Middle cubby (underseat) space protocol
 

The guy next to me put his bag in the middle space. Would this bother you. FWIW there is plenty of space above.

If he asked, I would be ok with it. But if it got in the way of my foot space, then I would have an issue with it.

He didn't ask.

Did it completely ruin your day to have that bag there?

The aisle cubbyhole is often too small for a standard personal item. The protocol I use (for domestic narrow body FC) is middle slot for the aisle seat and the window slot for the window seat. By choice I sit in the window seat.

What bothers me are people who put their personal items in the overhead. It's frustrating to not be able to store your rollaboard because the overhead is full of purses, backpacks, and briefcases.

Footrest?

Where else are they supposed to put it?

What bothers me isn't necessarily the bag there itself it's the assumption of the dude who didn't ask if it was okay. I have used that space before but only after asking "do you mind? I can put it up if it's a problem".

That would annoy me. I think it's reasonable to share the middle cubby space, which is what I usually do. What makes it worse in this case is you can clearly see that your seat loses leg room because of this.

I do this all the time and don't see the problem. Why should he have to ask for your permission?

This. I always use the middle cubby when I'm in the aisle as my bag doesn't fit in the tiny side, but has no need to be in the bin on a full flight. I don't ask, nor do I expect to be asked when I am in the window. Never had an issue.

I do find it annoying when when the window person has taken the middle cubby, but that's a different issue.

Common courtesy goes a long way sometimes.

I think of the middle underseat space in FC as shared space. I don't ask to put something on my side, but I always position my stuff so that it doesn't prevent my seatmate from having space to stretch one leg/foot there. Similarly, if my seatmate takes the entire space (regardless of who has window or aisle), I would ask the person to move the item in order to let me use some of the space.

The protocol I've followed is to fill my dedicated space first, then ask about the middle.

Where else are you supposed to put these when you're in a bulkhead? :confused: