Most of the time when I travel the person who sits next to me is quiet or just talks a little bit. In most cases we both pick up social cues on how much we should visit during the flight. But in a few cases I have been seated next to individuals who were "just not right in the head"

I have been seated next to people who:

were popping pills like crazy

drink constantly

made strange noises

talked to themselves

Kept talking to me even after I showed no interest in them

What has been your experience with "odd seatmates"?

I was sitting between rkkwan and aafrequentflyer once. Gardyloo was in front of me.

here we go again. I was hoping op was a 1 day wonder.

Talk about a series of depressing posts. Claustrophobic flights, bored in the Caribbean, lousy beds, etc.

<b>wally</b>,

No way it was me. As soon as I saw that the man (was it you?) in the next seat was mumbling to himself, I requested to be moved. The man sounded like a broken jukebox, repeating over and over and over something about announcements and seat belts.....

&quot;No way it was me&quot;? Yep, it was you.

My dad and another Flyertalker was on this 15-hour EWR-HKG flight last month, and my dad was sitting two rows behind wally, er, I mean &quot;this person&quot;.

flyertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=734839

I was on another Continental flight a few months ago where there's one person who was unstable. He actually missed his earlier flight because he &quot;got lost&quot; in the airport and was sent on my flight, 2 rows in front of me. Just about push back, he stood up opened the overhead bins and said &quot;I'm checking to see if there are terrorists in them&quot;.

The crew handled him very well, calmed him down, put him back in his seat and the rest of the flight was uneventful.

For some reason, everyone always wants to know what &quot;line&quot; I'm in....If I want to chat, I can be in the in line, the out line, or even the lost line....If I'm not in a chatty mood, I'm in porn. That shuts them up every time.Well, I got that idea cuz one time I was seated next to a guy about my age.He point blank asked me if i was a porn star.It was a good laugh and we are still friends.He introduces me as his porn star bud.

But in seriousness to the question, when I'm on a flight, I always like to say hello to the person I'm am sitting next to. If they want to talk and I don't (whether they are mentally ill or not) I either try to sleep or read. If that doesn't work, I go to the bathroom and look for another seat. With the cheaper prices in airline tickets and higher gas prices, one does see a lot of interesting people on flights these days.

When I see people who are &quot;just not right in the head&quot; or want to have a sex change, I realize my problems in this world are really minor.

<i>in a few cases I have been seated next to individuals who were &quot;just not right in the head&quot;</i>

That's never happened to me, but it has happened to my seatmates.

No, not me either. If you were between rkkwan and AAFF, you must have been in coach. I wouldn't have been there.

Perhaps there was a pink elephant somewhere in the cabin?

I never like to be rude to personable row-mates, but I know I'm at risk for motion sickness if I don't keep my eyes on the horizon (or the furthest fixed point outside the plane, which has been the moon or stars) during the flight.

So I'm willing to chat before we start the roll for take-off, but I always explain to a possibly chatty row-mate that I won't be able to be very friendly because I can get sick if I don't sleep or look out the window.

That's very effective in cutting off the conversation -- no one wants to risk having the person next to them throwing up! So feel free to &quot;borrow&quot; the malady!

How do you think the pilot feels when he finds himself sitting next to someone mentally ill?

I sat next to a woman who gave herself an inflight accupuncture treatment. She stuck man,y many needles into her hands, wrists, ankles and feet and then covered up with a blanket and slept. It was like watching a train wreck --- I was really disturbed watching her pierce herself, but I could hardly look away.

I sat next to a guy who loudly sang, &quot;Somewhere Over the Rainbow,&quot; just as we were taking off. I'm sure Judy Garland was turning in her grave. He then continued to mumble and say weird things throughout the flight. I don't know if he was talking to me or himself, but in either case I tried not to engage him.

The good news is this flight was from Austin to Dallas, which is less than an hour. Whew!!

&quot;Kept talking to me even after I showed no interest in them&quot; - were you seated next to my father's woman?

In this case, I bring earplugs and put wires into my purse to conceal the fact I'm not listening to music.

This way, I can hear all announcements, but she doesn't bother me

Of course, my poor dad, but that's his choice!

I was across the aisle from a 20-something guy on a flight from Zurich to New York. He started out very pleasant guy, conversing with the passengers around him and telling jokes. Within an hour or two he'd started slurring, saying odd things, and generally acting as if he was on something. Eventually he passed out for several hours, but shortly before landing he got busted for smoking in the lavatory. He got yelled at by the flight attendants and they threatened to turn him into security, though they eventually backed down and let him off.

I was thinking back on that flight a few months ago when I was sitting next to AAFF and Rkkwan. Gardyloo was up in first class. We were on a BA flight to London. Gardyloo turned the entire First Class section into a casino and had everyone taking bets on what airport their checked bags would end up at. AAFF had a fit that the wine was free and insisted that we give the flight attendant $5 for each glass. But Rkkwan was the worst. Everytime the fasten seat belt sign went on and off, he insisted on making an announcement to the entire cabin. During the safety instructions, he insisted that everyone put their life vest on, but at 38,000 feet, when he tried to show everyone how the evacuation slide worked, the flight attendants had to sedate him up. Pretty scary.

Thanks for reminding about that flight. I was sedated so much that even now I can hardly remember any detail.

Now I know for sure it wasn't me. The one and only time I flew BA in coach across the big pond was back in 1999. Never again!

There's one born every minute.