“She Knows What She’s Doing” — Woman Films Elderly Passenger Constantly Invading Her Space

A woman flying Qatar Airways documented how she had her personal space invaded on several occasions by an older passenger. Instagram user Essie (@essiebtravelin) regularly posts travel-themed content on her social media platforms.

However, the videos she shared of her voyage on a Qatar Airways flight were a stark contrast to the carefully edited glamor shots of blue waters and adventurous activities synonymous with this particular content niche.

In one of the clips, Essie films an elderly woman she's seated next to spreading her foot into her seating area.

Another portion of the video shows what looks like the woman kicking her legs beneath a blanket into Essie's body as the influencer shrinks into the window of the aircraft.

Then, there's more footage, accompanied with a tune that would fit right in with a horror film (which is also widely used on various TikToks and Instagram/Facebook reels), of the old woman resting her head on Essie's shoulder.

Further recordings show that the woman has removed her shoes as she continues to sleep while propped up against the content creator's body. "She clearly doesn't believe in personal space," Essie writes in a text overlay of the video.

Moreover, as Essie pans her camera down, she reveals that the woman has placed her hand on Essie's lap while she catches some z's. Following this, Essie captures clips of the woman keeled over in her seat with her hand outstretched and placed on the tray that's folded into the seat in front of her.

And it isn't like Essie didn't attempt to try and tell the woman that she wasn't enjoying the fact that her space was being encroached upon, either. She wrote in another on-screen caption of her post: "I asked politely for her to get up. And she acts like she can't hear or understand me," Essie remarked.

Then, in another section of the video, Essie films the woman seated in front of her with some food placed in a plastic container that's resting on a tray. There's a bottle of water and some pasta along with what appears to be a cup of juice.

The woman's meal isn't what Essie is concerned with, however, but rather the way in which she's gripping what looks like a metal butter knife. "I'm taking this knife hold as a threat! Calling the flight attendant back," she wrote in another on-screen caption of the video.

In a follow-up clip, the influencer showed more footage of the knife in question, stating that the utensil "was pointed at" her. Then, she shows off additional recordings of the woman stretching her bare foot into her space. "Not her laid out, comfortable, legs stretched all the way to my side, by the plane wall! The nerve!" she exclaimed in her video.

But the passenger's quest for onboard comfort didn't end there. Essie wrote that the woman "takes it a step further." The elderly flier begins attempting to get on the floor of the aircraft and lay her head on the chair in an attempt to try and get some shut eye.

"[She] gets down and tries to lay out on the floor and rest her head on the seat! Meanwhile, the FA [flight attendant] is standing there speechless and the passenger is getting just as frustrated as I am!" Essie penned.

After deciding she didn't want to be on the floor any longer, the influencer then films the elderly woman placing her palm on her knee as she attempts to lift herself up off the ground.

"Not her using her whole body weight to lift up on my leg to get up on to her seat. Get your hands off me lady!" Essie writes in her video.

However, it seems that the flight attendant did try and intervene at this point in the video. That's because, as Essie writes, the attendant spoke to the woman and requested that she "recline her seat so she can have room to get back on her seat."

But Essie remarked that she didn't think the woman "shouldn't have been down there in the first place." But the ordeal doesn't end there, the passenger then stands up and uses the chairs of the passengers in front of her to hoist herself up from the ground so she could re-position herself.

Consequently, the woman wasn't just ruining the in-flight experience for the folks in her row, but for other passengers who were unfortunate enough to be positioned in front of her during their trip. Essie says that the folks in front of her were sleeping when this occurred.

Essie's video then transitions to her looking directly into the camera and expressing that she doesn't feel as if the flight attendant is doing enough to ensure she isn't bothered by the passenger during the flight.

In a caption for the video, she urged other users on the application to tag Qatar Airways on social media. Furthermore, she states that she shared details about her voyage with the company, but has yet to hear back from a representative.

Essie records herself speaking to someone off-camera as the passenger begins to back up, placing what looks like her rear-end right in the influencer's face. She says that she was forcing herself to stay calm as she wanted to avoid being put on a no-fly list in the future.

Finally, after requesting several seat changes during the flight, an attendant stated that they were able to secure a different chair for Essie. "FA magically finds a 'middle seat' on this full 14-hour flight, and the other passenger volunteers to move from his aisle seat away from his girlfriend to allow for this lady to have two seats because she's acting dumbfounded, entitled, and privileged!"

During her discussion with someone who sounds like they're an employee of the airline, Essie tells the person the elderly passenger is "playing," an assertion she reinforces in an additional on-screen caption in her video.

She then asks another person on the flight if they don't mind moving their seat up to give the older woman some room so she can leave the row and sit somewhere else.

In the third and final video documenting her ordeal, Essie records the elderly woman taking up all three seats in the aisle and grabbing Essie's belongings. The influence yet again accuses the woman of not understanding the situation as a flight attendant attempts communicating with her.

Commenters who replied to Essie's clips had varying opinions. Some stated that the woman looked like a refugee and probably wasn't aware of proper airplane etiquette. However, there were others who stated that, like Essie, they wouldn't have stood for this type of behavior on an airline.

Furthermore, others shared that it doesn't take much mental acuity to assess a situation and see how other people are behaving in a situation. They also noted that the flight was several hours long, and if it took her that long, or if she was suffering from some type of mental illness, then she shouldn't be flying in the first place.