This space invader took stranger danger to new heights — literally.
Sure, it’s hard getting comfy at 30,000 feet. But one impolite, elderly plane passenger terrorized her seatmate during a 14-hour Qatar Airways flight, leaning and stretching out across the woman’s body, poking her with bare feet and pointing a knife in her direction after being reprimanded by cabin crew members.
“This flight turned into a horror movie!” Essie, a travel influencer, captioned the first vid in a viral TikTok trilogy, featuring scenes from her nightmarish encounter with the intrusive nuisance.
“PSA,” Essie warned her more than 48.2 million viewers, “If you lean on strangers mid-flight … don’t.”
It’s sage advice that seems like common sense. Still, janky jet-setters commonly commit the senseless sin — or worse.
From the “manspreading” menaces who thoughtlessly take up the limited space in those cramped airplane rows, to the careless kooks who assault fellow flyers with the stench of their funky foodstuffs, air travel isn’t for folks with weak stomachs.
But the troublemaker seated next to Essie takes the cake.
After repeatedly asking the older woman — who did not speak English — to refrain from leaning on her shoulder and resting on her lap, the content creator flagged down a flight attendant, hoping the staffer would mitigate the mess.
Unfortunately, however, the intervention only angered the discourteous senior, who ultimately brandished a knife.
“I’m taking this knife hold as a threat,” Essie wrote in the closed caption of the clip. “Calling the flight attendant back.”
Subsequent footage from the hellish trip showed the older woman touching and grabbing Essie’s body and belongings with her hands and feet.
“It’s taking everything in me not to rage aggressively and push this lady away from me,” she groaned. “This is really unacceptable.”
Thankfully — before things turned violent — the man seated beside Essie and her bully moved to a different chair, freeing up his seat for the woman to lie down comfortably.
But that didn’t stop her from being an annoyance.
While sprawled across two seats, the old gal rudely positioned her bare feet in Essie’s direction.
“One thing I don’t play about is feet,” said Essie. “I almost lost it for the tenth time.”
Outraged social media spectators commended Essie for keeping her cool for the duration of the flight.
“I feel like she was doing it on purpose. No matter the culture or age differences, she knew better,” insisted a no-nonsense commenter.
“You’re too nice for me. She was going to understand English that day!” another joked.
“A knife? The way I would be contacting media saying I was held at knifepoint during my flight and there was NO resolution,” wrote an equally shocked onlooker.
“Unpopular opinion: OLD PEOPLE DO NOT GET A PASS TO BE INTOLERABLE,” added another. “I do not care how many wars you’ve lived through or how many miles you walked with holes in your shoes to get to school in 1952. “
“Acting with common decency is not restricted to the young.”
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