Man tactfully deals with entitled co-passenger who unapologetically claims his overhead bin on plane

There are a lot of stories about unruly passengers who have no regard for others, thinking that they're entitled to special treatment while traveling. u/86max86 shared such an encounter involving their father and a rude co-passenger back in the '80s, when they were on a flight. In the post, the user recounted how their father eventually "got back" at the entitled passenger like a true boss. 

They began by saying that their father would travel frequently for work. One time on a flight, he "placed his briefcase in the overhead compartment and took his seat while the rest of the passengers boarded and got settled." That's when a man came to his row and unapologetically took the father's briefcase out of the overhead bin. The man then asked the dad if the briefcase belonged to him, to which he replied yes. The man just handed it to him and proceeded to do the unthinkable. 

u/86max86's dad thought the man "was going to make some room for his own carry-on and then put dad’s briefcase back." However, he did the opposite - "put his carry-on in the overhead (leaving no room for anything else) and then walked back to his seat near the front of the plane and sat down."

Shocked for a moment, the user's dad decided not to cause a scene. Instead, he thought of teaching the co-passenger a lesson in his own way. "Dad removed the guy’s carry-on from the overhead, put his own briefcase back and hit the flight attendant call button. When the attendant came by to check on him, he asked to gate check 'his' carry-on." u/86max86 explained that gate-checked items are put down in the cargo hold with the rest of the checked baggage and need to be retrieved at baggage claim. He then got the gate check ticket for the briefcase, put it in the seat pocket in front of him and "enjoyed his flight."

By the time u/86max86's dad deboarded the flight, the man had come back to get his carry-on and panicked when he realized it was missing. "I doubt TSA would look kindly on this kind of petty revenge these days, but it was a different time," the Reddit user noted. They also addressed the comments that said that their dad should have put his briefcase under the seat in front of him. "This was 40 years ago. People were more likely to check bags back then and it wasn’t typical for people to have a large carry-on and a personal item that allowed them to avoid checking bags. People weren’t expected to put their belongings on the floor. The etiquette was different," they said.

Many people were all praise for u/86max86's dad's subtle but effective attempt at getting back at the co-passenger. u/ Pteroglossus25 commented, "Your dad has class. This is gold." u/Big-Net-9971 added, "That was well played. There have been lots of times when I have moved people's luggage in the overhead bins, but it’s often to help other passengers fit stuff in what I call 'airplane Tetris.' But I always pull something out and find out who it belongs to and then show the owner where I am moving their bags so that they can grab them when we land. The idea of just taking somebody’s bag out of the overhead and then not replacing it somewhere nearby is just… Well, as your dad arranged, deserving of that sort of treatment." 

Editor's note: This article was originally published on October 14, 2023. It has since been updated.