up in disbelief and stares at his fellow passenger, who ignores him.
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"The guy was hogging the armrest so I had to teach him a lesson," the original poster wrote on the video.
It was reposted to Instagram by the account F***Jerry, with a caption saying "classic," and led to a fierce debate in the comments section.
"Window gets 1 arm rest and a window. Middle gets two arm rests. Aisle gets 1 arm rest and leg room," commented one person.
Another added: "Window gets window armrest. Middle gets both. Aisle gets Aisle armrest: These are the unwritten rules."
But others disagreed. One wrote: "We should be fighting with the Aviation Industry NOT each other. We paid good money for the seat. They pack us like sardines and there are never enough toilets. Each and every seat (regardless if it's First Class or Economy) should have two arm rests and enough leg room for a 6ft person to sit comfortably and wide enough for the average person."
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The commenter continued: "They make us argue with our fellow travellers due to their profiteering and then wish us a pleasant flight?! They deny us basic personal space for the many hours we have to travel. It is inhumane."
Airline analyst Timothy O'Neil-Dunne said that the "middle seat armrests belong to no one."
"It's common space, and you better treat it that way," he told USA Today in 2020.
But an etiquette expert disagrees. "When sitting three across on a plane, the person in the middle has dominion over both armrests," Jodi R.R. Smith, president of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting, told Reader's Digest in February.
She went on: "The person on the aisle has the benefit of being able to move freely and has stretching room into the aisle. The person at the window has the benefit of leaning against the window or being able to see the view, when there is something to see."
Smith continued: "Both the person on the aisle and the person on the window are only being potentially touched by one other person. But the person in the middle is not able to easily move or stretch, nor is there anywhere to lean. Additionally, they are potentially being touched by two others. Therefore, they have control over the armrests."
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