Posted on 09/07/2014 9:00:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
Good morning. This is your captain. We'll be cruising today at an altitude of 30,000 feet, and we expect to arrive at our destination on time. Then we'll spend 45 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open up, because apparently, the airport folks had no idea we were coming.
Our flight crew will be coming through the cabin shortly to offer you a choice of lukewarm beverages along with a tiny chemical-infused snack that wouldn't sustain a gerbil through a cold night. You're welcome to take a nap, if you can sleep through me coming on the intercom to inform you of things you couldn't care less about.
And if there's anything we can do to make your flight more pleasant, please let us know so we can figure out if there's a way to charge you for it.
But I want to make a special announcement today. My last flight got diverted because a couple of knuckleheads started screaming and throwing things at each other. Turns out one of them wanted to recline a seat and the other took offense. I really hate detours. So let me tell you how it's going to be.
You all bought a ticket for a seat that reclines, which means if you want to recline, you're entitled to do it. I'm not saying you should. Just because you're free to spend the entire flight sobbing to your seatmates about your breakup or berating them with your opinion of Barack Obama doesn't mean it's a considerate thing to do. Just because you are allowed to scratch and belch en route doesn't mean your mother would approve.
But if we wanted to prevent our passengers from reclining, we would install seats that don't recline. So if the person in front of you leans back, you have several options. You can politely ask if he or she would mind not reclining, or at least not reclining quite so far. You can buy him or her a drink as an incentive.
You can pull out a twenty-dollar bill and pay an old-fashioned cash bribe. Heck, I don't care if you offer sexual favors, as long as they don't happen on board. If nothing else works, you can weep and beg.
What you can't do is use a "Knee Defender" to block the seat from reclining. You can't push against the seat until the other person returns the seat to its upright position. You can't scream and swear and throw things. If you do, we'll land at the nearest airport and let the cops put you in a seat you'll find even less comfy.
If our policy offends you, let me make some suggestions. Next time, buy a seat that has extra legroom. Or upgrade to first class. Or patronize one of the airlines whose seats don't budge.
Or just forget flying. I hear Amtrak cars have more room than airline cabins. You could get in your car and drive. You could stay home.
But if being stuck with a reclining seat in your face bothers you so much, let me bring out the world's smallest violin to play a microscopic sad song. Your ancestors probably came across the ocean in steerage, crammed into dim spaces with smelly strangers for weeks at a time, fighting off rats and scurvy.
Or they may have come in slave ships against their will, where they had a truly excellent chance of dying. They may have crossed the continent in a bone-jarring covered wagon eating buffalo jerky three meals a day.
_And you? You have to endure modestly cramped quarters for a few hours to be transported vast distances they would have needed weeks or months to cover. Boo friggin' hoo.
Face it, people: You've made it clear you want a low price more than you want comfort, so this airline has provided it, often losing money in the process. That's why we have to charge for bags and meals that used to cost you nothing. Factor in inflation, and you pay a whole lot less than passengers did back in 1979.
If you were willing to pony up for more space, my employer would be happy to install a La-Z-Boy for every traveler. But you're cheap. You squeeze every nickel till Thomas Jefferson screams. And then you wonder why we pack you in so tight.
So be grateful for the bargain fare. And notice: It's not spelled F-A-I-R.
Yes, but they still had a strong incentive to keep more alive.
Paying expenses and making a 15% profit is nice, but not nearly as nice as a 200% or 500% profit! IOW, once the costs had been sunk, every additional slave that survived to be sold was pure profit.
Now, there’s an incentive!
Mine was 2009 when I visited my daughter and her family in Amarillo, TX and before that was 1985 when my husband and I flew from Nashville, TN to Rochester NY for a family reunion
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/yes/4297_MODULE_12.pdf
I would not be at all surprised if mortality on immigrant ships during this period was in the same vicinity or higher. To be fair, this was near the end of the legal slave trade period. Mortality was probably a lot higher in earlier periods.
This is not to say there wasn't an immense death toll caused by the trade. Slaves also died during the capture process, the trek to the coast, while in the barracoons waiting to be sold, and during the "seasoning" process in the New World. The cumulative toll was probably well above 50%.
But the notion that slave ships, as such, were immensely deadly just isn't true, on average, though there were no doubt horrible exceptions.
At the time, however, long ocean voyages were dangerous for anybody.
I never recline anymore on airlines because the seats are too freakin’ close now. I wish there was room to recline, but there isn’t anymore.
I stopped flying anywhere unless absolutely necessary over ten years ago. If I can drive there in 12 hours or less then I drive. It usually saves time in the long run.
There is room to decline as long as you don’t mind crushing the knees of those behind you or smashing their laptops. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that don’t care.
“If I’m paying for a seat, I will recline.”
You don’t pay for the seat behind you that you are invading.
So, let me throw your belligerence back at you: If I am paying for a seat I will protect the space of that seat and annoy the crap out of you if you recline.
I’m 6’2”. I’ve had 2 knee replacements and when I sit in the seat, even with my butt back, BOTH knees are against the seat in front if me. I’m not getting the room I paid for. It’s not that I won’t let the seat in front of me come back...I cannot! Don’t tell me to upgrade to get legroom, unless YOU are offering to pay the 100+% increase in fare. It isn’t my fault I’m this tall. Why am I the culprit? Just don’t recline..it is called courtesy. I never recline my seat out of courtesy for the person behind me.
“Back in the 1970s when I first started working, I flew everywhere. Back then, even coach wasn’t bad. “
You can now fly first class cheaper than the coach tickets of the 1970s ....
Exactly, and it is also courtesy for the person who wants to recline the seat, to ask the person behind if they don’t mind
Next will be the elimination of windows in all passenger areas.
Passengers will hate it, but the airlines have determined that the aerodynamics will save a significant percentage of fuel as well as making airliners cheaper to construct. They are all just waiting for one of the other airlines to make the jump.
Agreed, but let's put at least some of the blame on the appropriate party - airlines for not providing sufficient space.
yes, been reading about that. Can’t wait.
I guess my request for them to widen the economy seats and aisle by 2 inches each and lengthen the space between seats by 3 inches, is being held in abeyance.
I’ve never flown on a plane that had seats that reclined more than 3-4 inches. What’s the big deal?
I am surprised some mega lawyer has not class action sued for blood clot damage from the cramped space.
In your case you should use seat guru and pick airlines and seats that better suit you.
In general southwest has better leg room than !any of the other airlines.
But united has economy plus with more leg room.
There are many who die soon after a long flight for exactly this reason and no doubt given sufficient data, a class action lawsuit would be possible. I personally know of a 40-something guy who died after a long flight for no apparent reason.
I also have a seat that I can raised the armrest and have more space.. so if I'm in the middle seat.. is it my right to raised both arms up?.. screw my seat mates?... of course not..I share that space..with them
Now if the seat next to me is empty I can use that extra space .. but if its not empty.. we are sharing that space.
It works the same for reclining seats.. we all payed for the SAME AMOUNT of space...
If there is an empty seat beside me I can raised the arm and use the extra space at will..
If there is an empty seat behind me I can recline the seat and use that extra space at will..
But if the the seat beside me or behind me is full.. We are sharing that space and you have no RIGHT to just take it at will and screw the other person out space they payed for.
This “because the seat can do it I can screw you”” is bs logic.. guess what .. my seat has a tray table...i have a right to use.. but you recline I can not use it.. that why the crew ask you raise you seat during cabin service.
So are you being screw by the airline when you are ask to raise your seat?.Do I not have a right to use my tray table? I paid for it.
Your sharing space with people beside you, behind you, and even in front on you (you want me to kick the back of the seat in front of me all flight?)...
You are sharing space ...if it empty behind or beside you go for it.. else be polite and ask because it NOT your space to take at will
BTTT
You are paying for a seat not space. If airlines provide a reclining option then the “reclinee” has every right to use the seat as the airlines and manufacturer allow.
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