Idiots on planes. Everyone's problem.

Caligula

Maximus
I'm sure we can all relate to this story in one way or another.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/travel/united-flight-knee-defender/index.html?c=homepage-t&page=1

Do airline passengers have the right to recline?

A Knee Defender, a gadget that "helps you stop reclining seats on airplanes so your knees won't have to," was at the root of the disturbance.

United Flight 1462 from Newark to Denver was forced to divert to Chicago's O'Hare airport, according to United Airlines. The airline said that it does not allow the use of the recline-blocking device on its aircraft.

The female passenger was unable to recline her seat and flagged a flight attendant.

The flight attendant told the man seated behind her to remove the Knee Defender device, but he declined. The female passenger then threw water in his face. The pilot decided to divert the flight to Chicago, where authorities met the aircraft.

The two passengers were removed from the plane before it continued on to Denver, United said. The passengers were not arrested.

The argument occurred in the Economy Plus section, which provides United passengers up to 5 inches of extra legroom compared with standard coach seats.


Regardless of who you feel is at fault (the woman was out of line for tossing water on the guy however IMO he had it coming for being a dickbag), it's clear EVERYONE on that plane was a loser.

What's your take on this?

IMO regardless of if you have long legs or not, you don't have the right to modify a seat which was designed and approved by the FAA. Factor in the fact that it's against airline rules, and you get the idea that maybe the dude was at fault here.

BTW I'm 6' even and I had no issues sitting on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to San Diego with the person reclined in front of me... and that was regular coach, not even economy plus where these two people were sitting.

Besides, let's say this guy was 7' tall. Even if a super fat person was to try and and pull this in a lateral manner, he would be required to buy an extra seat. I don't see how this is different.
 

EveryDayAmnesiac

Well-Known Member
Looks cool as fuck. Click on it.

Reminds me of my first (of many) disastrous sexual experience(s)... from all sorts of different angles and viewpoints. I want to eat it.

To keep this post on topic, this plane stuff... yeah.. Makes me... all... affected and shit. I guess I can't even find the words. I'm choking on my own rage here...

 

syrupy

Authorized Buyer
It does suck when someone reclines so far the tray won't come down for food or laptop.

There's no need for a device. A little positive reinforcement will do the trick. Every time I've done this, it's worked without fail, though it's only come down to it a few times.

Person in front of me does the hard recline. When this happens, I get a little anxious. It starts with a nervous jimmy leg, and progresses into a non-rhythmic twitching of my knee, occasionally into the back of their seat due to how far it's reclinded. Not a lot of jolting, just a little. At this point they usually sit up, and my nervous twitch is suddenly healed. Then it's a back and forth between how much they recline and how much I twitch. Call the attendant? Go ahead, and I'll explain my medical issue. It's a stupid game but I enjoy how territorial people become about seats.

But reading the story in the OP, I think I've just been lucky or subtle in my tactics, to not have something thrown at me. I wonder if the woman hadn't called the attendant and had just thrown water at the guy, would they both be ejected?

I can only imagine how disruptive that would be to the flight, the flights the are connecting and following it, people getting bumped and staying overnight draped on airport chairs.... just because of a lock device and a bottle of water.
 

CrazyDiamond

Crosseyed & Painless
Gotta agree with Caligula on this one. They were both wrong in their actions, but the guy more so since he "modified" a part of the aircraft without airline or FAA approval. Besides that, there's no way that dude didn't have enough room...it even says in the article there's 5 more inches of space than in economy. I avoid all this crap and fly first class...yes more expensive but I think worth it...get on and of the plane first, your bags come out first, in many airports there is a first class line to go through TSA, and the "free" everything (drinks, food). Having said this, I hardly ever fly, but if I do, I'll save extra just to get the ticket I want.
And as @syrupy says...these two idiots caused massive disruptions for everyone else on that flight because of it being diverted.
 
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