Posted on 08/23/2021 11:34:40 AM PDT by algore
I fly around a lot to give talks, and I’m always trying to work on my laptop, and people lean their seats right back into me and squish the laptop into my chest.
So I have a lot of experience thinking about, “Well, whose space is that, when someone leans back?” Does it belong to the person in front or the person in back?
All of that traces back to these very same simple few stories, and all those stories are on display in that crowded, mushed, conflict-ridden space, which is the airplane seat.
Just to give you a concrete example, there’s a guy named James Beach who was flying from Boston to Denver, and he had actually a little plastic clamp called a Knee Defender, which you can buy online.
It’s really very effective. You stick it on the seat in front of you, on the little tray table, and it keeps the seat in front of you from leaning back.
On this particular flight, the woman in front of him tried to lean back. She couldn’t; she realized what was wrong. She asked him to take them off.
He didn’t comply. She turned around and threw her water at him. The pilot did an emergency landing right away. They were taken off the flight. The plane went on to Denver an hour and 38 minutes late.
Every airline has a rule, which is that the person with the button can lean back, but they are super deliberate about keeping that rule quiet.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
or better yet remove all the seats and let everyone pretend to be on a flight from afganistan.
Praise be to the biden/
AFGHANISTAN
Airports and airplanes these days are concentration camp training sites....
No thanks.
I wear heavy jeans. I’m big enough that you can’t lean back if I am behind you.
Got a few nasty looks over the years. One lady called the stewardess to have me moved so she could get comfortable. They did not move me (though I typically don’t care).
also training for guards and scanners
I think the recline feature should be eliminated on flights. They cram so many seats in it is simply no longer practical to allow reclining. If they gave more space, I could see it, but they don’t.
Reclining seats in coach should not be an option.
It’s really very effective...She turned around and threw her water at him. The pilot did an emergency landing right away. They were taken off the flight.”
Yeah, well at least his knees were effectively defended I guess.
Freegards
Here’s an idea…..
An airline with better seating that doesn’t cost four times as much as coach.
Yeah, $15.00 more for the flight and everyone has enough room.
The airline could even make extra money by selling or renting their own knee defender thingies. If you are really sleepy, you can do so with limited recline.
God forbid people try to be civil.
Pretty soon, they’ll be strapping you up like hanibal lecter and shoving you into submarine style bunks.
I flew a lot. I love airplanes.
Being a retired airline employee, I never ever want to fly commercial ever again. Even with those freebee benefits. I’ll Drive or not go there.
The whole experience sucks end to end.
Since the government has effectively created an internal monopoly by allowing insane consolidation among the airlines, it should respond with rules for minimum seat spacing and size and reimbursement requirements for delayed flights (including preventing the airlines from padding the flight times).
After traveling extensively in Europe, American airports and airlines are simply atrocious.
Most are.
One guy, on a late flight, leaned back and smacked my knees rather hard.
He was so embarrassed I felt sorry for him.
Sometimes the stewardess will come by and ask if I want to move. Unless I have a short connection, I usually do.
But I do have a few stories of people complaining I was to “tall” to sit behind them. How much money they paid for the flight, and how the airline had “better make it right!” for seating a tall guy behind them.
The airlines want coach to be uncomfortable so that people will be willing to pay for first class.
I think you are probably right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.