To recline or not to recline?
It’s an issue economy class passengers often wrestle with when flying the friendly skies.
Do you have a right to comfortably tilt your seat back, or is it just plain rude to the person seated behind you?
Some passengers have an answer for offending recliners. It's called a Knee Defender. Users simply clip the $20 gadget on to the lowered table to prevent the passenger in front from tilting the seat.
Recent in-flight squabbles over reclined seats and the use of the Knee Defender have caused flights to divert and led to passengers being kicked off planes.
In an incident Monday night on a Delta flight from New York to West Palm Beach, a woman resting her head on a tray table got upset when the passenger in front of her reclined his seat, hitting her in the head. The plane was diverted to Jacksonville.
In another incident, a man became upset after a woman reclined the seat in front of him on an American Airlines flight from Miami to Paris. Pilots diverted that flight to Boston and removed the man. He was charged with interfering with a flight crew.
A United Airlines flight from Newark to Denver last Sunday made an emergency landing in Chicago after a man attached his Knee Defender to the seat in front of him, enraging a woman when she couldn't recline. She threw water in his face and both were eventually removed from the flight.
What do you think? When you buy your ticket, do you pay for the luxury of reclining your seat? Should you not recline to keep the peace with the person behind you? Tell us in the comments section below.
About the Author
