"Please Don't Do This Here"... Passenger Entering Overhead Compartment on Airplane Seat

Lying Sideways in the Luggage Compartment Captured and Shared on SNS
Similar Incidents Previously Occurred at Other Airlines

A 'problematic passenger' was caught lying leisurely inside the overhead luggage compartment above the seats on a passenger plane in flight, causing public disapproval.

Recently, a video of a disruptive passenger on a plane has gone viral on social media platforms such as TikTok, according to reports by the New York Post and others on the 9th (local time). The video shows a woman inside the overhead luggage compartment above the airplane seats, resting her head on her hand and lying sideways. The approximately 10-second video pans over other passengers seated on the plane before zooming in on the woman. The video ends showing the person filming laughing as if finding the situation amusing.

A female passenger lying on top of the overhead luggage compartment above the airplane seat. [Image source=Social Networking Service (SNS) capture]

The media explained that the video was filmed on a passenger plane operated by the American low-cost airline Southwest Airlines. However, specific details such as the flight number, date, time, departure, and arrival locations of the flight the woman was on have not been disclosed. Additionally, there has been no information about whether the flight attendants discovered and took action against the woman.

The video has been viewed over 5.1 million times on TikTok but is no longer publicly available. Netizens who saw the video reacted with comments such as "How on earth did she get into the overhead compartment?" "Looks like she climbed up to lie down comfortably and sleep," and "Maybe she didn’t want others to sit in her seat and disturb her." Some even joked about the low-cost airline’s first-come, first-served seating policy, saying, "At Southwest Airlines, you can choose your seat directly."

The New York Post reported that this is not the first time someone has been caught inside an overhead luggage compartment on a plane. Last summer, a video surfaced showing a male passenger standing up from the overhead shelf on a Ryanair flight departing from Ibiza, Spain. In the video, the unidentified man stretched his body inside the luggage compartment and laughed mischievously. Also, in 2019, a flight attendant on a Southwest Airlines plane at Nashville International Airport in Tennessee startled passengers by climbing onto the overhead shelf and making strange noises.

The overhead luggage compartment above airplane seats is considered by flight attendants to be the dirtiest area on the plane. One flight attendant said, "The overhead compartments are rarely cleaned regularly." Therefore, passengers should use cloths or gloves to avoid direct contact when placing carry-on luggage in the compartment, and must wash their hands thoroughly after handling luggage with bare hands.

According to an analysis by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency of 493 international direct flights from July 31 to November 14 last year, pathogens were detected on a total of 58 flights. Among these, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (39 cases) was the most common, followed by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (32 cases), Vibrio, Salmonella (4 cases each), and Shigella (2 cases).