@Majmm, Tough one, and I have been there and did exactly what you did. Hung out in the aisle as much as possible and tried to (1) pretend I was somewhere else and (2) churn up enough empathy for the oversized person having to sit in the middle. I would venture a guess that the person in the window seat was bigger than you, so the passenger in the middle seat had to make a choice and chose to encroach more on your space than the other direction. As for whether that was the proper thing to do, I could not say what is correct. I just take it one flight at a time. Everyone has to sit somewhere, so that is why I just deal with the occasional oversized flier to whom I might end up against. I do prefer being next to a person of size over sitting behind the gas-passing "fart blossom." But I just mentally deal with that as well and hope that their condition is not permanent. As an A-lister, I board relatively early, so after seeing a substantial number of people board, I often watch the stream of people, make eye contact and a slight hand gesture to the thin person with no rollerboard luggage who may or may not receive and react to the hint I cast out. That move has backfired on me when I ended up next to a perfume covered lady who triggered an allergic reaction/runny nose. She was probably regretting her decision to sit next to me. Here's hoping your future travels are more pleasant, and the good news is that most of them are fine.
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