In the past, I’ve made no secret of my beliefs concerning the two kinds of people in this world: Those who think it’s okay to recline their seat on an airplane and the people who know it’s a totally selfish move.
Guess which kind I am?
So, given that this age-old conflict made national headlines this week, I can’t help but add my two cents.
For those who missed this story, I’ll summarize: Two full-grown adults forced an airline to make an emergency landing, which I believe is the airline equivalent of “don’t make me turn this car around.” Why? They got in a fight over knee space.
The real kicker, they weren’t even in coach. They had four extra inches to squabble over.
The fight started when the “reclinee” used a gadget called the Knee Defender, to disable the reclining ability of the seat in front of him.
This did not sit well with the “recliner” who asked that the device be removed, the “reclinee” refused, words were exchanged, the “recliner” threw water at the “reclinee” and the two of them got dropped off in Chicago, just shy of their intended destination of Denver.
First, I’d like to address the “reclinee”—while I am definitely anti-reclining, this is the passive aggressive way to deal with it. If you’re not bold enough to ask the person in front of you to sit up straight, then deal with it like the rest of us—grit your teeth and take comfort in the fact that you are rising above it.
As for the “recliner”—it’s not nice to throw things at people!
Regardless of which side of this argument you fall, I think we can all agree that fighting on an airplane will get you nowhere near your destination.
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TIME: Knees Need a Defender: There’s No Excuse for Leaning Back on an Airplane
…bi-daily smile…
