Man Retaliates After Airline Passenger Removes His Shoes from Overhead Cabin Space, Puts Them on the Floor

An airline passenger caused a stir among fellow travelers—and online—after removing a pair of shoes from the overhead bin to make space for their own bag.

In a viral Reddit post, the passenger explained that the incident happened “on a short distance flight with a low cost airline company.”

“This specific company guarantees cabin space when you book a certain seat, and it’s not too expensive,” they wrote, admitting that the flight was early and they were hungover. “It wasn’t my finest moment.”

“When I got on the plane, all the front cabin spaces were full,” they said. “I kept looking for a place next to my seat, 2A, but my suitcase wouldn’t fit. I admit I got more frustrated walking down the aisle searching for space, especially with a line forming behind me.”

They finally found an empty spot in row 8, but it was already occupied by two pairs of shoes. “We all know the rules: cabin luggage goes in the cabin and anything else goes under the seat,” they added.

At this point, the poster said they were “angry” and asked other passengers whose shoes they were.

“Finally, someone two rows above spoke up,” they wrote. “I asked if he could move them, and he responded: ‘Do you work for the company? Are you the flight attendant?’ I chose not to answer and removed the shoes to make space for my suitcase.”

The man then started yelling, but the poster ignored him until a flight attendant approached. “She asked if she could help. I said no and quickly explained while putting my luggage in the space (which she helped with),” they said.

The man called the Redditor an “a——,” prompting a response this time.

Later, the man retaliated by hiding the poster’s bag before the plane landed. “At the end, I couldn’t find my bag—he had thrown it somewhere. A nice couple showed me where it was. I started yelling, telling him he was being childish and that shoes belong on the floor,” the poster wrote.

“Anyway, when I told this story, everyone said I should have contacted the flight attendant from the start,” they concluded.

Fellow Reddit users weighed in with hundreds of comments.

“There is ALWAYS someone who puts things that don’t belong in the bin up there. But the moment you touched his things, you opened yourself up for him to touch yours,” one person wrote. “Don’t start arguments with people who aren’t concerned with following the rules of polite society while stuck in an enclosed space. That is just a recipe for drama.”

“I don’t view it as a childish mentality so much as a you shouldn’t do something you wouldn’t be okay with others doing,” another commenter added. “So if you’re not okay with others touching your stuff, you shouldn’t touch theirs.”