After a long and exhausting swimming competition in London, James boards an eight-hour flight to New York with one goal in mind: sleep. He’s fully prepared, equipped with earplugs and sleeping pills, ready to relax and tune out the world. But any hope for rest quickly disappears when the woman assigned to the aisle seat arrives. From the moment she sits down, it’s clear—she’s going to be a problem. She immediately begins complaining about the lack of legroom, repeatedly presses the call button, a
nd makes snide remarks about everything around her. Within minutes, she loudly declares that she’s a victim of a “human rights violation.”James, seated in the middle, and the quiet woman by the window, are soon caught in the chaos. The aisle-seat woman constantly elbows them, complains nonstop, and rants loudly enough for half the cabin to hear. Flight attendants do their best to manage her, trying to calm her down with patience and professionalism. But no approach seems to work—she just grows more demanding with time,