In some ways it’s amazing this doesn’t happen more often. Two passengers on a United Airlines flight from Dulles to Accra apparently got into a fight over one passenger reclining his seat into the others “personal space.”
The offended passenger apparently smacked the person in front of him, and the pilot returned to Dulles after the flight attendants couldn’t easily break up the fight. Because the flight was near Washington, D.C., Air Force fighter jets escorted the plane back to the airport.
(As an aside, while this might seem like overkill, flight attendants are not given combat pay, and it was going to be an 11 hour flight. Even though the two men apparently weren’t terrorists, they could have been a dangerous distraction.)
This is the second incident with a reclining seat issue that’s made the national news recently. In November of 2010, a passenger was actually arrested after he forcibly grabbed the ear of a man who had, to his mind, reclined his seat too far into his space.
While most passenger frustrations over seats don’t come to blows, it’s a legitimate issue to many travelers. Personally, I’m only 5’3″ and if I’m in a coach seat with regular legroom and the passenger in front reclines as far as possible, it’s pretty tight quarters. Even in domestic first class on many planes a reclined seat makes most movements pretty difficult.
I’ve heard repeatedly from clients with laptops that it’s almost impossible to work when a seat in front of theirs is reclined. Partly due to the lack of room, and partly because the space between the back of the seat in front of you and the tray table makes it difficult to open the computer screen.
On the other hand, especially for tall passengers, being unable to recline can be equally uncomfortable; especially on a night flight or any flight where sleeping is a goal.
The basic problem depends how you view it. Whether it is the fault of the airlines trying to maximum profits, or consumers demanding unreasonably low airfares (or both), the combination has contributed to a situation where there are just too many seats on most planes for passenger comfort.
Some companies are trying to profit on the situation by selling devices to block the person in front of you from reclining, but that can create a volatile solution to say the least.
Plus, there really isn’t a passenger code of ethics on the issue. Should there be? Should airlines just eliminate most of the recline in seats? Should travelers just deal with it? While in theory, a policy could say the space should go to the person that needs it most, that’s a tough call in many cases.
What other ideas do you have? Airline executives do read this site, so maybe a good suggestion might get noticed.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
