Two men came to blows on a Zipair flight after disagreeing on the proper use of an air nozzle in the vacant center seat. The fight may have been pathetic, but the etiquette issue underpinning the fight is an interesting one.
A Heated Fight While Trying To Cool Down: Violence Over Middle Seat Air Nozzles On Zipair
Flight etiquette question: when you are on a flight and the middle seat is open, is it reasonable to open the air vent (also known as an air gasper) above the unoccupied seat if you are warm?
Zipair is a Japanese low-cost carrier and two passengers were filmed onboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner dealing with exactly this situation…and spectacularly failed.
As the video begins, the two are already bickering with the passenger in the window seat wanting to open the air vent and the older passenger in the aisle seat wanting it to remain shut. The older man is adamant and aggressive about leaving the air vent closed and is first to make physical contact when he swats away the younger man for opening the vent.
The younger man pushes him away and the older man responds by punching him in the face. In response, the younger man punches back and shoves the man into the aisle before returning to his seat.
A flight attendant comes over and asks what happened and the older man complains that the air was blowing in his face. Unfortunately, the video cuts off so we don’t see if one or both men were removed from the flight.
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I watched this video three times and I think the older man should bear most of, if not all of the blame here.
But there was a far easier solution. Each air nozzle can be adjusted such that the air blows in a different direction. Simply push on the vent itself and it can be manipulated usually by up to 90º. The old man was right to protest, but was totally wrong to physically attack the seatmate. His recourse would be to contact a flight attendant, who should not have sat the two men back together after the physical altercation.
But that still does not answer our question about whether it is okay to use the air vent in the open middle seat. My answer is yes, provided the air does not blow on another passenger.
CONCLUSION
Two men came to blows on a Zipair flight over an air vent. There is no defense for violence onboard a plane. My takeaway is that if I encounter a seatmate who simply wants to argue, I stop engaging and contact a flight attendant.
Bewildering to live in a world where use of an air vent comes to violence. Unoccupied seat vents should stay closed unless there is an issue. But that is only my opinion.
@Maryland … easy solution is to open up the window .
Huh?
One of your commenters likes to keep windows open in winter .
I was on a 737 MAX 8 last week and the air nozzles were incredibly weak…I can understand a case where you might be hot (especially on a Japanese carrier) and want to cool down a bit. But is not cool for anyone to be blown against their will…with with air or anything else.
@ Matthew
Lol.
I use the vents all the time. When getting to Mt seat, I immediately open all the vents in the seats next to me but not all the way open. Usually, nobody turns them off. If I open them all the way, people do shut them completely off.
Check out the passenger sitting in front of them. Their facial expressions are priceless! I laughed so hard and couldn’t stop watching that video again and again!
The older guy should be banned for life.
For wearing Birkenstocks with no socks on an airplane.
Most of the flat vents do not produce much air. So should not be a problem. The problem is sooomany people are always cold-even if vents off causing it to be very hot overall! It is amazing that so many people have sweaters,jackets,hats and blankets on them and then still cold and ask to have the heat on to cause all of us to be uncomfortable!