Posted on 08/26/2014 2:37:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Flying is already a pain. But a story from the Associated Press Tuesday really brings home the point: The wire service reports that an entire plane was diverted on Sunday after a fight broke out over a passenger's right to recline her seat.
The AP explains:
"The spat began on United Airlines Flight 1462 because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a $21.95 lock that attaches to a tray table and jams the reclining mechanism of the seat in front. "The male passenger, seated in a middle seat of Row 12, used the device to stop the woman in front of him from reclining while he was on his laptop, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"A flight attendant asked him to remove the device and he refused. The woman then stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water at him, the official said."
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
I think much of the problem stems from the airlines not decreasing the ‘reclinability’ of seats as they have decreased the space between them. I find the upright position very uncomfortable, but it only takes an inch or two of recline to fix that. I don’t recline completely because I know how annoying it is and I’m comfortable enough without doing it.
I don’t think another passenger should be able to stop my seat from reclining, and the passenger who did that was wrong in the first place and extra wrong when he refused to remove the device when asked by the flight attendant. If you need space that badly then you should buy a seat that supplies it without infringing on your fellow passengers. But I think if the airlines would restrict the recline angle a bit they would probably nip a lot of these problems in the bud.
/barney fife
:-)
O2
The woman throwing the cup should be charged with a minor assault. My guess is it was some ratchet woman who has no concept of manners or politeness. I fly A LOT and I’m a big guy. I normally pay extra for the legroom or fly business. But no matter what when I’m going to recline I look back and check I won’t be disturbing the person behind me and ask. If the person in front want to recline but I’m doing something it’s pretty easy to just ask politely not to.
BUT, being that I’m 6’4” and 220lbs, Not quite gentle giant stature, I don’t think people are keen to pick fights.
Spoken like a typical nincompoop who hasn’t spent his working life getting from one place to another in an economy airplane seat. I’ve seen people like you get a lesson in being escorted off the airplane.
Your “working life” justifies you being rude?
Pathetic.
Interesting comments at link and appear to be about 50-50 in the opinion category for and against the person who wishes to recline.
Just one of the reasons I don’t fly anymore. Although the primary one is because I refuse to go through the TSA grope-a-thon, I also do not want to have an obese person hanging way over my armrest and into my space. And while I love my own grandchildren, I did not travel with them or with my own children when they were quite young because I didn’t want to inflict other travelers with their normal activity level.
If possible avoid Boeing aircraft. Their seats are crap. Airbus uses much better seats.
.....
I thinks the seats are supplied by third parties, like the engines.
Ah.... when rights collide. By the way, I sat beside a fellow who had knee defenders in place on a recent flight. The person in the seat ahead shook and shook the seat like crazy thinking that it was stuck and did it several times during the flight..... or perhaps it was just somebody pretending to unstuck and did it only to pi$$ off the guy behind....
Let's see. How about because the person who wishes to recline the seat paid for the seat and has every right to recline in the seat if they wish.
So then, who paid for my seat? Oh, that's right, I did. I also paid for the use of the tray table in front of me, cuz if I don't put it up, the attendant yells at me, not the guy in front of me.
Please provide some documentation that you own the space in front of your seat. It is something one most often sees from people making a once in a lifetime bucket list trip to see the world’s biggest ball of twine. Frequent travelers know better, although they make accommodations for people with physical issues, mothers trying to deal with children, etc. Aholes, on the other hand, not so much.
I guess I’m on the other side... The airlines allow reclining. That’s why there are reclining seats in their planes. No one is infringing in “your” space by reclining his or her seat. If you lost some space up top when the person in front of you reclined in his seat, then recline your seat and gain it back.
I’m six feet tall and I’ve never had my knees “hit” by a reclining seat in front of me. If I were considerably taller and it happened, I’d stretch out some more and put my feet further under the seat in front. You know, try to be a gentleman about it. There is some room for that. Don’t sit there with your knees under your chin, whining about the seat back hitting them.
The last time some guy behind me started braying about his knees, I turned around and looked at him and he was all of 5’3”, with his own seat fully reclined. I leaned over, let my well-exercised 20” guns show a little and didn’t hear another peep out of the jerk. Those were the days.
Aggravating, but the lady in front sounds like she was in the right, until she threw the cup of water. They should both have been thrown off.
I wonder how much extra it would cost per seat for an airline to cater to those who want more space but don’t care about the amenities of first class. I have to believe that if people were willing to pay more money for more space that airlines would start servicing that market. My suspicion is that in general people are not willing to pay the cost of accommodating their body sizes or desire to use a laptop and they would rather take the cheap fare and try to force others to accommodate them.
If a person needs two seats laterally, they have to buy two seats.
If a person needs two seats longitudinally, they can buy two seats.
Otherwise they can stay out of the seat of the person behind them who paid for that seat.
What about the folks in the back row who can’t recline their seats?
“I thinks the seats are supplied by third parties, like the engines.”
Yes but Airbus planes have a lot more leg room. They are more comfortable than the older Boeing planes. Newer planes seem to have a bit more room.
Airbus planes are also quite a bit quieter with less engine noise
That said, people have a right to recline the seat unless there is a meal being served. The man in back was a jerk.
My story about about this is a trip from Taipei to LA. I had a Marine in the seat behind me who traveling military standby and had been up like 4 days. The guy was like 6 foot 6 and all muscle but obviously exhausted. As soon as the plane took off he he put his knees on the back of the seat and went to sleep. I spent the next 11 hours bolt upright and very uncomfortable. It was the least I could do
I don’t know. Maybe the airlines could ask for volunteers to sit in those seats or give a little discount.
“threw a cup of water at him”
THAT’s the reason why, not the spat.
The flight should not have been diverted. It should have gone to its destination and the offender taken away.
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