Posted on 09/04/2014 5:04:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
You may not be 100 percent sure what you think about Vladimir Putin's maneuvers in Ukraine, Burger King's tax inversion, the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry, or Scotland's independence referendum. But you know exactly where you come down on the Great Airline Reclining Seat Controversy, don't you?
Everyone has an opinion on the passenger in Row 12 who caused an uproar on a United flight from Newark to Denver when he used a plastic bracket called the "Knee Defender" to block the woman in front of him from reclining her seat. When a flight attendant told the man to remove the gadget — which United, like most airlines, prohibits — he refused. The infuriated woman in Row 11, reported the Associated Press, "then stood up, turned around, and threw a cup of water at him." Whereupon the plane was diverted to Chicago, and the two passengers were ejected.
Three days later, another passenger was booted from another flight because of another struggle over legroom. American Airlines diverted a Miami-to-Paris flight to Boston, where Edmond Alexandre was arrested on charges of "interfering with a flight crew" after fighting when the seat in front him was reclined.
Small wonder these stories have struck a nerve. You don't have to be a frequent flyer to know how cramped air travel has become, or how maddening — not to mention kneecap- and laptop-endangering — it can be when the already minuscule space between you and the seat-back in front of you suddenly shrinks further because a passenger one row up leans back without warning. Nor is it hard to understand the frustration of a passenger with an aching back or a need to sleep who presses the recline button, only to discover that the seat has been deliberately immobilized by a fellow traveler.
But how did the battle between knee defenders and recliners turn into an all-or-nothing clash of rights?
"I own the right to recline, and if my reclining bothers you, you can pay me to stop," asserts economics reporter Josh Barro in The Upshot, a New York Times politics and policy website. "If sitting behind my reclined seat was such misery .?.?. someone would have opened his wallet and paid me by now."
Conversely, the Times's international business editor, Damon Darlin, is just as adamant in defense of his right — not his wish or preference, mind you, but his right — to attach a disabling clamp to the seat in front of him.
"The real problem is undefined property rights over the same four or five inches of space," Darlin maintains. "The person with the recliner button holds an advantage. The Knee Defender reallocates the rights."
Au contraire, argues the Financial Times in an editorial. An airplane ticket "is a contract that guarantees very few things, but the right to recline your seat at cruising altitude is one of them."
A plane ticket, of course, guarantees no such thing. Just as a concert ticket doesn't guarantee the right to view the stage unobstructed by a tall person right in front of you. Just as a hotel room reservation doesn't guarantee the right not to be disturbed by sounds from guests in the adjacent room or the corridor.
You can't always get what you want, to coin a phrase. That's routinely true of public accommodations, where our experiences — travel, dining, lodging, entertainment — must be shared with other human beings, in all their not-always-congenial variety. It makes life worse for all of us when people become so obsessed with their own satisfaction that they convince themselves they have a guaranteed right to it. Common courtesy and self-control used to be esteemed as indispensable to a healthy society. But the more we rely on law and regulation to maintain social order, the less we seem to emphasize good character and values.
Most air travelers, most of the time, don't descend into rudeness and selfishness. But as the obnoxious "I-have-a-right" mindset grows ever more entrenched, clashes like the one involving the Knee Defender are apt to proliferate. Barro wants to be paid not to recline into the lap of Darlin, sitting behind him. Darlin claims the freedom to "reallocate" Barro's ability to move his seat. Compromise? Consideration? Thoughtfulness? Nothing doing. For some people, the right to be a jerk trumps all.
It’s more of a “the perfect is the enemy of the good” kind of thing.
I'm leggy myself and find the standard Coach seat almost intolerable. Luckily I have status with Delta and can get Economy Comfort, and the occasional upgrade to First, at no extra charge. Otherwise flying would be just awful.
No, it is a simple agenda of a left leaning republican who opposes Reagan conservatism and is trying to mislead people on Reagan.
Well there’s no solution, other than not cramming the rows of seats so close together.
And planes and theaters need double armrests too.
My experience with this is that US airlines are worse than foreign airlines.
If the person in Row 1 reclines slightly into Row 2, and then the person in Row 2 reclines slightly into Row 3, and so on, doesn’t everyone still “own” the same cubic inches of space, just slightly re-angled? Except the guy bolt-upright against the bulkhead, of course. He should get a free Scotch.
I vaguely recall an aircraft floor plan where the bulkhead seat actually had considerably more free space in front of it — it was my favorite. I’m not tall but it expanded your personal territory considerably. No doubt those are gone now. Remember sitting in one on the way to Puerto Vallarta, probably an Alaska Airlines MD-80/90.
I wouldn’t pay you not to recline, unless you pay me not to accidentally kick the back of your seat.
Feeling “entitled,” huh?
Obama made that claim too.
If the person behind me has a problem with it, he can let me know. If I feel his issue is serious and he is polite when letting me know, I will put my seat up.
If....If....
Have you ever considered asking the person behind you first? People used to ask stuff like, "do you mind if I smoke?" That was the polite thing to do before invading someone's airspace with cigarette smoke. There is not much difference between smoking and shoving your seat into another person's face. The fact of the matter is that asking first is common courtesy and not asking is rude.
I paid for the seat and the space above it and if you invade it, you might not get all the sleep you were hoping for.
These threads always bring out the heroes.
I’m not a Christian, and I’m not a hero, but don’t tread on me.
“Otherwise flying would be just awful.”
Flying pretty much IS awful, if you ask me. I try to avoid it as much as possible.
If you don’t want to be “tread” upon, then fly Business or Economy Plus.
There used to be rear-facing bulkhead seats that didn’t recline, but had a bit more room.
The rear-facing one would be good because I was throwing up on the way back.
I’ve had that happen a few times.
That tray was not included for using a laptop. The tray was included for eating the meal that the airline served. Or used to serve.
It's only a recent phenomenon that people are working at their seats on their laptops. More likely, they are watching a movie. By "recent," I mean since the original design purpose of the tray was made obsolete by the airlines no longer serving hot (or any) meals like they used to.
Still, the new clash of "rights" is the right to recline and sleep vs. the right to work on their computer.
People may simplify it to recline vs. tray space, but it is really sleepers vs. workers.
-PJ
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