Almost anyone who has flown knows how uncomfortably cramped airline seats are. Being squished next to a rude seatmate can make the rest of the flight even more unpleasant. A woman’s flight was off to a turbulent start after she saw what her seatmate wrote about her in a text message, leaving her in tears.
What did her Delta seatmate write?
The video features Delta passenger Vanessa (@soberspouse) sitting in her seat, her face red and eyes bloodshot, presumably from sobbing. Then, she recaps in the text overlay what led to this.
“We’ve taken off, and I can’t stop crying,” she shares. A glance at her seatmate’s phone sent her into tears. “This man next to me sends one text, ‘ugh, HUGE woman sat next to me.’ I saw bc I have eyes. Now I feel like a prisoner for the next 2 hours.”
Because the message shattered her feelings, the content creator asks 1.5 million viewers for kindness. “Be kind. If you’re feeling inclined, can you send some love? I lost 60+ lbs and have actually been feeling good about myself,” she requests.
What happened during the flight?
During an interview with The Mary Sue, Vanessa revealed that this happened on a Delta Airlines flight from Tampa to New York, feeling elated after a wonderful weekend. As soon as she boarded the plane, her seatmate’s reaction indicated his thoughts about her, raining on her joy.
“I boarded the plane and as I approached my row, I made eye contact with the man in the window seat of my row,” she shared via email. “I could see the man in the window, visibly sigh and roll his eyes. That is immediately when my radar went up.”
When she sat down next to him, she noticed the text message.
“As soon as I sat, I just glanced over, and I saw it. It was right there in front of my face, and after he had to hit send, he [sent] a series of empty texts to essentially push what he had written off the view of his screen,” she recalled.
Not wanting to cause a scene, the content creator sat in her seat, paralyzed with fear.
“I was frozen. What this man didn’t know is that I’ve lost 60 pounds in the past year and I was finally feeling like I could maybe sit in a middle seat,” Vanessa said. “I didn’t wanna say anything because I really needed to get home to my kids, and I was afraid that if I started this conversation with him, I would be asked to leave the plane. So I took a few deep breaths, made the TikTok or two. I remember thinking I wish I could tell the flight attendant, but I didn’t even wanna get up or move.”
Essentially, the flight was miserable for her.
“Frankly, the rest of the flight was awful. I cried for most of it, but tried to keep my composure so many thoughts run through your head, but all I wanted to do is get home to my family,” she recalled. “There was just this fear of continued judgment.”
However, the outcome turned out to be positive.
“There have been doors that have been open. There have been conversations and relationships had that wouldn’t have happened,” the content creator revealed. “Otherwise, people have told me that they’ve been inspired by my story. They’ve been reminded that you never know what someone else is going through [and] a little kindness can go [a long] way.”
Viewers offered words of encouragement
In the comments section, many sided with Vanessa and showered her with praise.
“Oh honey. The lioness does not concern herself with the opinion of small [expletive] men,” one viewer commented.
“You lost 60 lbs?!? CONGRATULATIONS! That clearly took a lot of effort from you… don’t let the jerk derail you as you are on a JOURNEY!” another praised.
Even an alleged flight attendant weighed in, “as a fa, THIS IS NOT OK! Call one of us, we got you. nobody messes with my girls.”
Meanwhile, others claimed they would not have put up with it. Instead, they would’ve given the seatmate a taste of his own medicine.
“The way I would make his entire flight so miserable though,” one commenter remarked.
“Screw that. I would keep getting up to go to the bathroom,” another revealed.
Another unintentionally hurtful seatmate encounter
Moreover, Vanessa isn’t the only one who their fellow passenger unintentionally hurt. Earlier this month, Southwest passenger @kenzshann had a similar experience. When she looked over her seatmate’s tablet journal, she saw that her seatmate described her as “slightly overweight” but “nice” in the entry. Despite the bruised feelings, she took it in stride, using the words as fuel for determination. “Sometimes you gotta read the journal entry the old man makes about you on the plane and go about your day,” she wrote, adding in the caption, “Honestly needed the motivation.”
Rude passengers are inevitable while flying. If your seatmate is doing something that makes you uncomfortable, inform the flight attendant and request to move seats.
@soberspouse ♬ original sound – DJ Rehab
The Mary Sue reached out to Delta via media contact form.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
