Who Gets to Use the Armrests on a Plane?

There’s a thing called ‘plane etiquette’.

Posted on

9 June 2019

| Last updated on 14 January 2020

Who Gets to Use the Armrests on a Plane?

All Credits: PA

An argument is raging on Twitter over a tricky issue of aeroplane etiquette.

The debate revolves around whether or not the person in the middle of a row of three seats has the right to use both armrests – leaving those in the window and aisle seats with just one.

does the person sitting in the middle seat on airplane get both armrests?

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) June 6, 2019

A poll from the Rich Eisen Show – a sports programme in the United States – seemed to suggest that a small majority of people do not believe the middle seat occupier has the right to use both armrests.

But responses to the tweet showed many people strongly believed that they should.

Those saying “no way”. Reconsider. I hardly ever sit in the middle and I always yield my armrest to the middle seat passenger. It is a rule of travel.

— Crazy Diamond (@CraZDiamond) June 6, 2019

They totally should they are the ones stuck between two people and that should be their added benefit!

— Ryan Mays (@theMaysShow29) June 6, 2019

Some travellers felt it was a “rule of travel” and the “added benefit” of having to sit between two other people.

Another quoted comedian Jim Jeffries, who tackled the issue in one of his routines.

"When you’re on an airplane, there’s a thing called ‘plane etiquette,’ and it goes like this. Window gets an armrest and a wall. Middle gets two armrests. Aisle gets an armrest and a little bit of extra legroom. We’re not animals. We live in a society.” - Jim Jefferies

— Sean Patton (@seanmpatton) June 6, 2019

But not everyone was won over by the argument that the discomfort of being in the middle seat earns any extra privileges.