Uh-oh! The “Seat Assaulter”: guilty as charged. I find, especially when the plane is flying somewhat inclined (I don’t know the proper terminology – pointing uphill), so that gravity is working very much against you, and as I’ve gotten older, heavier, and less in shape (she hangs head in embarassment), that I literally cannot rise to my feet on the airplane, unless I grab onto something and haul myself up. If it’s a long flight, and I need to visit the ladies’, I have sometimes out of desperation grabbed the seat in front of me to get up.

I suppose the thing to do (other than a pre-flight diet and exercise program!) would be to speak with the passenger in the seat in front of me, and beg their kind indulgence for the infraction I am reluctantly about to commit, for which I beg their pardon most profusely?

Thank you, Sky Steward. Yes, you’re right: an “excuse me” and a smile or a word or two of explanation can go a long way toward helping someone to be understanding of another’s etiquette infraction. I mean, “Jetiquette”