A traveler has taken to social media to share what looks like a horrifically terrible experience on a long haul flight in Qatar Airways economy. This saga has been viewed tens of millions of times online across platforms, and for good reason. While I think the frustration is totally justified, I’m not sure the airline is to blame here…
In this post:
Qatar Airways economy passenger has horrible seat mate
TikTok and Instagram user Essiebtravelin posted a three-part video series, documenting her awful 14-hour flight in Qatar Airways economy. She was in a window seat, and the elderly lady in the center seat was probably the seat mate from hell.
This almost looks like something out of a comedy skit in terms of terrible passenger behavior. In the first video, the elderly lady in the center seat puts her legs fully in the other traveler’s space, she rests her head on the woman’s shoulder and leg, and then holds a knife in her direction (though seemingly not with any bad intent).
In the second video, the elderly lady tries to lie down on the floor and put her head on the seat, then she uses her seat mate’s leg as support to get up, then she sits in her lap.
In the third video, the traveler goes to the lavatory, and returns to find the woman having reclined herself across all three seats, while moving the traveler’s belongings. The crew ends up finding an extra middle seat on the plane, so that the man in the aisle seat could be moved there, and the elderly lady could have two seats. Then the elderly lady lies down across those two seats, and puts her in feet in the other traveler’s space.
My thoughts on this terrible Qatar Airways flight
There’s simply no denying that this was a horrible flight for the woman who recorded the video and the man in the aisle seat, because the behavior of the elderly lady in the middle seat just doesn’t follow acceptable norms (then again, filming other passengers also doesn’t follow norms).
I commend the traveler for maintaining her cool with this situation. I’m frustrated sitting here watching this, and I can only imagine what it was like to deal with this onboard a flight.
The traveler posted a follow-up video providing a bit of narration to what happened, and overall, she seems chill and level-headed. However, there are a couple of points where I have a different perspective.
First of all, I also have sympathy for the elderly lady who is acting completely out of line. The traveler calls her “entitled and privileged,” and suggests she’s “playing in our faces.” I wasn’t there, but that’s not what I see. I just see an elderly lady who maybe hasn’t flown much in her life, and is tired to the point that she can no longer function.
I imagine this woman was connecting from somewhere else (as most people on Gulf carriers do), and this was probably one of those flights that leaves in the very early morning hours. She was probably running on virtually no sleep for one or two days.
The reality is that flying in economy on a long haul flight is a grueling experience, especially if you’re not used to it. So I don’t get the sense that this woman was entitled, I just get the sense that she was super tired, and also probably wasn’t aware of proper norms onboard an aircraft. Maybe I’m just too sympathetic in that regard, though?
Now, I do think maybe she should be banned from the airline, or not be allowed to fly alone, because the reality is that her impact on other passengers is unacceptable. But that doesn’t make it malicious or intentional, in my opinion.
Second of all, the traveler thinks that Qatar Airways didn’t do enough for her, and she even says that she’s working with a lawyer to “address what occurred.” It raises the question, what liability does an airline have if one of their passengers acts this way?
- The lady didn’t speak English or any other language spoken by the crew, and no one could communicate with her
- It’s not like she was causing a disturbance in a way that would warrant a diversion, because she was likely just an elderly and exhausted traveler not familiar with norms when flying
- It seems like there was one empty middle seat on the plane, which someone eventually got moved to; maybe that should’ve happened earlier?
- The crew should of course be apologetic and see if there’s anything they can do for her, but I’m not sure what exactly else they could’ve done
- The traveler’s recommendations just don’t make sense, like moving the elderly lady to the zone for “irate passengers” (which doesn’t exist), or telling the captain, so he can provide compensation (if anything, the cabin manager would be the one in a position to do that)
Based on all the details we have, I don’t think Qatar Airways really did anything wrong here. That’s not to say it wasn’t an absolutely terrible flight, but a flight can be terrible in spite of the crew doing their best.
Given how much attention this has received, I do think a general apology for the negative experience would be appropriate, with some gesture of goodwill. I mean, why not even give this lady a ticket in Qsuites business class, so she can report back on a good experience? But lawyering up over this?! I just don’t see it…
Bottom line
There’s a video series that’s going viral on social media, showing an awful Qatar Airways economy experience. A traveler had an elderly seat mate who was clearly very tired and wasn’t familiar with proper etiquette on aircraft. This made for an unimaginably unpleasant flight.
Obviously I feel bad for the traveler, since economy on a long haul flight is typically not pleasant under the best of circumstances, let alone when something like this happens. But still, I don’t think the airline is to blame here, at least in any significant way.
What do you make of this Qatar Airways economy experience?
I'm so surprised by the volume of comments who are so aggressive against this older lady. What ever happened to showing a bit of compassion for your fellow human, especially an older one who's clearly struggling with the necessity of the long haul travel.
The 'influencer' is a typically obnoxious traveller that gives Americans a bad reputation globally.
We all know long haul economy is tough, and sometimes you get inconvenienced by an...
I'm so surprised by the volume of comments who are so aggressive against this older lady. What ever happened to showing a bit of compassion for your fellow human, especially an older one who's clearly struggling with the necessity of the long haul travel.
The 'influencer' is a typically obnoxious traveller that gives Americans a bad reputation globally.
We all know long haul economy is tough, and sometimes you get inconvenienced by an unfortunate passenger pairing, but everyone's ultimately just trying to do their best to get through an uncomfortable but necessary mode of transport.
For those so up in arms about it, please take a moment to reflect and consider what others are going through and show some empathy, the inconvenience is temporary.
I would've told her in the language I spoke and she couldn't understand. Just smack her with my shoulders when she leans on me. I bet you that old fart knows English, but pretends she does not. She's probably a professional cheapskate.
I've taken Qatar Airway out of Dulles a few times and it always resembles a domestic flight in India. Even the food they serve is overly cooked and flavored to please indians.
What's expected of and what 's not makes all the difference here. Regarding the former, the middle - seater, being an adult definitely aware of what she's not supposed to do, yet doing. Communication -absence should not justify her actions. What else was justified. Nothing in my view. Coming to the latter, the captain and the attendents should have made alternative arrangement like shifting her to another seat, if it's possible; otherwise what ! Nothing...
What's expected of and what 's not makes all the difference here. Regarding the former, the middle - seater, being an adult definitely aware of what she's not supposed to do, yet doing. Communication -absence should not justify her actions. What else was justified. Nothing in my view. Coming to the latter, the captain and the attendents should have made alternative arrangement like shifting her to another seat, if it's possible; otherwise what ! Nothing , but to enforce proper behaviour of the middle - seater lady. Here is the catch - whether to blame the QR Airways ! Perhaps not. But then
what ! The plane is in the air. It's a long haul flight, testing endurance of everyone around. It's a hell line situation, which was unfortunate .
I agree with everyone who say that the old lady is 100% unfit to fly, and how incompetent the flight crew were in not taking charge (i.e. showing leadership). The lead flight attendant should have found a suitable seat for this old woman. In fact, Qatar may have even considered a very unfortunate but necessary deviation and landed at the nearest suitable airport, thrown this old lady out, and continued. This of course could have...
I agree with everyone who say that the old lady is 100% unfit to fly, and how incompetent the flight crew were in not taking charge (i.e. showing leadership). The lead flight attendant should have found a suitable seat for this old woman. In fact, Qatar may have even considered a very unfortunate but necessary deviation and landed at the nearest suitable airport, thrown this old lady out, and continued. This of course could have caused major problems for many who had connections or time-sensitive appointments. Qatar ground crew would then be tasked with finding who this piece of trash old lady had as contacts and asked them to accompany her on another flight. If this happened to me, I would seek tens of thousands of dollars in compensation, and would definitely never fly Qatar ever again!
Traaveller nationality prolly plays into it a lot.
Combine that with the nationality of the airline where customer service is zero, gl tiktok'er.
Why do you ask what is the airlines responsibility here?
You must know FA's have authority on the airline especially when in air. They have the power to do alot of things, and it appears here they didn't take it very seriously.
Certainly the disturbed passenger has a valid complaint against the airline because of the FA's inactions.
I think she was too old to take such a taxing trip alone. Plus there was no one there capable of communicating with her. If anything she she be banned from flying alone.
I do not appreciate compensation-seekers more than most people here - but in this case the passenger paid for the seat which is advertised as being 17 (?)" wide and having 32 (?) " of leg room - which was not actually made available to her.
I would see it almost same as being downgraded from J to Y. Yes, the airline got the passenger to destination, but...
The old lady knew exactly what she was doing and she understood what was going on she was prentending because that’s what they do to absolve themselves of any responsibility because if I can’t speak English how can they correct me ? I’m sorry this happened to the young miss and I bet if she was white the crew would have taken the concerns to be more valid. SMH
Did you get out all your bias and prejudice? Such disdain for mere mortals.
Just delirium or exhaustion could explain that type of behavior but I'm guessing dementia/alzheimers.
I'm not sure what the flight attendants could have done in this case especially when the flight is packed full. I've flown QR economy in the past and the legroom space is tight (as you can see in her videos.) I feel bad for the elderly woman travelling alone not speaking English. Regardless, her behavior is unacceptable.
Bottom line is that the elderly woman's behavior was not reasonable nor acceptable. I find it hard to believe that she doesn't understand the boundaries that come with an airline seat. Even if she comes from a culture with less personal space boundaries, her behavior was completely rude and unacceptable.
The crew could have found out what language the woman spoke and made an announcement asking for assistance from other passengers. I have seen...
Bottom line is that the elderly woman's behavior was not reasonable nor acceptable. I find it hard to believe that she doesn't understand the boundaries that come with an airline seat. Even if she comes from a culture with less personal space boundaries, her behavior was completely rude and unacceptable.
The crew could have found out what language the woman spoke and made an announcement asking for assistance from other passengers. I have seen it done on other flights.
The passenger has every right to complain and to file a grievance whether it is through her attorney or directly with the airline.
Yes, you are too sympathetic to the elderly woman's side of the story.
I suffered a 16 hour (effective) flight DOH-SEA 2nd last row when Qatar lost my Q suite ticket and made me pay last minute Y fare (wife ok in Q 7K same PNR). I fought with QR for a year but got no refund. This is much worse for the PX and I hope QR address this properly.
But don't expect anything from QR - not even a refund. Good Luck!
We also...
I suffered a 16 hour (effective) flight DOH-SEA 2nd last row when Qatar lost my Q suite ticket and made me pay last minute Y fare (wife ok in Q 7K same PNR). I fought with QR for a year but got no refund. This is much worse for the PX and I hope QR address this properly.
But don't expect anything from QR - not even a refund. Good Luck!
We also had a crazy old lady in the area who kept getting up, collecting her things and trying to get off the "bus". I feel for her seat mates as well.
I am surprised that the FA did basically nothing. That is what is unacceptable.
Once I saw her Face, I knew she is looking for --------- Compensation!
There is hardly any situation that FAs cannot resolve when it comes to seating. FAs are not going to seat this complaining Lady in Business Class. Oh Hell No, I would not want anyone like that sitting in a Quad seat next to me.
@Ryan. If you watched the video your first (racist?) impression is incorrect.
If I were exposed to this I don't know how I would react as well. Hopefully more forceful with the FA who failed completely from the video.
Without more information (desperately needed) I can only assume there might be a prior interaction on either party with QR that could shed some light.
Great! So you would be the perfect candidate for some seat mate sitting on your lap, taking over your seat, and basically making you feel for FOURTEEN HOURS that you are a placemat to wipe their feet on!
If they tolerate slavery, imagine how much compensation I can expect for my discomfort.
In this extreme ki d of situation the crew should be autorized to 'taser' the old lady then tie her to her seat....
No need to ban for flying, she would never do this again, on her own.
I was wait in for it, and it finally came. The “C” word- Compensation. That’s exactly the motive here, guaranteed. Sure, it was an awful situation but this complainer has to fend for herself. I’ll bet with all this publicity she gets banned from Qatar Airways. They don’t hesitate when it comes to bad PR.
She won’t get compensated and she won’t get an apology. That’s what happens when you’re connecting from flights that...
I was wait in for it, and it finally came. The “C” word- Compensation. That’s exactly the motive here, guaranteed. Sure, it was an awful situation but this complainer has to fend for herself. I’ll bet with all this publicity she gets banned from Qatar Airways. They don’t hesitate when it comes to bad PR.
She won’t get compensated and she won’t get an apology. That’s what happens when you’re connecting from flights that come from third world countries. Deal with it. Or fly Business Class. Qatar business is its own little pod with complete privacy. And your neighbor won’t smell like old curry.
Would you like to pay the extra $1000 or so that it takes to fly business class instead of economy? Let us know and we’ll send your contact information to all airlines so passengers can upgrade to business class for free!
Poster should at least be grateful that the 'offender' didn't use any part of that seating area as a lavatory !
I am dismayed at many of the comments that are posted regarding this person. I agree with Ben. Having been a flight attendant working very long haul flights and as a Registered Nurse. This woman is quite likely sleep deprived and not familiar with the rigors of long overnight flights. And there is medications that she may have been on.
Dear Lord people, have you no compassion at all ? Oh right. Yeah.
The POINT is that this old lady is UNFIT to fly and should have never been allowed to board or take any flight alone! You missed it! Looks like being a nurse and a FA didn’t improve your sense of objectivity in the least!
I worked for QR for 10 years in Doha and London and the US. The economy class is full of the poorest most desperate third world people on the planet and women are regularly touched and sexually assaulted. It's absolutely filthy and it smells awful. The business class is the world's best and those third world people we call visiting family and relatives segment do not sit in business class. If you fly an airline...
I worked for QR for 10 years in Doha and London and the US. The economy class is full of the poorest most desperate third world people on the planet and women are regularly touched and sexually assaulted. It's absolutely filthy and it smells awful. The business class is the world's best and those third world people we call visiting family and relatives segment do not sit in business class. If you fly an airline that services mostly third world countries you need to sit in business class.
I don't understand why airlines can't reserve 1 row or 3 econ seats on every plane for extenuating circumstances other than they need the fare for those seats that badly. I mean they would just be econ basic anyway. How much bad pr could they have avoided by now with that as a fix.
People like this old woman, im convinced, know exactly what they are doing.
Not necessarily. I agree with Ben's thoughts on this.
I agree with Ben as well. I wish the old woman had a family member accompany her on this long trip. I don't know where she is from but I was surprised there wasn't at least 1 crew member who spoke her language.
Sounds like a little Dementia and she should not have been traveling alone.. SHame on her family to do so...
Honestly I think her family probably cannot afford to send a caregiver or someone to accompany her. Given how she sat in the middle seat, she probably bought a basic economy type ticket where seat was assigned at the gate.
Better than the aggressive, racist American passengers.
We are the best. Oh well. Please dont visit the US. We don’t want you.
qatar is very soso in economy; and it treats OW elites poorly.
I had an only lady like this economy to Istanbul on Turkish(the plane was full of them). Loads of old people from the old country wearing wool socks into the bathroom. But the lady wanted to my aisle seat that I paid for and was invading my space and generally a nuisance all flight long. So I just kept elbowing her all night and pretended I didn’t understand her. To be fair this is probably the only flight in her life that she took.
I had a nasty experience on Transatlantic journey. Man took my aisle seat and I pointed out his mistake. Ut was a flight from hell as he used a pack of tissues blowing his nose then throwing them on the floor. Once the tissues were finished he started using his blanket for more nose blowing. Never involved flight attendants just wished I was home. No way I'd have fallen asleep on that one.
Land at the first available airport and have her taken off. She's a danger to that plane. Maybe she will understand words like prison and jail.
An airplane is a public place. It's no place for people that are either mentally unbalanced and threat to themselves or those around them or people that act like feral animals.
A few posters have suggested this behavior may be common / unsurprising. Given this, FAs should be well knowledgeable about the situation and how to handle it. At the end of the day, no passenger has a right to infringe on another passenger. If the FAs cannot comfortably accommodate all of the behavior, they have to be trained to stop it at the source
Eh, economy class. Whaddyagonnado?
Duct Tape solves all problems on planes.
If you fly Air India, PIA, Biman Bangladesh, IndiGo, Iran Air or Nepal Airlines, the FAs won't do anything at all because she is an elder, and therefore you must do as they please. That aspect of that culture is tolerated there. That lady should have flown one of these.
I would think for Asian, ME3, European or North American carriers they should not tolerate this at all.
“That” culture!!! Your name suggests, you are also from “that” culture.
Way too much excuse making for the old woman.
She looks like she is part of an ethnicity that Europeans would call ......
Sort of off topic but is anyone aware of significant disruptions at Cathay?
A friend said that he was "trapped" on a CX flight for 29 hours...16 in the air and 13 on the ground.
Potential other explanation if the old lady was super exhausted: sun-downing.
My thoughts as well, and unlike others' comments I can see that you have some admirable compassion. Thank you.
If you can't follow the crews instructions, can't you be deemed unfit to fly? How would they communicate with her during an emergency?
Coming up with a false narrative of exhaustion and tiredness doesn't change the outcome. Elderly, sure. But she's not a child, she's an adult.
One can bring the peasants out of their fields, however, in the this case it proved impossible to bring the field out of the peasant.
Kevlar helmet and body armour on standby .…. :-)
What the old lady was doing, even if she is a first time flyer, is completely disrespectful of the filming passenger and the others around her. Also, she boards a plane with no family members and 0 comprehension of English or Arabic or any other language apparently. That would set a red flag there for Qatar Airways: why let people alone on planes who cannot communicate in English or the carrier's language?
I had something...
What the old lady was doing, even if she is a first time flyer, is completely disrespectful of the filming passenger and the others around her. Also, she boards a plane with no family members and 0 comprehension of English or Arabic or any other language apparently. That would set a red flag there for Qatar Airways: why let people alone on planes who cannot communicate in English or the carrier's language?
I had something similar on Air Canada Delhi to Toronto a year ago where I was seated next to an old Indian woman who didn't understand any English and encroached on my space repeatedly even stealing my water bottle to drink out of. I spoke in a way using gestures without getting angry but had to call the FA, and fortunately the stewardess spoke Punjabi and told the lady that what she was doing was not respectful. Then for the rest of the 10h flight the Punjabi lady kept cursing me in her language and giving me the death stare. I know that because the guy behind me who was Punjabi told me she swore at me repeatedly (yet he did not put her in her spot because she was an 'elder'??).
I find it interesting that you wrote: " The lady didn’t speak English or any other language spoken by the crew, and no one could communicate with her." That may not be true. Acting as if there was no common language seems a great way to safely act the way that lady did.
If there is no common language how could a passenger understand the safety briefing or obey in-flight crew orders?
@ jsm -- So there's not actually a requirement for passengers on a flight to have a language in common with the crew, or to understand the language of the safety demonstration. Admittedly this could get complicated in an emergency, but...
“ The lady didn’t speak English or any other language spoken by the crew, and no one could communicate with her”
Qatar Airways offers pax access to Starlink. Cabin crew surely have access to Google Translate as much as anyone else. It speaks like 240 languages …. Someone should have been able to communicate with her
Not necessarily. My educated guess is that the elderly lady seems to be from a small village in Pakistan or India. It may be the case that she speaks a language that isn't available on Google Translate. Pakistan has dozens of officially recognized languages (last I heard, it was around 70-80ish), and hundreds of unofficial languages. Meanwhile, India has hundreds of officially recognized languages, and many more unofficial languages. Some are similar to others, others...
Not necessarily. My educated guess is that the elderly lady seems to be from a small village in Pakistan or India. It may be the case that she speaks a language that isn't available on Google Translate. Pakistan has dozens of officially recognized languages (last I heard, it was around 70-80ish), and hundreds of unofficial languages. Meanwhile, India has hundreds of officially recognized languages, and many more unofficial languages. Some are similar to others, others not really. It is entirely possible that no one in the crew spoke the dialect the elderly lady spoke. Unfortunately, a lot of those dialects are not available on Google Translate, aside from the biggest ones. And Qatar Airways often has cabin crew onboard from India and Pakistan, so you will typically find crew who speaks Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi on most QR flights, which covers a lot of passengers, but not all of them.
Good luck to her at US immigration?
No problem.... Everyone knows the magic word 'asylum' !
.. lol
Hopefully Qatar Airways doesn’t ban her for posting this experience
Put that lady on the do not fly list!
Not the airlines’s fault although if economy wasn’t full she could have easily moved. That said, I’m sick of people filming everything and posting. It’s out of hand.
Some people have no etiquette or comprehension of being close to others. That includes the one filming. That’s the world we live in, sadly.
"That said, I’m sick of people filming everything and posting. It’s out of hand. "
What a stupid assessment.
It was completely in line here, and quite possibly could've protected the filming person from liability, should things have gotten further out of hand.
You don't need to be a frequent flyer to understand that putting yourself on other people's bodies is wrong. Sorry, but the old lady is 100% wrong and doesn't deserve any sympathy whatsoever. Being considerate to others is easy and doesn't require a study of international relations.
@Samo - While I agree with your point, unfortunately I can totally see this happening. This lady is likely from a small village in India or Pakistan (I am Pakistani, and there are many ways I can tell this about the lady from the videos). In our culture, the elders are entitled to do as they please. They are older than us, and therefore seen as wiser. Additionally, there is a responsibility of younger people...
@Samo - While I agree with your point, unfortunately I can totally see this happening. This lady is likely from a small village in India or Pakistan (I am Pakistani, and there are many ways I can tell this about the lady from the videos). In our culture, the elders are entitled to do as they please. They are older than us, and therefore seen as wiser. Additionally, there is a responsibility of younger people to help their elders in any way and to do as they please. There is a huge emphasis and importance placed on this in our culture. The result of this is that elders will do whatever they see as appropriate. For some people, it does let them get away with whatever they want (in a way). I have interacted with many elderly ladies from small villages from Pakistan before (both in Pakistan and abroad), and some of them do occasionally not realize that they are being disrespectful. Meanwhile, some do think they have the right to do whatever they want with younger people around them. What this lady is doing is definetly not appropriate on a plane. I was born and raised in the US, so I completely see your point about why it can be hard to understand where this lady was coming from. I have interacted with some elderly ladies from small villages in Pakistan abroad who have acted similar to this. It was not always because they were trying to be disrespectful, rather it was because they were uncomfortable, frightened, or out of their comfort zone, and the culture allows them to behave this way. Add in sleep deprivation, and I totally see this happening.
As Ben mentioned, this lady likely took off from her home country in the middle of the night, and for those flights, you have to arrive at the airport around midnight or earlier. She was likely awake the entire day before, and having not flown much before, she would not be used to such a disruption to her circadian rhythm. Those itineraries from the Indian Subcontinent to the Middle East, connecting to a 14 hour flight are brutal for inexperienced travelers. I cannot imagine how bad it must have been for an older lady. Not trying to excuse her actions, but I figured some context would be valuable for some.
I do still think that the lady was being disrespectful.
"In our culture, the elders are entitled to do as they please."
Quick kick to the face could've solved that misconception, no translation needed.
@JB
Her ancestors are possibly from India or Pakistan.
She's a g-lady.
I think you offer one of the more thoughtful comments. Maybe I'm crazy, but there was a time I can remember when every inconvenience or mishap in life didn't require one to become angry or demand compensation. Things happen - as the saying goes, "That's life." Personally, I think life is too short to always be upset about SOMETHING, as many people seem to be today. Yes, the old lady was out of line, and...
I think you offer one of the more thoughtful comments. Maybe I'm crazy, but there was a time I can remember when every inconvenience or mishap in life didn't require one to become angry or demand compensation. Things happen - as the saying goes, "That's life." Personally, I think life is too short to always be upset about SOMETHING, as many people seem to be today. Yes, the old lady was out of line, and the other passenger was subjected to some level of discomfort as a result. However, at the end of the day, she got where she was going safely, and life went on. She did not suffer physical injury, nor any financial loss. Simply put, she had a bad flight. The airline owes her nothing, as the FA's did what they could do. We all have bad experiences and sometimes entire bad days. Unfortunately, there seems to be an ever increasing part of the population that is self-absorbed and entitled that they truly believe the world owes them something whenever they be inconvenienced or don't get exactly what they want. Well, guess what, life isn't perfect, and it sure isn't always fair. Nonetheless, it can be pretty good if you appreciate what you have and don't sweat the small stuff (and things you can't change). Showing a little kindness or compassion once in a while doesn't hurt either. It's a good recipe for lower blood pressure and overall happiness.
JB. Pakistani here too!! When I saw the legs up folded on the seat, siitting as one does at home it made me laugh. How did she manage to do that is such a tight space lol. And the cutlery going into the bag that happened in front of me with pieces taken from each of the two trays of the two pax at the side of me. Poor FAs had no clue that some...
JB. Pakistani here too!! When I saw the legs up folded on the seat, siitting as one does at home it made me laugh. How did she manage to do that is such a tight space lol. And the cutlery going into the bag that happened in front of me with pieces taken from each of the two trays of the two pax at the side of me. Poor FAs had no clue that some metal cutlery had been whacked!!
For all others here, her falling off to sleep on the passenger recording is human nature and I've actually done that to someone on the transit once. True having someone's feet near you is unpleasant however this old woman clearly was experiencing this for the first time and dealing with it in a way like she was at home. She didn't know any better. Her appearance and age clearly showed this was her first time and as pointed out her journey probably began a good few hours prior to getting on board this long haul. So by this she was clearly zonked!!
Some of the comments here to have her tasered...wow just wow!!
And to the woman recording as others have said she looks like some influencer who tries to make it big or maybe this one video has got her famous. Deserve compensation, definitely not. Shocked that Ben would suggest she needs a Q Suites Business Class trip as compensation but do agree with Ben on the sympathetic and compassionate way in how this passenger should have seen the old lady.