Acts of Kindness
Man stands for 6 hours on flight so wife can sleep
Romantic gesture? Or totally selfish?
Ashley Fike
09.13.19

People would go to the ends of the earth to find true love. And when true love is finally found? Many would give their own life if it meant saving the other. But – when it comes to day-to-day life, how much sacrifice is too much?

Flickr
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Flickr

Recently, one man’s so-called “romantic” gesture is causing quite the controversy online.

People across the globe are divided after a woman shared a photo of a man on her six-hour flight. Supposedly, the gentleman decided that he would stand in the aisle for the entire duration of the long-haul flight just so his wife could lie down across the entire row of three seats. Sweet, right? Or, is it ridiculous?

Entrepreneur Courtney Lee Johnson shared the photo on Twitter and accompanied it with the following caption:

“This guy stood up the whole six hours so his wife could sleep. Now that is love.”

Twitter
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Twitter

The candid picture shows the man standing in the aisle of the airplane (is this really even allowed?), leaning on top of two of the seats (because we’re sure his legs have to be killing him!), while his wife is peacefully snoozing away, probably dreaming of kittens and rainbows. Once again – is this love? Or is this totally crazy?

Just over a week after the photo was posted, it has received more than 16,000 likes and thousands of comments from people that most certainly have an opinion. The seemingly harmless photo immediately started a debate, many people disagreeing with Johnson’s definition or idea of “love.”

Some thought the gesture was incredibly romantic – others even found themselves jealous of the sleeping woman.

VT
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VT

“I’ve never been THAT in love…can’t wait to be so in love that I even consider that an option lol,” commented one Twitter user.

However, on the other side of the coin, many people thought that the woman was being selfish and inconsiderate of her kind husband.

“If that is love then I’d rather be lonely,” commented another person, while another said: “Not love but exploitation. She could have just rested her head on his lap. Very inconsiderate.”

“I won’t judge their marriage. My hubs is the kind of man who would do this for me, but I am not the kind of wife to ask this of him!” said another user.

This isn’t the first time flight etiquette caused a debate online.

YouTube
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YouTube

Earlier this year, a passenger asked an overweight man seated next to him to pay him money for taking up too much room in the seats. Of course, the internet had a heyday with this one.

Reddit user Bigbawluh submitted his story to the social news website on the subreddit AITA. It reads:

“This month I was flying across the country on a long five-hour flight, which I had booked and selected seats for,” they wrote.

“I specifically chose an aisle seat in a row of two, so no middle seat – just the aisle and window.

“Well, a very obese man boards and I can tell instantly he is going to have a tough time fitting in any of the seats.

“I sit down and am pressed up against him, making me uncomfortable.”

They confronted the passenger, saying that the situation was unworkable. The man allegedly tried to tuck his arms in, but “was overhanging over the armrest about a quarter into my seat even when squeezing his arms in.”

“I told the guy, ‘Look, I’ll put up with this if you give me $150 (£113) – that’s half the cost of this flight and that would compensate me enough for the circumstances’.”

Some people thought he was “fat-shaming” while others thought it was a good compromise.

Where do you stand on these stories? Let us know! Read the full Twitter thread below.

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