Well aisle be damned.
A recent American Airlines flight from New York City became the scene of a heated dispute when a passenger was accused of taking another traveler’s first class seat. The confrontation reportedly arose after the woman’s seat allegedly failed to recline properly.
Justin Escalona shared his perspective on the incident in a viral Instagram video. He described how events unfolded aboard AA flight 171 en route to Los Angeles this past Monday.
Escalona, who is 27 years old, explained that he was enjoying a first-class upgrade on the five-and-a-half-hour journey when he was suddenly woken up by the commotion.
According to Escalona, the woman requested to swap seats, claiming hers was malfunctioning.
“I thought it was because she wanted a better view or something,” Escalona said in the video. “But no, it’s because her seat doesn’t recline.”
Escalona later clarified on Instagram that he would have been willing to swap seats with the woman for a sentimental reason or if she possibly wanted a better view, but when he found out “she didn’t like her chair”, he thought “no thank you!”
“She didn’t even say please or thank you! Just bolted over to my chair & wouldn’t get up,” he later wrote.
“Even if she was polite about it, maybe I would’ve said whatever, just take it I’m feeling nice. Sadly not the case.”
The unidentified woman allegedly told everyone that because Escalona didn’t pay for his seat, he had to move.
Escalona said he scored the upgrade to first class because of he’s an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member — the highest publicly available elite status tier within the airline, showing a screenshot of his boarding to back it up.
In the now-viral video, which has amassed almost five million views, the woman is seen clutching her forehead, refusing to get out of Escalona’s seat.
“She’s like, it’s somehow my fault? And she won’t get out of my seat. She’s just in it. Like what?”
The woman let out a sigh and said she is “going to UCLA,” to which Escalona joked, “I went to USC so that makes it even worse.”
“You gotta get out of my seat, this is crazy,” the dumbfounded traveler pleaded with the woman.
“You are holding up the entire flight,” he added.
The traveler told the 27-year-old that his seat was reassigned — which Escalona vehemently disputed.
“My boarding pass says 6A, yours says 3F,” he told the seat hog.
Eventually, the woman started to gather her belongings and snarked “you are such a…” before the video cut off.
Escalona was able to return to his seat and the passenger across the aisle quipped to him, “bro you almost got robbed!”
The Post reached out to American Airlines for comment.