The passenger sitting next to you can make or break your flight experience. That is,makethe torture that is long-haul travel more bearable orbreakyour soul and have you wishing you’d never booked your holiday. The stakes are that high.

So when New York writer Frederick Joseph found the woman next to him had taken her shoes off and put her feet on her tray table, he knew he was in for a rough flight.

What followed was a series of bizarre responses from both the woman and the flight attendants aboard the United flight (because what other airline would it be?) Thankfully for us, Frederick decided to live-tweet his experience, and with his hilarious use of GIFs, his misery makes for a pretty, darn entertaining read.

The audacity of white privilege:

This woman next to me took her shoes off and placed both feet on the table. So I’m waiting for flight staff to say something… pic.twitter.com/ldOIgwiPWi

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

Except, no one does. And the black rights activist is forced to question whether if the race was reversed, the reaction would be different.

So flight staff walks by numerous times without saying anything, and I’m irate, because no black person would ever get away with this shit. So I start looking at the staff noting that there is an issue. You know, giving them the snitch eye… pic.twitter.com/953966yubs

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

Finally, having enough, Fred confronts the woman. And her response is one that has our jaws on the floor.

So finally I decide to say something to the woman myself. So I say “ma’am, I’m trying to eat, and your feet are next to my food.”

She says “what do you want me to do, the seats are small” pic.twitter.com/AlizfVNAMB

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

Fred manages to stay calm in a situation where we probably wouldn’t.

So I’m like “I understand, which is why there is room for your feet and legs under the seat in front of you”

So she says “this is why I fly first class, and I don’t come back here with everyone else.”

So I’m like “that’s great, so are you going to put your feet down?” pic.twitter.com/u3ZAOsrnxB

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

And then the story takes an unexpected turn.

So she calls over a flight attendant as soon as I say that!

She says to the flight attendant “this man is disrupting my flight, I’m just trying to be comfortable”

So I point at her feet and explain my stance.

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

And the scenario just gets weirder.

The flight attendant says… “well what if she puts her feet closer to the window or puts one down”

The woman says “if I put one foot down, I want to be accommodated for accommodating him” pic.twitter.com/NrUHKDj6m9

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

So the flight attendant speaks to the person in-charge on the plane and they give promise this woman a fucking $1000 voucher … ONE.THOUSAND. DOLLAR. pic.twitter.com/0DEZKKDU1e

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

But when Fred asks for money…

So I ask “what voucher will I be receiving for my suffering”

The flight attendant says “sir, we can only make but so many accommodations, and she has agreed to move her feet for you.” pic.twitter.com/617NE2aG06

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

Later, the marketer informs his followers he’s following the issue up.

Now I’m on the phone trying to explain how problematic this all was to a white woman in customer service who doesn’t get my issue. pic.twitter.com/3lVxeqfVrC

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 13, 2018

Unfortunately, his phone call with the customer service team at United doesn’t go any better.

UPDATE: so @united called me this morning to tell me that the passenger didn’t receive any compensation.

So I told the United representative “I’m happy to hear that, but I still have an issue with the flight attendant pacifying her and essentially taking her side.” pic.twitter.com/ODLGcRpdv6

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

The rep says “well, our staff can’t tell someone what to do. But, again, I assure you, she didn’t receive money.”

So I say “that’s great, again. But by attempting to momentarily pacify her, the flight attendant created a negative situation for me and took her side.” pic.twitter.com/yJE0SUffYG

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

I continue “also, I find it hard to believe that if this was a person of color someone wouldn’t have asked her to put her feet down.”

She says “sir, I personally don’t believe it has anything to do with race or culture. As you can hear from my last name, I am a Hispanic person” pic.twitter.com/Z4Y9vkMjee

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

She then did the whole “United accepts everyone” etc spiel.

So I told her that’s fine and she thanked me for my time and offered to give my feedback to the flight staff. pic.twitter.com/G2NW7IiuTn

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

He can’t help but point out the ridiculousness of the sitituation.

Basically, United had a woman w/ a Spanish sounding surname tell me there should be no issue because the woman ended up not getting money.

Oh, and racial bias didn’t matter here, because again a woman with Spanish sounding name at United says it didn’t.

Tone deaf. pic.twitter.com/TH9cT9FbjY

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

But Fred knows when a mind can’t be changed, and he’s moving on.

Both @united and the passenger have their view and I have mine. At this point I’m moving on from the situation.

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 14, 2018

This is far from the first time a Unites Airlines passenger’s less-than-ideal flight experience has gone viral.

There was that time they dragged a screaming man off an overbooked plane, and that time they blamed a young girl and her “extremely short” shorts for being groped by a fellow passenger. And let’s not forget, just recently, they let a poor puppy die.

So really, Frederick had a superb United flight experience by comparison.

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