Decline to Recline? GFY!

[Pete]

I'm not sure if people have heard anything about this story, but a United Airlines flight from Newark to Colorado was diverted and landed in Chicago so that 2 passengers who were fighting could be removed form the plane.

 

The reason they were fighting? 1 passenger douchebag used the Knee Defender to prevent the woman in front of him from reclining her seat. Words were exchanged, she threw a cup of water on him (Bravo!), and the flight was diverted to remove them from the plane.

 

The altercation has sparked quite some chatter on the interweb, and 2 articles made me absolutely livid, and the reaction on social media pretty much mirrored my own. These two writers are probably the most immature people I've ever read, and the Facebook comments on these entires were scathing. Here are some of my favorite lines:

 

Being 6 ft. 2 in. and long of leg, I?m in a near rage by the time I wedge myself into a coach seat. And now you want to jam your chair back into my knees for four hours? Go fly a kite. It?s an airline seat, not a lounge chair. You want comfort, buy a business class seat.

http://time.com/3182118/knee-defender-airline-fight-united/

 

No, asshole. if YOU want comfort, YOU buy the business-class seat. The seat I bought reclines, and therefore it's my right to utilize that feature. If that leaves my headrest too close to you, too effin' bad. Recline your seat as well. All the seats on the effin' plane recline!

 

Once, on a flight from Chicago to Honolulu, a sweet old Hawaiian lady and her husband sat in front of me, and both reclined their seats at the very beginning of the eight-hour trip. ?Excuse me,? I said. ?That?s very uncomfortable. Is there any chance you could put your seat back up, at least partway??

 

?No!? she snapped. ?We paid for these goddamn seats, and we?ll recline them if we want to.? So then everyone was angry: I was angry because I had no room, and she was angry because I passive-aggressively kicked her seat once every 15 minutes?often enough to be annoying, but not often enough to definitely be on purpose.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fine_whine/2013/02/reclining_airplane_seats_are_a_terrible_idea_and_should_be_banned.single.html

 

Really? What are you effin' two years old? Kicking the back of a chair? Give me a break.

 

Man, if anyone every breaks out that Knee Defender on me, they better hope it defends their knee caps, too.

 

Frankly, I fly quite a few times a year, and everyone is reclining. I rarely see people upright for the whole flight. The freaking chair goes back and inch or two, what 5??

 

So what do you guys think and what do you do on planes?

[Phil]

Yeah, I was wondering if this was going to make it's way to the forum for a chat. Frankly, I'm in the same boat you are — this "Knee Defender" thing is bullshit, and I'm glad I've read that nearly every U.S. airline has banned its use. That's one of the ruddest things you could possibly do to another passenger who paid for the right to recline.

 

The most common argument I see against someone reclining their seat is that they are "invading my/your space". Well, there's a fundamental problem with that theory. That space, is actually not your space. It's the space of the person in front of you who purchased it when they bought their ticket for that flight. The reclining option on their chair is built into the cost of their ticket, because the reclining feature is built into the chair, which means that small degree of recline is actually space they own. Whether they use it or not is up to them, but the person behind them absolutely does not own it. The same as the person behind that person doesn't own their used/unused recline space. Economy, Economy Plus, or whatever it's called, etc. Doesn't matter. When you buy your airline ticket, you are paying for the functionality of your seat. That includes the recline, as well as the space of your seat.

 

There are unwritten rules of airline travel that do come into play here, like the arm rest rule, and as a courtesy, it is polite to mention to the passenger behind you that you are reclining, in case they have anything too close to your seat on the tray table that may be disrupted by your chairs' movement, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone utilizing a feature of their chair that they paid for in the first place.

 

I don't fly often, but I will be flying to Mexico this October, and you can bet your fuckin' ass I'm reclining. Person behind me doesn't like it? Go fly a kite.

[Blue Heaven]

Question I want to know, the people bitching about the people reclining their seat in front of them, does that mean they dont recline their seat? You might see a story on me with some air-rage if this happens to me if I really want to recline my seat and unable to.

 

I usually recline my seat if im tired, or if im trying to rest. I dont usually recline my seat if im wide awake and watching tv. Im short anyway so i have plenty of leg room whether someone reclines their seat or not or if i recline my seat.

[Patrick Bateman]

What's worse, that or this?

 

http://i.imgur.com/3fRlinI.jpg

[Pete]

What's worse, that or this?

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/3fRlinI.jpg

I don't think she uses that daily to mark her personal space...?

[siddious]

What's worse, that or this?

 

 

hahahah omg. that wouldnt do squat on a nyc subway though. she would just end up getting into a fight.

[Phil]

The subway thing also doesn't really compare. You don't "own" your space on a subway the way you do on an airplane. You don't pay for a seat on the subway. You pay for entry to ride any car at any time, and it's up to you what your own personal level of comfort is. If, for example, you enter at 8:00AM on a Tuesday morning, you should expect for things to get crowded, especially if your train is anywhere near Manhattan.

[Drew a Penalty]

I never recline. I feel bad doing it. I don't like people doing it to me so I just don't do it. I also don't complain because confrontation sucks and I also don't care enough. It's also not that bad. I'm on the small side so very rarely do tight spaces affect me.

 

I mean do whatever you feel like doing in terms of reclining. You're entitled to it so use it.

[Jules]

Everyone has the right to recline the seat and should do that if they feel like it. I appreciate the courtesy of warning someone to make sure they don't knock over their drinks or hit them in the head because they were grabbing something from their bag - I've seen both happen, the head injury caused a sizeable wound and the lady was moved to better seats - but you should always be able to do that.

 

In fact, I'm pretty tall at 6'3 and I prefer the seat ahead of me reclined, because on most planes it gives me a little more room to full extend my legs to under their seat and if they complain about my feet near their bags, well, you just reclined it and it's literally the only place my legs can go without me tripping up the flight attendant walking in the aisle or kneeing you in the back - not on purpose, but you have to move your legs occasionally.

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

I recline all the time, but I always feel bad if the person behind me is uncomfortable or not.

 

I guess this shit puts things into perspective a little better. No worries anymore.

[Morphinity 2.0]

I never recline, but I reserve the right to if I want to.

 

I'm relatively comfortable sitting upright, whether it's in the car or on a plane, so that's why I don't do it. However, if I do recline because I just can't get to sleep or something, and the person behind me makes a big stink about it, there will be a scene.

[Blue Heaven]

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/ridiculous-travel-accesories-that-will-c1409151932617.html

[Pete]

Bravo.

 

When you buy an airline ticket, one of the things you’re buying is the right to use your seat’s reclining function. If this passenger so badly wanted the passenger in front of him not to recline, he should have paid her to give up that right.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/upshot/dont-want-me-to-recline-my-airline-seat-you-can-pay-me.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=UP_DWM_20140827&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=1&abt=0002&abg=0

[Vodka Drunkenski]

I always upgrade to business or first now. Less headache and much more comfortable.

[Puck Head]

What is this "coach" you guys speakith of?

 

Rome,

Mexico in October?

Doing Puerto Vallarta Oct 26th thru 31st with girlfriend.

[Phil]

Yah, we're in Canc?n from the 13th to the 17th.

[Puck Head]

Yah, we're in Canc?n from the 13th to the 17th.

 

Never vacationed in Mexico before.

Looking for a week of beach, drink and sleep, and heard Puerto Vallarta was the slowest of the big locations.

Let me know how Cancun treats ya.

[Vodka Drunkenski]

Don't drink the water. Brush your teeth with bottled water

[Dunny]

I fly 3 or 4 times a month, if I'm sleeping reclining is a must, but to be truthful I almost lost my shit on an old couple that reclined on me half way through my flight Tuesday. Guess it all depends on my mood :)

[Vodka Drunkenski]

I hate the people that recline when beverages and food/snacks are served. Have some courtesy.

[Pete]

Ridiculous.

A Florida woman aboard a Delta flight flipped out after another passenger reclined her seat and demanded the airline immediately land the plane so she could get off, police said.

 

So they did.

 

The flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to West Palm Beach was rerouted to Jacksonville late Monday, the airline confirmed, the third flight diversion caused by passengers fighting over reclining seats in about a week. Police removed the unruly passenger, Amy Fine of Boca Raton, from the plane and, after an interview, she was escorted to the rental car area and released without incident, according to a report from the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/delta-flight-routed-due-passenger-disruption/story?id=25209486

[Phil]

Amazing. You feel mildly inconvenienced by something you don't actually own (the reclining space in front of you), so you inconvenience everyone else on the flight by demanding it be landed so you could get off.

 

The fuckin' balls on these people.

[Blue Heaven]

I really cant wait for my flight to Orlando later this week. Im reclining my seat, and my daughters seat after takeoff.

[torontonyr]

I'd use it.

[TwoMinutesForNothing]

If reclining is such a run of the mill thing, then why doesn't somebody else just switch seats with these people rather than having the plane diverted?