Elbow bullies - what do you do?

[crm911]

Only once have I encountered an elbow bully - he looked like a sky marshal (had a small carry-on and a book to read), so I bit my lip but he pushed my elbow off the arm rest, so he had mine and the aisle arm rests. Once he had claimed his space, later on he was happy to let me use some of the arm rest.

How do you handle elbow bullies?

 

[JohnK]

I generally let the person in the middle seat have the arm rest to rest elbows.

But sometimes you come across people who think it is OK to read huge newspapers and keep bumping you with their elbows.

 

[drewbles]

No problems for me. I'm proportioned as such that my elbows are usually half a foot or so above the arm rests. They're entirely useless for me

 

[pgsdiver]

Once he had claimed his space, later on he was happy to let me use some of the arm rest.

How do you handle elbow bullies?

I get them occasionally, but only on rare occasions have I had the problem the entire flight. Most people move at some point, and if they have been unreasonable in the first instance I "stake a claim" to the armrest, but like JohnK, I normally leave it for the person in the middle. They have it a lot worse than me most of the time.
Once it was bad enough that I asked the guy if he wanted the front half or the back half of the armrest - he got the message.