Airplane etiquette means different things to different people.

Some passengers think window shades should stay closed during a flight. Others believe the person sitting by the window gets to decide.

This traveler found himself in the middle of that debate when he opened the shade on an afternoon flight so he could read.

A woman across the aisle immediately took issue with it and decided the window needed to be closed.

Before long, a disagreement over a little sunlight turned into an argument that involved flight attendants and name-calling.

Read on to see how it all played out.

AITA for keeping window shade open on plane

I had the window seat, and I like to look out the window and read, so I opened the shade sometime in the middle of the flight.

The middle seat was empty and my boyfriend was sitting in the aisle. He went to the bathroom, and when he came back, the lady on the other aisle seat next to her, goes, “Excuse me, EXCUSE ME!”

So, my bf looks at her and the lady goes, “Tell him to close the window blind, it’s really bright and everyone else has them closed,” and proceeds to point at me and give me a dirty look.

Then, she got the flight attendant involved.

Mind you, this is an afternoon flight, so it was like 2 pm, and multiple people in other rows had their blinds open, so it was definitely not just me.

My bf kindly declines and explains that I’m reading and the lady goes, “UGH, you’re such an *******!” to me.

At this point, I’m getting annoyed. She keeps being dramatic putting her hand in front of her face trying to block the light and 5 minutes later calls a flight attendant.

The flight attendant just asks me to lower the shade so I do. I lowered it enough so there’s light coming onto my seat for me to read.

She still wasn’t happy.

The lady then goes, “EXCUSE ME,” again, this time aggressively tapping my boyfriends shoulder, “Did you not hear her?? she said to close it!!” to which my boyfriend responds “No, she said to lower it, which he did.”

Then, the lady gets REALLY upset at this and calls me a “spoiled brat” and a “rat *******” and stands up to talk to the flight attendant and manages to change seats, calling me a brat one more time for good measure before she leaves.

I honestly would’ve just put it down if she had asked nicely, but she was so rude from the start that that made me want to just leave it up (petty, I know).

AITA?

Sheesh! The woman obviously had nothing better to do.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a professor so determined to start class on time that he barged in on the lecture ahead of him when it ran long.

Let’s check out what Reddit readers have to say about airplane etiquette.

Here’s a good point.

This is so true.

According to this comment, it’s good for motion sickness.

For this person, the flight attendant was rude.

The window seat comes with a few perks, and controlling the shade is one of them.

Most people understand that, even if they wish the shade stayed closed.

This woman had every opportunity to ask nicely, but she chose to start an argument instead.

Considering how she acted, it’s pretty funny that she kept calling someone else a spoiled brat.