Mr. Johnson boarded his flight to New York City and approached the aisle seat he had booked.
He begged. She refused. At first, most passengers in row 17 tried pretending not to notice the tension building beside them. Airplanes are full of tiny social contracts held together by exhaustion and forced politeness. People avoid eye contact, wear headphones like armor, and silently pray nobody creates a scene before takeoff. But this disagreement…