Airplane Armrest Etiquette, According To Experts

Is it rude to recline your seat? What’s the best way to ask a fellow passenger to switch spots? What about taking your shoes off during a flight?

There are seemingly endless etiquette considerations in the world of commercial air travel. Although some rules and norms are obvious (no, you should not snack on your smelly canned tuna mid-flight), others remain less well understood. For instance, who is entitled to use the armrests between seats?

To answer this question, we asked experts to weigh in on the etiquette for airplane armrests and the best practices for sharing them.

“For a row with two seats, the middle armrest is shared,” said Jodi R.R. Smith, the president of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting. “For a row with three seats, both middle armrests are for the person in the middle. The window traveler has the wall and the aisle traveler has the space of the aisle.”

For a row with four seats, she noted that the armrest between the two middle seats is shared and that the two middle-seat passengers also have ownership of the armrest between their seats and the passengers on either end.

Other etiquette experts have slightly different takes on the topic.

“When it comes to armrests, the middle seat generally has their choice but should only use one armrest or the other,” Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and corporate trainer specializing in adult behavior, told HuffPost.

Meanwhile, the Emily Post Institute’s website notes, “The middle seat arm rests are shared property. That said, it’s generous for the aisle and window seat holders to give the middle passenger a chance to claim them first.”

Consider taking turns or sharing middle armrests when possible as well. This is also the proper approach for a two-seat row in which each passenger has one personal armrest and one shared between them.

“It is proper etiquette for the passenger sitting at the window to use the arm rest near the window as often as they like,” said Jackie Vernon-Thompson, the founder of From the Inside-Out School of Etiquette. “The passenger sitting in the aisle seat has full access to the armrest near the aisle. Typically, the center armrest can be used by either at any time.”

Understanding the space limits of the aircraft and being open to compromise is also key.

“Keep in mind that the passenger sitting in the aisle seat may oftentimes use the middle armrest to leave room for the flight attendants and the cart…