Airline passenger fumes as fellow flier sits directly behind him on nearly empty flight

Empty flights are a blessing.

No massive queues to wait during boarding, no worrying about where your luggage is going to squeeze in the overhead compartment, and most of all, a quiet flight where you can stretch out as much as you want.

However, one airline passenger didn't quite experience the luxury.

Chef Anthony Thomas was left furious when one passenger, out of the only other two onboard, decided to sit directly behind him.

In his X post, Thomas captioned: 'Imagine having the luxury of boarding a flight with only two passengers on it. Of all the seats on the flight, look where he decided to sit.'

A passenger decided to sit directly behind someone else on a near-empty flight / @ChefAnthonyDC/X

The Washington-based chef took a selfie of the almost empty flight, showing the head of a man sat in the seat behind him on the Southwest Airline flight.

The only other passenger of the three had the right idea to sit several rows behind and enjoy his personal space.

Thomas' post has accumulated more than 37.3 million views, with over six thousand comments, sparking a discussion among the online community about personal space and common courtesy.

Comparing it to car parking spaces, one X user replied: 'It’s just like the folks who park right next to you and it’s tons of available spaces.'

Another wrote: 'I think these people are extremely codependent.'

Others joked that they would move to 'sit directly next to the guy' or 'immediately move away' to a different seat.

Some viewers are siding with Thomas whilst others are siding with the passenger /tbradford/Getty

Meanwhile, some other respondents think it's plausible that the man is just sitting down in his assigned seat until take-off.

Reportedly, the Southwest plane encourages an open seating policy, meaning that travellers can pick any available seat once they board the aircraft.

However, other social media users are siding with the passenger sat behind, saying: 'Guy’s probably scared of flying, instead of being super creepy just ask him to sit in the same row – maybe you will make a friend.'

While another pointed out: 'I pick my seat when I book the flight. If it happens to be an empty flight and I’m right behind you, it ain’t going to change the fact that that’s the seat I wanted.'