The US airlines will do as the Europeans have done and that is to stop the seats from reclining. The narrow seating and tight knees for so many of us is enough to put up with without a reclining seatback in my personal space. That is near the top of my aggravation list when flying.
Either ban them completely or allow unfettered use of them. Don’t ask someone who is using it to remove it. Why is the front passenger’s right to recline any more important than the rear passenger’s right to not have his space infringed upon?
I once had a woman bitch at me because she couldn’t recline her seat without hitting my knees. At 6’ 2” there wasn’t a whole lot I could about it.
plastic and metal, it could be involved.
It’s the airlines’ fault for cramming so many people into such tight spaces. It’s a wonder we don’t have more “air rage” incidents like this.
Do people still recline on passnger airlines? I have a solution to anyone who would do that, and its free! (Kick the back of their seat every 3 seconds)
But I’ve never had to do that. I’ve never had someone rude enough to invade my space like that.
If possible avoid Boeing aircraft. Their seats are crap. Airbus uses much better seats.
I was on a flight once and had the aisle seat in the last row. The flight was full. After takeoff, I started up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me. He said he had just gotten married and they couldn’t get 2 seats together and she was in tears about 10 rows up. I said, “I can fix this.”, gathered my stuff, and went up to where the bride was sitting. I told her I knew of a guy in the last row who would like to sit next to his bride. She got up, gave me a hug and hurried back to sit with her husband. I sat down next to 2 women. One of them says, “What a nice thing to do.” I said, “Not really. This seat reclines.”
When there is a cute chick behind me, I remove two bolts and I can recline my seat all the way so my head is in her lap.
This device is not FAA approved and changes the design intent and does not have the proper paperwork aka a "337" or a "Supplemental Type Certificate" STC in essence it may render the aircraft "Experimental" without the proper certification and paperwork.
I wonder if the FAA will come down on this device like a ton of bricks...
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.
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.
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.
“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.
I suppose that means they weren't able to divert just part of the plane. Great reportage there, NPR!
Tampering with airline equipment, refusing to cooperate, how about showing him the door and letting him walk home?
Knowing how airlines nickle-and-dime these days, I figured by now they’d charge a fee to recline your seat.
did the people who sell those things have a comment?