I have been a “1K” with United for many years and I love United. To the point:

Yesterday I took a cross country flight on a two-cabin 757. Those of you who are familiar with this aircraft know that rows 8 D & E as well as 9 A, B & C do not have space for carry on items under the seats. I had seat number 9 A where I had plenty of leg room but no place to stow my briefcase except in the overhead bins.

When I boarded the aircraft, I placed my briefcase in the bin above row 9 and sat while the aircraft got boarded. Shortly before boarding concluded, a male passenger came on board with two bags. There was room for only one of his bags in the bin where I had my briefcase. The man sat in seat 10 C.

The male passenger placed one of his bags in the empty space next to where I had put my briefcase. Then, incredibly, the passenger forced his other bag on top of my briefcase which meant I could not get access to it during the flight.

As there was no one sitting next to the passenger, I politely asked him if he would not mind putting one of his bags under the empty seat next to him. He told me that he would not do that. He said that if I did not like his bag where it was I should talk to a flight attendant about it. I chose not to argue with the bully. Soon after, a flight attendant came by and I explained about my briefcase being trapped by the man’s bag that he had put on top of my briefcase after I had boarded the flight.

The flight attendant said she would take my briefcase and put it in an overhead bin in first class. I declined her suggestion. This is because if my briefcase were stored in first class, at deplaning time, I would have to wait until the first class passengers had exited the forward cabin and would have to fight my way to the area to find my briefcase.

Furthermore, by the flight attendant taking away my briefcase, it would reinforce the rude and callous disregard for common courtesy displayed by the bully passenger who created the problem.

I asked to speak with the purser and explained the situation and my reluctance to have my briefcase brought to a different cabin.

The purser immediately assessed the situation and politely asked the passenger to put one of his bags under the vacant seat next to him, which he did.

Between various air carriers, I have flown more than two million miles. I have never encountered any thing like this before. Is it that I have been lucky until yesterday?

I am curious, would there have been another reasonable method to deal with the situation short of having my briefcase taken to a different area of the aircraft?