The Lav Straddle
 

I'm glad you mention it to people- I'm pretty limber and usually attempt it to avoid waking someone up. (I also try to time my lav visits to avoid it- if the middle or aisle person gets up to use the lav I head there, too if there's any chance I might need to use it during the rest of the flight.

Works until you have a seat mate that refuses to get up if you need to go.

been in the forward lav on a 739? save for how much you lean over, there really isn't a "best way"

Straddle and spill some water in their lap when they are sleeping. "Oops. Sorry."

Are there really people so insolent? Never mind, I read social media. I guess just hit the call button and have the FA be your voice.

In today's day and age I don't want to be that passenger who wakes up a teenager while I am lav-straddling them. Jesus, it's a human function...wake the person up.

You say 'wake me' or 'I can't control my reaction'.

Others - especially snorers - say 'if you dare wake us we can't control our actions' (some snorers even say they will punch someone who wakes them).

What is it with people unable to control their reactions on a plane?

And how do we ordinary folk manage the minefield of wake v no-wake?? :(

I'm amazed at the people that go long flights without ever hitting the lav. Like 12 to 15 hours. I always try to wait for my seat mates to make their trip so I don't have to disturb them, but that doesn't always work out.
On a recent 14+ hour flight to Korea I was in the window seat and around 4 hours in, after the meal service but while my seat mates were still awake I put my stuff away, folded the tray table, and said "sorry" in English and Korean while pointing and looking aft. The older lady next to me just stared blankly at me until her daughter explained to her at length that I needed to get up. She chose to just fold her legs and I had to disturb the people reclined in front of us and do the lav straddle.

I always take an aisle seat so I don't have to ask someone to move.

I did this once on JAL, TYO-JFK, back in '04. I was in a middle seat in J, 2-3-2 configuration. I'm still amazed that happened but I was younger and foolish-er!

In short, I go when they go.

For those with bad backs
 

I'm so glad someone is talking about this. I fly United Business Class where the configuration is usually 2-1-2 in a 767. They are now upgrading their aircraft to the business suites where every seat is on an aisle. This eliminates the need to step over your fellow passenger. About one year ago I was seated at my favorite window seat and had to go to the Lav. I didn't want to wake up my neighbor, so I stepped over his flat bed and did my business. After landing and checking into my hotel in London, I started having lower back pain. I had aggravated my herniated L-4, and spent the next 3 days in my room. Now I always take the aisle seat.

Or physically CAN'T get up. Don't assume everyone who remains seated just isn't willing to move.

(Yes, I do the Lav Straddle when I get up, especially if I'm flying with my wife who requires an aisle chair to board and deplane.)

It is possible that with some (lazy) people, and even if you wake them up, they will simply sit up in their seat (as if that changes things any), pause for a second and then look up at you like "well, are you going or not going"???

I will straddle in that case.. But as soon as I have one leg over and settled on the aisle side, I reach down and grab myself pretending I almost lost it...

The big wave
 

I've had many instances in FC of the aisle passenger being so anesthetized by the entertainment screen that they seem to lose peripheral vision. I'll twist around toward them, move my underseat stuff, sit forward and eventually start waving my hands and then arms closer and closer to their face to get their attention.

I have short legs and resent very much the lazy bumb who won't get out of their aisle seat, might twist themselves a little sideways, but still forcing me to climb over them.With the seat in front reclined, too, it's nearly impossible to do this with any grace. Does he (it's always a guy) want me to fall into his lap?

Sorry, I didn't mean it that way, but it was my own mother who refused to get up for me.

Same here with the aisle seat.
With the frequency I get up they tend to go when I get up.. many times I've returned to my seat to find the window seat person has gotten up too.

I have to use the lav a lot and always book an aisle seat. Sometimes only windows are available though when I clear the upgrade list or if I do a Same Day confirm.

I figure if only windows are available the person in the aisle already booked it and don't have an issue waking them up if I have to go. If they don't want waken up they should have booked a window seat. I don't have an issue being woken up if the person in the window has to go since I booked the aisle and figure that is the price that comes with an aisle seat.

If someone has an active bladder they should book an aisle seat if it's available when booking or being upgraded.

Ooof. Well, in that case, just give her a nudge and the old stink-eye as you climb over :)

(And no offense taken, just pointing out that sometimes there are reasons people don't move other than "too darn lazy..." :) )

It's all good. I fixed it for this year's vacation: I bought international business class tickets so it shouldn't be an issue.

As a rule for me..whenever aisle gets up, I get up as well. If they don't, I just make sure they're awake. I'm slim, limber and not a huge person, I'd straddle easily, but I don't.

Maybe that should be an option when booking. Do you have an active bladder? Then up pops available aisle seats ;) I haven't had a window seat in years but if I gotta go and am at a window, they ARE getting up or I'll crawl over them. Slim and limber too.
What a shame this is how flying has become. Remembering when we got meals, bigger seats etc. When I first started flying 40+ years ago.

Reactions
 

Victims of rape might not be able to predict how they might react.

I'm an aisle only person and part of my quick conversation with the window person is to tell them to shake my shoulder if they need to get out while I'm asleep.

I was absolutely amazed by one person who didn't move from her seat for the 9+ hours of the BKK-SYD flight.

I like the window-for viewing and to rest against it. I can usually handle up to 5 hours without getting up. I do DVT exercises in my seat. Otherwise, I will ask the other person(s) to get up or get up when they do. At 6' 5" and 275, there is no squeezing by.

SCToni - thanks for the morning laugh. Not a lovely picture there that you painted. Gives a different twist fo "buttface".

I was on a flight once where a few rows ahead of me a particularly buxom young lady was stepping over the guy in the aisle seat. She was facing him and he was sound asleep. We hit turbulence and she landed "pillows first" into his face. I burst out laughing. Not intentionally, it just came rolling out... At first the pax was upset, then pleased, then embarrassed. She was mortified and ran down the aisle to the Lav. I wondered how the rest of their flight went, and if they met later for a date, since the preliminaries had already been made.

I like your recommendation of talking about it prior to takeoff. That's such a simple and respectful way to handle it. Some will say step over me, some will ask to be nudged. Everyone's different.

The few times I flew domestic in China and India, pax will lav straddle even during boarding if you're not quick about getting up. Doesn't matter if it's C or Y, male or female, though I've never seen a female do it in India. If you board early for an aisle seat and don't like the idea of 1-2 strangers doing this to you, be prepared to get up quickly or hold them back while you get up.

I usually travel with my husband, and usually on airlines with a 1-2-1 configuration, such that I am either sitting next to a window or next to my husband (and even then, we are both in an aisle, in any event). Generally, however, please feel free to wake me if you need to use the facilities. I will usually take the opportunity to use them immediately after the person next to me returns to their seat (except during turbulence).