Why did this man book a plane seat for his terrifying toy doll?

The more traditional complaints of peeved air passengers are usually that of a neighbour’s girth spilling into surrounding seats or of long-running, silent battles of the central armrest, rather than the fact one of your fellow fliers has booked a ticket for his creepy doll and it is the stuff of absolute nightmares.

That was the scenario facing Sara Novic on a flight to Cincinnati last week – and from the sounds of it, sitting next to a large, rude space hogger would be preferable.

The Brooklyn-based writer took to Twitter to document her experience of the man and his toy friend, reportedly is called Barbara, who were apparently on their way to visit a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark and the accompanying creationist theme park, Ark Encounter, in Kentucky.

Novic said: “Good news: no person in the middle seat next to me. Bad news: terrifying baby doll that belongs to the man in the window seat next to me.”

Her followers were then treated to a blow-by-blow account of the flight, including how a flight attendant explained to the man that booking a ticket in the doll’s name using fake passport details had led to a frantic security search until staff realised Barbara was not real. The writer posted two photos of the doll but edited out the man’s face to protect his identity.

Novic even had a two-hour stopover before boarding another flight, only to find the man and Barbara sat across from her again.

She closed by saying: “On the bright side, Barbara was a very well-behaved baby. Just kidding; this has been terrible.”

While the staff in this story were unhappy that the man had booked a seat for his doll, a Thai airline earlier this year announced that “Child Angels”, life-sized dolls popular in Thailand, were allowed to fly as passengers.