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I'm a fairly even-keeled guy, but...

rootabaga

rootabaga

Android Expert
I think I would have been livid if this happened on a flight on which I was a passenger.

In fact, I think an "in-air ejection app" would be useful at times such as this. :D

The fight started on a United Airlines flight because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a $21.95 gadget that attaches to a passenger's tray table and prevents the person in front of them from reclining. United Airlines said it prohibits use of the device, like all major U.S. airlines.
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Full article: United Jet Diverted as Fliers Fight Over Knee Defender Device - NBC News


Now, what I really don't understand is that two people were ejected from the flight (not in-air, once they diverted, ha ha). It's not clear from the article, but it's possible it may have been the person using the prohibited device as well as the person who couldn't recline because of the prohibited device. If that's the case, it's grossly unfair. Of course, it could also be the user's traveling companion, in which case that's fair.

That said, if you try to use a prohibited device like this and you are ignorant and rude enough to press the issue to the point it causes a flight diversion, you should 1) be required to reimburse the airline for the additional fuel and landing fee, 2) be required to compensate each fare-paying passenger the equivalent of US$100 and 3) be banned from all commercial flights for a period of one year (starting immediately, which means you have to find alternative means of transportation home).

Oh, and also be horse-whipped in a public square. :D :D
 
I should think the person with a laptop has a right to use the tray. Even if they are doing a crossword puzzle or sketching, they should have a right to the tray.
Since airlines are doing away with leg room, they need to get rid of reclining seats.

It seems no one ever does anything if there is an annoying kid behind who keeps kicking the seat.
 
I think the calm response of the passenger whos see wouldn't recline probably led to them both being removed. She threw her water at the device user.:p

Being 6'2" I can see both sides of this. It's why for the most anything within an 8 hour drive I'll skip flying and the associated hassle (getting to/from the airport, luggage, security, car rentals, fees).
 
My main problem is people who at the first opportunity press the recline button and slam themselves backwards hard. I'm very wary about opening a laptop on the tray until I'm sure that isn't going to happen - I've come close to having them broken a couple of times.

Last year I had that on a long haul to India, and the person then left the seat fully reclined for the whole flight. Normally just an irritant, but I had to write my talk for the meeting I was flying to, and to add to the fun my laptop had had an encounter with a bottle of water and so I needed a separate keyboard. So I wrote the talk with my own seat fully reclined, the laptop resting on my stomach, the keyboard (thankfully a slim one) on top of the laptop keyboard, and the lid lifted as far as the seat in front would allow (about 45 degrees) with me peering down onto it at a rather acute angle! I suppose it should teach me to prepare further in advance (but probably won't).
 
The general problem is that the airlines are squeezing more seats onto the planes. Fly Spirit and if the seat in front of you is fully reclined? You can use the seat back edge as a toothbrush without leaning your head forward. Fly Jetblue and it's not much of an issue at all. From reading, most airlines only ban the device during takeoff and landing, when seats have to be up anyway. So the article may not be 100% correct in describing it as prohibited. This is an issue that continues to get worse and has to be dealt with by the airlines who are causing it.

My experience with this? A few years ago I was forced by schedule to fly American (I know better!). Immediately after takeoff, the woman in front of me slammed her seat back, eliminating my leg room. I responded by reclining my seat a bit. The person behind me showed his objection by repeatedly hitting and kicking my seat. After a bit of this, I asked the person in front of me if she could raise her seat a bit so I could raise my seat and stop the jerk behind me from hitting me. I didn't state that to her, just please mam could you please raise your seat back a little bit? Her reaction? She tried to recline it more without any verbal response. When I switched seats with my young son to get out from behind her? She instructed her son to recline his seat too. It was over the top ridiculous, I was polite at all times but she and the guy behind me were pissed for being treated like cattle and charged for every possible thing. The (awful, apparently as per American Airline regulations?) flight attendant refused to get involved. There's yer problem right there! Airlines abuse their customers, who get pissed and take it out on each other. The other thing this reinforced was to avoid the old airlines like American and United who have beaten down staff and uber abusive customer relations.
 
I thought that politely asking would work until I read pastafarian's post. If someone behind me needed to use a laptop and asked that I not recline, I probably would not recline my seat.
 
Bearsyzf said:
Lucky i don't fly ...... it's because i don't have wings :rolleyes:
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Same here. :)

I used to fly a lot, but always grudgingly. I did it because it was the most efficient way of getting to where I needed to be. But I always hated it--much to my US Air Force veteran husband's amusement. :rolleyes: The last straw for me, the moment that made me say "NEVER AGAIN!", was when we flew to our daughter's college graduation. We had such bad turbulence while still on the runway as we began taking off that we were literally being tossed side to side. That was it. I swore I'd never fly again and I've been true to my word.

And from everything I hear about how awful commercial airlines have gotten since then--what with baggage fees, and taking off your shoes, and no leg room, and scanners that took your privacy away, etc.--I don't miss it one bit. :)
 
rootabaga said:
Add some alcohol and...curiously, things don't improve. ;)




Drunken Women Fight on Plane, NORAD Scrambles - NBC News
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Canadians fight?


I hate flying too. It's a PITA. I imagine hell will be some mix of an airport and a One Direction concert.

I generally only fly when there's a large body of water between destinations that makes driving impossible. Or if I'm flying to retrieve a vehicle, in which case I'm flying one-way only.
 
Ha! Hubby Dear and me are flying from the Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Dulles, Washington DC in two weeks. And back from LA to Amsterdam 3 weeks later. That will be fun :rolleyes: Too bad that's the only way to get there and back, within a reasonable timeframe.
The horrible system they make you go through to enter the US as a nonresident... Poked, measured and questioned like you're cattle. Why ask for my first name when it's in my passport, and why would any one care what my profession is? Who cares how I make my money, as long as I come to the US to spend it? :D
 
I've been doing a lot more travelling over the past 15 years. I used to really hate flying, mainly because of motion sickness. Now, I have gotten more used to flying.

The increased security measures in the US has caused me some what I feel to be unreasonable inconvenience. On a flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, I passed through the security check at the Hong Kong airport. I then proceeded to buy a bottled drink which I plan to drink on the plane. I had my ticket scanned at the gate and started down the corridor to board the plane. A little way down, there was some other security check that required all liquids be dumped. I had to throw away my bottled drink. :mad:

The reason that I and a whole bunch of other passengers had to dump the drunk was that the plane flys from Hong Kong, lands in Vancouver to let some people off and others on and then also continues onto New York. Even though I wasn't going in to the US, I was subject to some additional security measures as if I were flying to the US. Now, I think the Hong Kong airport or the airline could have done a better job at informing me (and a whole bunch of other passengers) that I would not be allowed to bring a bottled drink on board the plane even though I had already passed through a security check point at the airport. I really felt that the additional unknown check point at the gate whose only apparent purpose is to make people dump liquids is rather unnecessary. It wasn't just a few people. It seem half of the people boarding the plane had to dump a drink or other liquid.

It's been a number of years since that flight. I have also not taken another flight from another country into Canada where the plane continues onto a US destination. I'm not sure if such security measure are still taken at airports in other countries to make people dump drinks they bought after passing through the security check points at those airports.
 
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