Passengers in fight over reclined seat
 

"An American Airlines flight headed from Miami to Paris had to be diverted into Boston airport late on Wednesday night after two passengers began arguing and the argument turned physical. The disagreement was sparked by the hot button issue of the week: seat reclining. "
The passenger who complained about the reclined seat in front of him was taken off the plane after he grabbed an airline attendant's arm.

"This is the second such incident in the last week. A Newark-to-Denver flight ended up in Chicago on Sunday after a man attached a "Knee Defender" gadget to the seat in front of him to prevent it from reclining, and got a cup of water in the face from the woman sitting there as a response. "

http://news.yahoo.com/recline-gate-2...022221603.html

On DH's birthday in 1975, we were flying back from Hawaii. A very large man was sitting in front of DH, who is somewhat long from hip to knee (although he's only 5'10"). Every time the guy threw his seat back, it banged into DH's knees. DH asked him (quite pleasantly, as he only tends to get aggravated by me) to let DH know when he was reclining so DH could move his knees to the side.
The guy (and his wife) took great exception to this request and started screaming at DH. The flight attendant tried to settle them down, but it ended up that they were escorted from the plane by the undercover air marshall.
What a birthday!

My husband is 6'5" tall and when someone in front reclines his knees are literally crushed. He is such a polite person that he just endures the pain but I usually tell the person in front of him the situation and if they could please return their seat to the upright position and so far everyone has complied but that could change after reading about the last two episodes. I personally feel that no seats should recline. My husband cannot help that he has long legs. Sometimes we are lucky enough to get an exit row but not often. I would not dream of reclining my seat and invading the space of the person behind me.

I can understand why the person reclined on tried to block it.
I once spent 11 hours stuck in my seat with the front seat in my face on a long long flight and the party in the seat told me when I asked politely to take it up a notch they paid for the seat and they were going to use it however they wanted. This person even ate with it laid back. Calling cabin person did little to change the problem. The man simply said no, cabin person shook her head and I was stuck. Whatever happen to people having some manners?

Can't you people sneeze?

Cleveland Brown,

What is that comment suppose to mean?

You guys are all nuts. These seats recline for a reason. I personally never recline on a domestic flight, but when I am on a twelve hour plus flight to Asia or a ten hour flight to Europe, reclining is necessary. What really ticks me off is one time someone woke me up to ask me to put up my seat. The irony was when I turned around their seat was reclined. I seriously hope that not one of you making comments against reclining seats has ever reclined your seat. FYI I am 6'2" and when someone reclines have never had an issue moving my knees. Reclining seats is a right, part of the purchase of the ticket. If you can't fit in the seat spend the extra money for a bulkhead or exit row seat. It is not my fault you don't want to spend the extra money for your comfort.

There are two airlines that have taken out all reclining seats in economy and hopefully more will follow their lead. I have tried many times to upgrade (pay) for bulkhead or exit row seats but they are already filled. Try moving your knees if over 6'3" with 30" of leg room.

abram - Wow! And that was almost 40 years ago.

Sneezing: dip your fingers into a cup of water, make a loud sneezing noise while simultaneously flicking water over the offending reclined seat. Be very polite to say ' oh excuse me, I hope I'm not coming down with something', and sneeze one more time before you finish the sentence. (at your own risk, of course).
Otherwise feel free to use the reclined seatback as a pull-up bar to help you get out of, and get back into, your seat. If you continue to drink above-mentioned water, you can benefit from this move several times.
I don't terribly object to a seat being reclined in front of me, but do find it extremely rude to do so during meal service. I rarely recline my seat - if I do, it is during the overseas 'lights out' time only.

>>You guys are all nuts.<<

Uh uh. Nope.

Reclining a couple of inches -- usually no problem. And doing it slowly -- no problem at all. But -- slamming it back fully/ no warning - BIG problem. Who knows what that is doing to the people behind you. A mother holding a baby in her lap? or someone just starting to pick up a cup of coffee? or someone trying to reach down to get something out of their carryon. HUGE problem.

What happened to civility? A simple warning to the person behind.

And I have been on flights when the attendant have asked folks to raise their seat backs during meal/drinks service . . . but the rude ones still think they are entitled.

As seats are made to recline I don't think you need permission from the person behind you to do so. I don't recline during meals and raise it up if reclined when meals are served. Never had a problem in over 30 yrs. of flying. The person behind you should not be able to prevent you from reclining and the person who did so was wrong. It's not his seat and it's against airline policy. This device interferes with property that is not his. The cup of H2O in his face was wrong as well.

>> I don't think you need permission from the person behind you to do so.<<

I didn't say 'permission'. But I certainly hope you let the poor person behind you that you are reclining or at least do it <i>slowly</i>.

Otherwise -- just rude.

IME very, very few people do that. Slowly yes and don't do it during meals but again IME I've have reclined more times than I can remember and been reclined on w/o any incident. Its common practice for decades. I don't agree about it being rude and I cant ever recall anyone telling the person behind them they are going to recline their seat.

This issue is not about reclining. Its about using a device to stop someone form reclining their seat as they are entitled to do. Its about taking away that right.

JM2C.

Seems to me that two people should be able to compromise. If one were sitting behind the other on the passenger side of a car, would the person in front squash the person in back? Would the person in the back demand that the person in front sit in the upright position?

In the case of that United flight, I believe the guy with the knee defender was sitting in economy plus. Yet, he was still demanding that the person in front not recline. I think that's ridiculous. And I'm tall.

Most people are so self absorbed that they just don't think about there being a person behind them when they recline. I think the more you fly and are put in all the situations, the more you think about politely reclining, raising seatback during meals, etc.

I love having in-seat entertainment, but on my recent 15-hr flight the woman behind me began playing a game in which she had to touch matching pairs as quickly as possible. The longer she played, the harder she punched. I was trying to sleep at about 8 hours into the flight. I tried adjusting the seat, but she punched as hard in any position. So I got up, knelt down by her and politely told her that every time she punched on the seat I felt it (it was easy to talk because we were in aisle seats). She was truly surprised and softened her touch, but eventually she was punching away again.

I have occasionally heard during the opening announcements from attendants about the flight reminding passengers that they should touch the screens lightly, but I don't know that people realize how annoying it is.

Even if seats do recline, some people just lack class and courtesy. There's a certain etiquette that should be applied when flying and I always say a thank you to the universe when I get decent people sitting around me because I'm very long-legged and my knees barely fit comfortably, the two times I had to ask someone if they could pull their seats up, they did! It bothers me that people are so self-absorbed that they only think about their comfort with zero consideration of the fact that they're in an enclosed environment with other people around and should be respectful.

On behalf of the universe, thank you for your consideration.

The root of the issue is with the airlines choosing to install their seats so close together that it makes flying uncomfortable for its customers.

I've paid for my seat the same as anyone else and will recline if I so choose. If beverages or food service is being done then I'll put it upright otherwise I'm reclining. My husband is the same. He's 6'7" and does what he can to make himself comfortable. That being said we always try for bulkhead or even business of first class seats whenever we can to avoid this issue.