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Man Scolded for Helping “Older Lady” Put Her Bags in the Overhead

a group of people sitting in an airplane

Full disclosure: save for one flight in Asia (one where the overheads were positioned for a country whose residents tended to be on the short side), I have never put my carry-on bag into the overhead by myself. I would be very happy to. But at 4’6″ tall, I simply can’t reach them.

If Joe (my husband) and I are traveling together, he’ll put my carry-on in the overhead and then take it back down for me. If I’m traveling alone, I’ll ask a fellow passenger if they can put it up there for me (and then take it down again at the end of the flight). I know not to ask the flight attendants because they’re technically not allowed to help with the overheads. It puts them at risk of injury, and I respect that.

However, I just read a story on Reddit about a man who offered to help an older woman put her bags in the overhead and he wound up getting scolded for it. When I first read the title, I thought, “Geesh, how stubborn and independent could one older woman be? Just say ‘No thanks’ and get on with your life, lady!” Turns out nope, that’s not who yelled at him.

The story

The story was written by a woman who said the event happened to her boyfriend, but she was there to witness the whole thing.

In a retelling of the incident on Reddit, she explains that their seats were in Comfort Plus but, “…we were stuck behind an older lady in first class (Row 1) who was having trouble putting her carry-on in the overhead bin.”

She remembers that her boyfriend saw the woman struggling, so he “offered to help her.” She then said that the older passenger “got out of the way into her seat, and he lifted her suitcase into the bin and moved on.”

There initially seemed to be no problem – nice guy giving assistance to someone who needed the help – but then things started going south.

As the OP (original poster) and her boyfriend continued on after they helped the older woman, a man who had a seat in the second row seemed to get the impression that the boyfriend had dropped off HIS carry-on bag in first class and was continuing down to the back of the plane.

She said, “An older man in Row 2 saw him walk past first class and immediately yelled, ‘Hey! That space is for first class only!’”

As they passed him, OP tried to explain to the angry man that they were only helping the woman in Row 1, but he didn’t seem to hear her.

She continued that her boyfriend just shook his head, rolled his eyes and said, “Keep walking.”

OP titled the story of the incident as a case of “first class defensiveness.”

She added at the end, “I’m pretty annoyed although obviously this isn’t worth any confrontation. But I do feel like we need to chill out a little with assuming the worst in people.”

Amen, sister. Amen.

The response

Since this was Reddit, there were lots and LOTS of responses. Close to 500 of them, at last count. Some of them were on spot:

Your turn

What would you have done?

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