drvannostren

The answer, as others have said, is there is no answer.

I was flying YYZ-PHL the other day on an E-145 IIRC, small jet aircraft in any case. I was woken up mid flight by the FA as she said I was snoring very loudly. I was mortified, I'm well aware that I snore...though not only can I not control it, I can't tell when/why it happens, as sometimes I don't. I didn't thank her or apologize, which as a Canadian I normally would've but I think I was maybe a bit out of it. But as I sat there, I started stewing, because I kinda felt like she had publicly shamed me for something I couldn't control. But even writing this now, I can't say she was in the wrong. Ironically (I think) enough on the return run, I was flying YYC-YVR and a guy in the row behind me was snoring up a storrrrrm. I kinda just laughed, it bothered me a bit but I had my headphones in and while I could still hear him, I knew it was a short flight and didn't feel the need to mention it. What bothered me more, was watching the guy in the row in FRONT of me, every time a loud single snore would come up, he'd react, he'd look up from his book, kinda shake his head, do a look back, whatever. But he never got up to wake the guy, nor did he ask the cabin crew to assist.

So...I guess, if it's REALLY bothering you, and you've done your part (ie headphones/earplugs) then ask for help, if the person is seated next to you, maybe say something and see if you can get a reaction. But physical contact might be going a bit far, because who knows what'll happen.

To my fellow snorers, I've always kinda wondered...why doesn't my own snoring wake me up more often? Is it that I'm just used to the sound? I find that the times it does wake me up are usually times where I'm not trying to sleep, like if I'm dozing off at work, the first snore will often rustle me back up. If it doesn't bother ME much, how come it bothers others ?

I would agree, but this is exactly how the sexual assault things happen. As a man, if the snoring culprit was a woman, I wouldn't even think about going to wake her up. Cabin crews have now been accused of things, it's gotta be tough for them to physically wake people up too.

StuckInYYZ

Well, you could be accused of harassing (or even assaulting) them the whole flight... LEOs could meet you at the door...(extreme but depending on how far this progresses).. Depending on your proximity to the snorer, you could also be "inadvertently" spilled upon... fallen upon...your seat kicked (continuously)... depending on the class of cabin and position, you could be kept awake in various forms... taken too far, violence between the two of you... there are a lot of things a pissed off (or disoriented) snorer could do... keep in mind, you're in a sealed metal tube together... they're not doing anything wrong, yet you (assuming you keep them awake/waking them up) keep "bothering" them.

Snoring is a natural process...technically everyone has done it (at varying strengths for a variety of reasons at different times). You start poking the wrong person and their snoring is going to be the least of your concerns.

WorldLux

Unless the snoring is really loud (above conversation level loud), I'd say it's uncalled for since snoring isn't not something people do on purpose. FWIW I'm snoring too but a gentle nudge will shut sleeping me up again (though I probably don't snore much louder than the background noise on aircrafts).

BTW: Earlier this week I was sitting at Al Mourjan in the main lounge area and a guy across the room was snoring. Due in parts to bad room acoustics, the snoring was similarly noisy as a car driving past you at 30 mph. Since it was in the middle of the night, I retreated to the quiet area rather than waking another passenger up. The lounge was pretty much deserted and I figured that I'd prefer him snoring in the main area rather than in the quiet zones/the business zone where I was planing to go anyway.

garykung

Again - the U.S. law does not seem relevant. Although it is a guess, based on OP's profile, it sounds like OP is a British (or an U.K. resident).

Fair point. But at least this does not apply in my state.

Kumul

Regrettably I’m a snorer. I have sleep apnoea. It’s dangerous to me, and disturbing to others. When travelling I use a CPAP machine and battery wherever necessary and possible, have Provent valves as a standby, and remain awake if possible as a fallback. I’d apologise to anyone who felt obliged to wake me!

ft101

A lot of delicate flowers (and wannabe tough guys) on here. Tapping, nudging etc someone to attract their attention, whether asleep or not, is perfectly permissible and that's all that happened.

rbwpi

The same fate could befall the snorer re: spilling, fallen, etc. I'm already being kept awake by the snorer.

As far as violence is concerned, I'm sure its something the cabin crew or I could deal with. I'm not about to be intimidate by someone causing me discomfort. I don't do passive-aggressive.

Where did I say anything about poking the snorer? I made it perfectly clear in a prior post that any type of physical contact would be unacceptable.

Bottom line, I'm not about to suffer quietly while someone causes me discomfort.

steve170461

Ok thanks folks.

I really didn't expect such a wide and diverse set of views.
In future if this happens again, I shall ensure no physical contact is made but will still ensure that the culprit is made aware that he is disturbing half of the cabin-yes it really was that bad. It may be public transport but people are entitled not to be affected unduly by those around them. If it had been kids running around causing a disturbance then I think we would all expect the parents to control them. I would expect that if it's pointed that you are disturbing people be it by snoring, being unduly loud talking or any other way then people have the right not to be affected

It has also amazed me that so many answers refer to any sort of physical contact being considered to be paramount to an assault-clearly the words "common sense" no longer exist to some people.

End of debate for me.

deniah

tapping someone repeatedly , disrupting their sleep , because of unconscious and unintended - but still quite innoxious - behavior ? who taught you manners?

SingaporeJunkie

Yea I agree. As I said earlier, putting your hands on a stranger is never okay. That being said, let's not make a martyr out of a snorer just because it's "unconscious and unintended."

84fiero

There are differences in standards between criminal battery and the tort of battery (i.e. a civil lawsuit)...and of course among different countries and state and local jurisdictions. But in both instances, even in many US locales, injury is not always a requirement if the touching of the person would be deemed "offensive" - using a reasonable person standard - and assuming the other requied elements are present. Again, depending on the applicable jurisdiction. (I'm not asserting whether the OP situation would or wouldn't be civil or criminal battery.)

In general though this strikes me as the same general argument as some other inflight disagreements like window shades up or down for example. I don't think there is any real answer that will make everyone happy all the time.

The best thing is to be as prepared as possible for a flight if one will be bothered by noise or light or what have you. Because public transport involves unpredictability and there may not always be an ideal resolution.

84fiero

Duplicate

ft101

Depends on the force used. Going along with the mention of "common sense" above, I reckon no pain or discomfort was caused and attracting their attention for a valid reason does not constitute bad manners. If I've got the OP wrong (I don't think so going by the follow up posts) that's all that happened.

Now if they'd been punched awake, had their hair pulled or dug in the ribs so hard it was painful, then that would be bad manners or worse, but we all know that didn't happen here.

Carnforth

That's your interpretation of good and bad manners and I guess that different people will have different criteria.
Another person might be of the belief that it's good manners not to want to publicly cause embarrassment to someone by waking them and pointing out their involuntary actions.

ft101

Back to the "common sense" approach mentioned by steve170461 above. A reasonable interpretation would be attracting their attention as the OP did was the common sense approach, but why go all reasonable on FT.