Third Flight Diverted Due to Reclining Seat Rage
Jeff Edwards September 03, 2014
The Associated Press reported that a Delta Air Lines flight was diverted Monday following yet another onboard battle over a reclining seat.
The latest incident of reclining-seat-induced air rage occurred Monday on a Delta Air Lines flight en route from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI). Amy Fine, a 32-year-old woman from Florida, became combative after the passenger seated in front of her reclined their seat, which caused the tray table she was resting her head on to strike her.
Fine reportedly demanded that the flight land immediately. The Delta crew obliged her request and landed the aircraft at Jacksonville International Airports (JAX). Fine was removed from the flight before it continued on to PBI. After explaining to officers on the ground that she was not being disruptive and had simply been emotional over the recent death of her dog, Fine was released and allowed to complete her journey in a rental car.
Monday’s occurrence marks the third time in less than two weeks that a United States carrier has been forced to divert a flight in order to remove passengers fighting over reclining seats. In late August, both United Airlines and American Airlines diverted flights under similar circumstances.
In a 2012 guide titled Unruly Passenger Prevention and Management, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated the cost of a single diverted commercial airline flight at $200,000.
[Photo: iStock]
The problem is that this area belongs sort of to both people. I've had people who didn't unrecline their seat during meal time making it almost impossible to eat. I had another cop an attitude when I was using a notebook on the tray and asked him proactively if he would give me a one minute warning before he reclined so I could take down my notebook. Knee defenders may be of dubious legality, but you can always use your knees if you are willing to endure the pain to block reclining and you are totally legal in expanding them to the fully unreclined area of your space. People need to work together a bit even though people don't like to or it is "Sardine Wars?" With modern electronics, perhaps the answer is to only enable full recline mode on night flights, but no one is going to rewire the entire fleet to do this. Stu Here is an interesting Detroit story on the issue: http://www.clickondetroit.com/consumer/consumer/seat-reclining-rage-air-travel-etiquette-questions/27864598
Rebelyell- sure there's a button to recline, though I don't think you'll be very comfortable with my knee jabbing repeatedly into your lower back!
VaguelyAsian, the person who "blindly" reclined their seat was not supposed to apologize. The seats are supposed to be reclined. The problem was with some idiot trying to sleep on their tray table.
did she have to prove that her dog had in fact died? just remembering all of the "notes" that Juan Epstein used to bring to school in Welcome Back Kotter...
Am I the only one seeing this related to the introduction of E+ seats and packing the already-packed E seats?