Man stands for six hours on flight so wife can lie across three seats

His ‘romantic’ gesture is dividing the internet

One man’s “romantic” gesture has divided opinion online after he reportedly opted to stand for six hours on a flight so his wife could lie across a row of three seats and sleep.

A picture of the man was shared on Twitter by entrepreneur Courtney Lee Johnson, who accompanied it with the caption: “This guy stood up the whole six hours so his wife could sleep. Now that is love.”

The snap shows a man standing in the aircraft aisle and leaning on the tops of two plane seats while a woman lies across all three seats.

Garnering more than 15,000 likes and hundreds of comments, the photo quickly sparked debate, with many disagreeing with Johnson’s interpretation of the gesture as “love”.

Some thought it was romantic, with one Twitter user writing: “I’ve never been THAT in love...can’t wait to be so in love that I even consider that an option lol.”

However, many considered the woman’s actions “selfish”.

“If that is love then I’d rather be lonely,” commented one person, while another said: “Not love but exploitation. She could have just rested her head on his lap. Very inconsiderate.”

One user added: “I won’t judge their marriage. My hubs is the kind of man who would do this for me, but I am not the kind of wife to ask this of him!”

It’s not the first case of flight etiquette to cause a divide.

A passenger who asked the overweight man sitting next to them on a flight to cough up money for taking up too much room sparked a furious online debate earlier this year.

Reddit user Bigbawluh submitted the story on the social news website as part of the subreddit “AmItheA*****e”, or AITA.

“This month I was flying across the country on a long five-hour flight, which I had booked and selected seats for,” they wrote.

“I specifically chose an aisle seat in a row of two, so no middle seat – just the aisle and window.

“Well, a very obese man boards and I can tell instantly he is going to have a tough time fitting in any of the seats.

“I sit down and am pressed up against him, making me uncomfortable.”

They confronted the passenger, saying that the situation was unworkable. The man allegedly tried to tuck his arms in, but “was overhanging over the armrest about a quarter into my seat even when squeezing his arms in.”

“I told the guy, ‘Look, I’ll put up with this if you give me $150 (£113) – that’s half the cost of this flight and that would compensate me enough for the circumstances’.”

There were strong reactions to the story on both sides of the argument, with some condemning Bigbawluh’s actions as “fatshaming” while others were convinced it was a good compromise.