Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/plane-passenger-says-shes-re.html
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4 Likes
What an excessive and childish reaction. I used to avoid choosing seats that didn’t recline. I was stuck in one once, but it didn’t entitle me to have a fit because the person in front of my put their seat back. The airline should do something about the attendant who didn’t intervene to stop the tantrum.
55 Likes
I was raised to believe that there’s always a right and wrong in every situation, but it really seems like everyone one this plane has found their own, awful way to be wrong. Great job, guys!
46 Likes
There’s a line from one of the characters in The Great Gatsby about how a bad driver is generally safe until they meet another bad driver, because a good driver will veer away to avoid a collision.
I guess the same could be said about assholes.
30 Likes
Buying the guy a drink wouldn’t have been a bad option if the guy hadn’t already demonstrated poor coping skills.
15 Likes
He seems fun.
11 Likes
How is the woman who got harassed by the entitled manbaby wrong in any way? She bought a seat that reclines, and she reclined it. Then, when she started being harassed, decided quite reasonably to document it.
49 Likes
Oh, look. An immutable Karen meets an immovable Karen.
Worst. Physics. Lesson. Ever.
(IMHO? Seats on an airplane should not recline more than 4-5 inches or so. You should not be able to recline into someone else’s lap; that is just rude and stupid. I’m the person flying behind you, not your dental hygienist.)
19 Likes
The real bad guy here is the airline, who chose to cram their seats too close together for passenger comfort.
Yeah, the guy’s a dick for constantly punching the back of her seat. Is she the bad person for reclining her seat? Why should she be punished for the airline’s poor decision? Why does it matter that his seat does not recline? Should an entire column of passengers have to recline their seats just because the person in the first row wants to?
Edit: The flight attendant is Bad Person #2 for not straightening out two squabbling children, then giving one alcohol which was bound to make the buy even more aggressive.
51 Likes
You know, it would be nice if the woman hadn’t reclined her seat, or reclined it only slightly, but she’s under no obligation. If the airplane gives you a button that makes your seat recline, it’s ultimately your prerogative to decide how to use it.
The reaction from there is far, far over the top. I don’t think there should be legal consequences for the seat-puncher, but I think a ban from future travel on American/American Eagle would be proportionate.
6 Likes
First rule of reclining your seat in a modern commercial airliner in economy seating.
DON’T 
By design, there isn’t enough room, the seat pitch is not meant for human beings.
Rather it is meant for human shaped mannequins of barely average size who have no need to move to maintain circulation and have no sense of personal space.
First rule if the passenger in front of you is an asshole.
DON’T fight fire with fire
If they won’t respond to a polite request to not have their head close enough to your face you can tell what shampoo they used last, they are an irredeemable asshole. Don’t stoop to their level by childish revenge.
30 Likes
Except maybe on overnight flights, when they turn the lights off and presumably everyone is sleeping.
Not even breathing on their head? It does server as a reminder of just how close they are to you…
6 Likes
Airlines have the biggest fault.
- Not disabling recline
- Not guiding passengers as to when reclining is acceptable if at all.
- Not telling this guy not ok.
- Releasing a statement that doesn’t condemn him.
20 Likes
Who is right?!
Who is wrong?!
this is really easy…HIM. He fucking CHOSE the last seat knowing full well his seat doesn’t recline and the one in front does. He then decides to continually TOUCH the seat in front of him that is NOT his seat.
He’s a fucking douchebag.
Having said that…I empathize with his situation, but not his shitty behavior.
32 Likes
Rewarding bad behavior is back in style, with alcohol no less.
6 Likes
Yeah, no. I bought a seat that reclines because my back screams at me if I sit upright for more than 20 minutes. You have no right to complain about my use of a feature I paid for. I looked at the comments on Twitter, and I expected all the people chiming in about how anyone who reclines their seat is literally Hitler, because Twitter, but here? Astounding. If you don’t like the prospect of someone’s seatback angling towards you slightly, buy a bulkhead or exit row seat, or ride the bus. You don’t get to tell me how to fly.
13 Likes
Are you sure that he knew? Before reading this article I had no idea at all that the rearmost seats don’t recline. Is it this way on every model of airliner? Also, how do you know that he chose that seat?
7 Likes
I wouldn’t be surprised if he “punched” her seat exactly once for every time she slammed it down on his knees, after repeatedly explaining to her that his knees weren’t retractable. (Where punched = pushed it off of his knees.)
I’ve think been seated behind this lady, or someone just like her.
7 Likes
Most people, upon being informed that reclining their seat was making the person behind them uncomfortable, would at least consider keeping their seat upright as a courtesy even if they had a “right” to do otherwise.
Most people, if placed in an uncomfortable non-reclining seat, would refrain from punching the seat in front of them even if the occupant of that seat knew that they were making the person behind them uncomfortable.
Thousands upon thousands of people fly in these seating arrangements every day without incident. All it requires is at least one of the passengers to act like an adult.
Two assholes.
24 Likes
no airline seat reclines into anyone’s lap.
That is exactly what they do today. Standard economy seats recline 4". First class 5".
7 Likes
