‘I’m Taking This … As a Threat’: Black Woman’s 14-Hour Flight Goes Viral After Seatmate Pokes Her with Bare Feet, Flashes Knife, Then Acts ‘Dumbfounded’

A Black travel influencer said a recent 14-hour flight experience became the stuff of nightmares when her elderly seat mate napped on her, poked her with her bare feet, and even brandished a knife in her direction.

“This flight turned into a horror movie! PSA: If you lean on strangers mid-flight… don’t,” TikToker @essiebtravelin wrote under now-viral footage of the incident from August.

Essie posted a set of videos showing an elderly woman seated next to her getting too close for comfort on a Qatar Airways flight, prompting her to call over a flight attendant for help.

In the footage, the blanket-covered woman is seen spreading her legs across the row, napping on Essie’s shoulder, and even leaning forward and spreading her hands across the row, leaving Essie with very little personal space in her window seat.

One video even showed the passenger trying to kneel on the floor to nap, placing her feet in Essie’s foot space.

At one point, the woman was seen holding a knife pointed in Essie’s direction, which the jetsetter said made her feel uncomfortable.

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“I’m taking this knife hold as a threat,” Essie wrote in overlaid text on the video. “Calling the flight attendant back.”

@essiebtravelin PART 2 This 14-hour flight turned into a horror movie! Go watch PART 1 if you haven’t @Qatar Airways #qatarairways #fyp #flight #traveltiktok #traveltips ♬ Creepy and simple horror background music(1070744) – howlingindicator

The TikToker said she tried asking her seat mate — who did not speak English — to try to refrain from touching her and to stay in her seat. She even called a flight attendant over several times to try to resolve the situation.

After some time, cabin crew members offered the passenger in the aisle another seat on the plane, leaving the elderly woman with two seats to stretch out.

Essie’s videos show the woman lying on both seats and pushing her bare feet into Essie’s legs, prompting Essie to ask the woman to lie on her other side with her feet facing the aisle.

Essie said that while there might have been a language and culture barrier that hindered clear communication, she didn’t believe the woman was entirely unaware of her discourtesy. She said the passenger was “acting dumbfounded, entitled, and privileged.” She also followed up with Storytime to provide more clarity on the incident and some pushback she received.

Her videos drew nearly 50 million views on TikTok, with thousands of viewers agreeing with her assessment of the situation while others had some criticism. Many also saluted the patience she displayed despite the difficult circumstances.

“I feel like she was doing it on purpose. No matter the culture or age differences, she knew better,” one TikTok user wrote.

@essiebtravelin Story Time: This 14 hour flight turned into a horror movie! Please tag @Qatar Airways because this was unacceptable and terribly handled by their FA! #qatarairways #fyp #traveltiktok #flightattendant #viral ♬ original sound – Essiebtravelin

“Either she knows what she’s doing or she needs to be flying with a caregiver. The FAs can only do so much in the air but I know how frustrating that was for you,” another person added.

“Unpopular opinion: OLD PEOPLE DO NOT GET A PASS TO BE INTOLERABLE. I do not care how many wars you’ve lived through or how many miles you walked with holes in your shoes to get to school in 1952,” someone else commented. “Acting with common decency is not restricted to the young.”