He Cut the Deplaning Line — Then Acted Shocked When Someone Called Him Out

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Most people, when on a plane, tend to err on the side of “doing the right thing.” They use their inside voice, they try to keep to themselves, they don’t make waves, they keep their kids in check, and they use the manners they were taught when they were toddlers.

Of course, there are some people who don’t give a flying fig about any of that. They’re intrusive. They’re demanding. They show no respect to anyone. They let their kids do whatever they want. And, not surprisingly, they do things that benefit themselves over everyone else.

Of course, when some of these rude people are called out, they back down. They may not be happy about it, but the voice will lower. They’ll stop manspreading. They’ll rein in their kids. They’ll wait their turn.

But then you’ll get the A-hole who just doubles down and tries to justify their actions. And then, inexplicably, brings it to the AITA subreddit (read: community) on Reddit.

The initials ‘AITA’ stand for ‘Am I The A-Hole.’ The community is defined as, “A catharsis for the frustrated moral philosopher in all of us, and a place to finally find out if you were wrong in an argument that’s been bothering you. Tell us about any non-violent conflict you have experienced; give us both sides of the story, and find out if you’re right, or you’re the a-hole.” It’s kind of like a “jury of your peers” sort of thing and you may eventually be determined to YTA (You’re The A-Hole) or NTA (Not The A-Hole).

The story: Alternate_chaos5150 cuts the line

Alternate_chaos5150 says they had recently returned home to Georgia after spending a month in Oklahoma for work, away from friends and family.

On the day of their flight home, they made a last-minute decision to check their carry-on bag instead of bringing it onboard. After dealing with it for the entire trip, Alternate_chaos5150 figured checking both bags would make the journey easier — especially with a two-hour layover — and might allow them to get off the plane faster. All they carried onboard was a computer backpack.

They were seated in an aisle seat near the back of the aircraft. As the plane landed in Georgia, they raised the armrest so they could stand quickly. Once the seatbelt sign turned off, they got up and began moving forward through the aisle. Because Alternate_chaos5150 was seated in the second-to-last row and had arranged things to get up so quickly, they passed several passengers who were still seated or just starting to stand.

The aircraft had a typical six seats per row setup, with a single center aisle. They made it more than halfway toward the front of the plane before encountering a line of passengers waiting to exit.

As they moved forward, they passed a man who was just beginning to stand. Alternate_chaos5150 said “excuse me” to the man and did not touch or bump into him, but the man became upset and accused them of being rude and ignoring proper deplaning etiquette. By the time they stopped, there were about 12 rows between that man and where they were forced to stop — so, to quote them, “…in my mind I skipped waiting on 36 people.”

Once they reached the line of 12 rows waiting to leave the plane, they waited without saying anything. While standing there, they watched as passengers ahead of them took time retrieving bags from the overhead bins and organizing their belongings. Although the wait was frustrating, they stayed quiet and were simply relieved they hadn’t been stuck at the very back of the plane.

At baggage claim, they were reunited with their wife and son for the first time in a month — the main reason they had wanted to exit the aircraft quickly.

Shortly afterward, the same man they had passed on the plane approached Alternate_chaos5150 again and called them an a-hole for rushing forward during deplaning. When the Reddit user explained that they didn’t see the point in waiting since they had no carry-on and were eager to see their family, the man doubled down. He said Alternate_chaos5150 was still a jerk and added that he had noticed they hadn’t paused to let some passengers step into the aisle from their rows, as others had done.

So Alternate_chaos5150 ended their post by asking the AITA community a simple question: were they an a-hole?

Spoilers: Alternate_chaos5150 was determined to be an A-hole

The response to Alternate_chaos5150’s story was fast, furious, and merciless. 392 replies came in very short order and the vast majority of them agreed that Alternate_chaos5150 was, indeed, an A-hole.

• Here’s the thing… Everyone wants to get off the plane to see their loved ones. You aren’t special. In order to maintain order, the civilized traveler queues up and waits their turn. It’s the same as being stuck in traffic, crawling along at 5 mph, waiting for your turn to exit off the highway. Inevitably some selfish person comes speeding up the shoulder to get ahead of everyone else. Sure, they didn’t hit any other cars, but they are still the AH, as are you. — Human_Ad7946
• After waiting for a month to see your family would it seriously have been that big of a crisis to wait for another fifteen minutes? Did you consider you may have blocked the passenger on the 12th row, who may have wanted to get their bag from the overhead compartment and delayed their exit because by then the passengers behind started moving ahead? Instead of being civil and respecting the other passengers’ right of way, you decided to put your wants over the others and when you got called out, you behave like a petulant child, turning to the internet to make you feel better, expecting them to soothe your ego by saying it was not your fault. YTA here. — Sad_Permission1410
• YTA We all learned how to stand in line, wait and take turns in preschool. Clearly you didn’t think etiquette applied to you back then, either. Just because you ‘didn’t get to choose your seat’ doesn’t mean you get to blow past all those who did (or who paid for closer seats) and be an ahole. But you already know you were or you wouldn’t have asked, with so many disclaimers. — MissSuzieSunshine
• Massively YTA. Airplanes are deplaned by row, not by inflated sense of entitlement. I’m on planes weekly for work. People like you are inconsiderate jerks and make an already stressful and annoying situation even more so. We all have someplace else we’d rather be. You are not important, and you seeing your family isn’t any more important than anyone else. That guy that called you out on it was right.– angelaelle
• YTA. I understand wanting to be off the plane and see your family. I have terrible flight anxiety and getting off the plane is my favorite part of every trip. But you know what I don’t do? I don’t bum rush the front of the plane. Flying is already pretty uncivilized; don’t make it worse. Perhaps your son can teach you about waiting your turn? — Head-Squirrel
• This guy is the main character and everyone else is unimportant — unsoldburrito
• You think your time is more valuable than literally everyone else on the plane. — fullhomosapien

Then he started arguing with the comments

The thing is, every time Alternate_chaos5150 responded to one of the comments, it was to deflect, question, or justify.

• YTA. You were at the back of the plane and you tried to slam your way to the front and got called out. Pretty straight forward stuff. Everyone has stuff to get back to, you aren’t the only one with a family so just leave out that drivel next time. It isn’t helping your case. — IronyHurts (Alternate_chaos5150’s response: “😂 slammed?“)
• Yes YTA. If you want to be off the plane sooner than book a seat closer to the front. You doing that causes delays in everyone else’s ability to get up and get their luggage. Also, you may think you didn’t bump anyone but obviously you did if someone was trying to get up and you just bulldozed right through them. — Unique-Assumption619 (Alternate_chaos5150’s response: “I respect your answer but no he was still raising up from his seat no one got bull dozed 😂“)
• You skipped waiting on 36 people? You mean you cut in front of 36 people without asking? YTA. If you want off the plane sooner, book a seat near the front. — cyanderella (Alternate_chaos5150’s response: Is it cutting in front of them though if they were still just seated and making no effort to get up ? Is that still cutting ?)
• YTA, What’s your damn hurry child? It’s not like you were catching another flight or had to be somewhere and wanting to see your family is not an excuse. You are going to have to wait just as long to get your bags out of the plane. Everyone waits their turn to get off an airplane. Why have you anointed yourself as the special one? You will always be an asshole is someone’s eyes if you do that.– deleted (Alternate_chaos5150’s response: I did not see it as anointing myself or making myself special since it could’ve been done by anyone else as well.)

It was one of Alternate_chaos5150’s final retorts that shows they really don’t care that it was inappropriate:

I really did not see myself as being snide on the comments. I posted it here for an opinion and for the fun of it. I never realized that people took this so seriously. It’s not like I am telling people they are wrong or arguing about it. I genuinely wanted opinions and based on them what I did was an asshole thing I accept that it doesn’t mean I can change what I did or that I will lose sleep over it.

But there might (only “might”) have been hope for Alternate_chaos5150’s future. These were posted in a queue, one after the other:

• As someone who travels a lot, YTA, and everyone on that plane that didn’t speak up were thinking the same thing. You didn’t physically touch anyone, but dude, you just demonstrated having the patience of a toddler. Everyone on the plane wants off the damn thing, everyone on the plane has things to do, people waiting for them, places to be, the world surprisingly does not revolve around you. Judging by your comments, you simply do not care about anyone else or the fact you were very clearly being an AH. Which, of course, begs the question of why you even asked if you were an asshole when you weren’t going to accept the answer if it wasn’t what you wanted? — Careful-Pop8001
• Oh I happily accept the answer it was an asshole thing to do. I don’t argue that one bit I asked out of curiosity of what other people thought about the situation is all. After dozens of flights this was the first time this has ever came up so it was purely curiosity. I actually did not realize people took this so seriously to be it’s just entertaining. For lack of a better term though I dont care though I’m indifferent about it really because it’s done and over I can’t go back and change it or apologize to the 12 rows of people I walked past what’s done is done. — Alternate_chaos5150
• You can’t apologize or go back in time, but you can do better next time you’re on a plane.– Brilliant-Sea-2015
• And there is a strong possibility I will. I will go to UK in about a month and I will see how that goes.– Alternate_chaos5150
• After nearly everyone agreeing it’s a d*ck move, I’d hope it’s more than a strong possibility.– Brilliant-Sea-2015
• Seriously. A “strong possibility” of him not being an utter AH. Just do better. Your actions show that you have less patience than your child. Frickin ridiculous.– uniqueua11
• If you come here (UK) and do that be prepared to be called worse than an arse hole. In Britain we queue politely.– toast2023

What an A-hole.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary