It really takes a strong sense of entitlement and glaring lack of respect for others to believe you are justified in spitting out your chewing gum and placing it in you seatback pocket. Have people lost their minds?
Passenger Carefully Disinfects Armrest…Then Sticks Chewed Gum In Seatback Pocket On Delta Flight
A reddit post perfectly captures the strange disconnect some travelers seem to have between personal cleanliness and basic courtesy toward others. The story comes from a passenger flying Delta Connection flight DL3754 from Spokane (GEG) to Seattle (SEA), seated in 7A beside another passenger in 7B.
According to the account, the two passengers never interacted during the short flight. But during deplaning, the passenger in 7A noticed something odd:
“As we were getting ready to deboard I swore I saw him take a chewed piece of gum out of his mouth and stick it directly in the seat pocket.”
At first, the passenger was not entirely sure what had happened.
Then came the confirmation:
“Once he got up I opened the pocket and sure enough a piece of gum smooshed in there rudely awaiting an unsuspecting passenger or cleaner.”
Lovely.
Apparently, the passenger had already placed other trash in the seat pocket and easily could have wrapped the gum in something or disposed of it properly after landing.
And a bit of irony:
“Oh and as he sat down when we boarded he wiped down the armrest with a disinfectant wipe.”
Of course he did….clean for me, but not for thee. He also probably pees all over the toilet seat and doesn’t wipe it up…
The Psychology Of Airplane Entitlement
While I genuinely do not understand how people justify behavior like this, anyone who flies regularly has seen variations of it:
- Passengers clipping toenails onboard
- Dirty diapers stuffed into seat pockets
- Used tissues left in tray tables
- Half-eaten food shoved into literature compartments
There is something about airplanes that seems to short-circuit normal social behavior for some people (same in movie theaters, but let’s not get side tracked). Perhaps it is the subconscious assumption that “someone else” will clean up after them, but it takes an attitude of selfishness and entitlement to make that conclusion in the first place.
The original poster confronted the passenger after the flight:
“I hurried my butt up the jet bridge and told him how beyond rude I thought what he did was. He was too stunned to speak.”
Bravo for confronting him (if this story is even real…and with reddit one never knows) and I hope that the guy will never try that stunt again…nor will anyone reading this!
CONCLUSION
A Delta passenger allegedly disinfected his armrest, then stuffed chewed gum into the seat pocket before deplaning.
Was it malicious? Probably not. Was it disgusting and inconsiderate? Absolutely.
The fact that the passenger seemed embarrassed after being confronted suggests he probably knew that too.
So my takeaway it simple: don’t stuff trash into your seatback pockets and certainly never put gum there. If you have no place to spit out your gum, at least use an air sickness bag and take the bag with you…
Chewing gum should be illegal
I totally agree BUT, the act of chewing gum is often suggested to help clear ears during flights. However that does not excuse this person’s disgusting behavior. In my years as a F/A I was handed (or at least they attempted to hand me) numerous items that a sane person would have disposed of in an airsick bag or other available receptacle. The flying public has gone so far downhill, I fear there’s no coming back to a pleasant and courteous society
Eww. Yes I trained my kids to swallow or do the fish face to clear stuffiness. Chewing gum is actually illegal in Singapore and a couple other places
Caning! Not to be confused with canning (an excellent food preservation technique…)
Giving you a fish face
This is American society nowadays. We are a horrible, disgusting people, a rogue nation of criminals, thugs dirtbags, simpering morons, and complete a-holes (present company included). The fish rots from the head, and we deserve every bit of the righteous retribution that will be coming our way in the years ahead. Expect a lot of that.
Someone — ANYONE!…PLEASE Russia, China, Iran, Al Qaeda, Sweden — nuke us to to oblivion and put the world out of its misery. The Earth will be a much better place once America has been reduced to smoldering cinders. I’m not kidding.
TOTALLY AGREE with your first paragraph assessment. People often ask if I’m an American. I simply reply I’m of Swedish heritage.
I’m outside the US more than in it. When people ask if I’m American, I tell them yes. And, you know what? They are all smart enough to know the are some jerk Americans, just like they have jerks, but most are great. Never ever anywhere is my status as an American held against me. Stop thinking those outside the US are ignorant.
Have you actually travelled outside the US? I mean not some resort, but amongst the people? I do more than half a year. Yeah, there are differences amongst nations. But, this kind of BS happens everywhere. I suggest traveling before make such unfounded assertions.
Maybe he’s right, but he said “deboard” instead of deplane, disembark, or alight, so are we really supposed to take him seriously?
Really? That’s your arbitrary take?
Sorry, this was posted on Reddit. So the chances of it being honest tend to go down greatly. That’s just based on all the great, suspicious storytelling that tends to go on there. (I didn’t click the link. But if there is a picture, I’m still suspicious.)