Woman slammed by passenger for cleaning her seat during flight – but people are divided

A WOMAN has sparked debate online after a passenger said she was "rude and disrespectful" for cleaning her seat during a flight.

In a thread on Reddit, the 18-year-old woman revealed that she always has sanitiser spray with her, due to her anxiety and OCD.

She said: "Airports freak me out and I wipe down everything before sitting.

"People touching my stuff and other people's germs being on me has caused me elevated stress and has caused me to have multiple panic attacks through the years."

The woman said she used her sanitiser spray to clean both her seat and herself after coming into contact with other passengers on board the plane.

However, one person accused her of being rude with her obsessive cleaning.

The woman said: "I continually sprayed my disinfectant spray on me to calm myself and prevent a panic attack.

";No one had a problem with it but one. They told me how rude and disrespectful I was being by treating them as if they were gross and had and disease.

"I had never thought about it this way. I also have social anxiety so I just apologized and turned my headphones on full blast.

"I was shaking and didn’t know what else to do. The person kept death staring me during the flight."

Her actions have split opinion online, with most coming out in support of her behaviour.

One user said that as long as she wasn't spraying other passengers, then she had nothing to apologise for.

They wrote: "You didn't spray them you sprayed yourself. Probably looks a bit odd but them being offended is OTT."

Another sympathised with the original poster, but advised her to get help for her OCD and anxiety.

However, not everyone was quite so forgiving of her actions - one person argued: "It would affect me, I can not stand the smell of hand sanitizers, they give me a headache, so someone spraying them constantly would be a complete aggravation."

Flight attendants often advise passengers to wipe down their seats and tray tables when boarding, as airlines rarely deep clean the aircraft.

Plenty of passengers have divided opinions on planes before, including a woman who climbed over other passengers to get to her seat.

Another had a passenger stop her from reclining her seat during a long haul flight.