poodlek wrote:Also, I guess I must be a sumo wrestler because there's no way I could easily or comfortably fit past a person in that gap.
Agreed. Nobody can, with the possible exception of
Karen Carpenter in her last days trying to get past
Emmanuel Lewis as a child, and carefully rehearsed at that. Regardless, what's the "damn good reason" the aisle seat passenger cannot simply get up off his/her butt? Are people so lazy and disrespectful of others that this is a problem? Come on.
As for the "commonality" argument, it's ridiculous. Many people litter, fail to turn away and bury their faces in their sleeves when they cough/sneeze, urinate/defecate in public even when restrooms abound, or otherwise engage in rude, obnoxious, inconsiderate behaviors. The overwhelming consensus is that those behaviors are still rude, obnoxious, and inconsiderate. The fact they happen doesn't mean they aren't. Most people quietly tolerate random acts of rudeness and incivility while still being upset. That female window seat passenger, on that occasion, did not.
I have had a couple window and middle seat passengers try to barrel over me while I'm still seated in the aisle seat, without being allowed even two seconds to act courteously (as I would, of course). I have had to let them know, politely, to wait just a moment so that I can get up, gladly so. On one occasion somebody tried to barrel through/pole vault over me while I was working on a cabled-up laptop. NOT cool! Passengers should, by default, know that it's rude, obnoxious, and inconsiderate to that aisle seat passenger to attempt to pole vault (or whatever) over him/her.
There is absolutely no reason, no justification for such rude behavior. Getting up is simply
not a problem, with very rare circumstantial exceptions. Those rare exceptions include truly physically challenged aisle seat passengers, an illuminated seat belt sign with no genuine emergency, and
perhaps during meal service(*) -- with brief, polite discussions between passengers to find mutually agreeable solutions in these exceptional cases.
(*) I can lift and hold my tray while I stand -- gladly so, not a problem. It's not heavy, and I shouldn't be on an airliner if I can't lift a tray. However, that middle or window seat passenger probably won't get far when there's a service cart in the aisle. Hence the brief, polite discussion.