Where there’s smoke, there’s ire.
A woman trapped on a crowded plane next to a passenger consuming an entire tray of barbecue took to social media earlier this week to vent her frustration. The sticky situation has ignited yet another debate about airplane etiquette, as travelers struggle to cope in an era where the sky appears to be the limit when it comes to inflight idiocy.
Fed-up flier Lanna Tolland, from Glasgow, Scotland, found herself in the middle of a global food fight after the Twitter user unloaded on her few hundred followers.
“No chance is the guy next to me eating a full rack of ribs plus sides on this plane,” Tolland said, fuming, providing damning photo evidence in a post that has already received 5.5 million views.
Commenters immediately began ‘cue’ing up to dish out platter-sized portions of disapproval.
“I don’t even like using my laptop on the plane in the middle seat,” said user Daniel Berman.
“Based on the non-existent gap between his belly and the tray I’d say this isn’t his first full rack of ribs eaten on a plane,” fat-shamer Janet Davis sniped.
“People at the airport, we order coffees black and croissants. Nothing more,” tweeted Emily Lamb.
And while Tolland found herself a horde of allies, plenty of digital bystanders disagreed — sometimes strongly — with the unsolicited criticism aimed at an unwitting passenger just trying to eat a meal, with many going so far as to cheer him on, with cries of “love that for him” to “I approve,” to “you’re just mad he didn’t share.”
“My absolute hero — if you don’t respect this power move, it says more about you than him,” said Mike Walsh, in a stern rebuke to the critics.
The growing debate quickly turned to the food itself — a sad-looking takeout box with what appears to be sloppy, sticky baked ribs with the membranes attached, a scattering of french fries and a stub of corn on the cob slathered in butter and cheese.
Thanks to some quick sleuthing, the less than Texas-worthy meat was revealed to have been procured from an airport restaurant called Frankie & Benny’s, the Washington Post reported. The Applebee’s-esque chain can be found all across the United Kingdom, offering a menu of American and Italian classics — including the so-called “Smoky Ultimate BBQ Ribs,” described as a “slow-cooked rack of tender pork ribs with BBQ sauce.”
Armrest critics had a field day ripping the problematic pork meal to shreds.
“Ribs look like they were cooked in the oven, still have the membrane on them, no thanks,” Anthony Robinson said.
“I doubt any airport restaurant is smoking ribs. Baked ribs aren’t worth this hassle,” sniffed one self-described barbecue-literate user, who insisted that a plane was the last place you’d want to bust out a full rack.
“You need space when you eat ribs. You gotta spread your wings and fly,” he said.
Rick Og, of Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth — the #1 rated BBQ joint in the Lone Star State according to the latest version of Texas Monthly’s respected survey — failed to see what all the fuss was about.
“My go to on a plane wouldn’t be ribs,” he told the WaPo. “But if they were right in front of me I would eat them.”