Torlac

Well said^^

BeatCal

Nobody said anything about the assault from the lady throwing the coffee?

Just because the seat reclines, does the person have the right to put their seat in the other person's face?

cynicAAl

Yes. People have the right to recline their seat. Why is this such a difficult concept to understand ?

KevinDTW

^ Well said.

mspreh

Many thumbs up to that!

I reported someone using the device on my flight today from MSP to DCA, the flight attendant confiscated the device, I am not sure if she gave it back to him after we landed. I gave her a job well done certificate, I wish delta gave us more of those to hand out each year.

Badenoch

Give yourself a job well done certificate too. ^

It would make may day to report some jerk using one of these and see it taken away.

GadgetFreak

Outstanding. Well handled by both you and the FA. That's how it should work.

KevinDTW

^^^ Excellent! If there was an FT JWD, you would've earned several today! Just out of curiosity, was it being used on your seat or did you see it being used on someone else's?

BeatCal

Knees work just as well

I disagree. My partner is 6 ft, 6 inches. When he puts the seat back, his scalp is in the person's face. If the person is trying to do some work, do you have the right to keep her from it

Common courtesy

SeriouslyLost

The right to recline stops at the point where the knees of the person behind start.

Arguments about "the taller person behind should have bought a different seat" are specious: it's just as valid to say that the person reclining should have bought a seat where they knew the person behind was not tall: both are ridiculous arguments.

The only relevant fact is very simple: buying a seat (or anything else) does not give you a right to cause harm to another person in a shared space. If you don't agree with that then have fun in court next time you run down a pedestrian because they happened to be where you wanted to drive after you'd paid you car taxes.

It's shared space: behave like adults instead of over entitled little children. Sometimes you'll be able to recline. Others you won't. People need to get over it.

Badenoch

Sometimes you will be able to work on your computer because the person in front of you doesn't recline. Other times you won't. People need to get over it.

BostonBusinessTraveler

^ Agreed, if you must do work, pay for extra leg room in economy or B/F.

BeatCal

Much better said than mine. It is common courtesy. The person with the computer should have nicely asked the lady not to recline so much and in the best world she would have agreed

Sounds like neither were "nice". Are people applauding her throwing her coffee on him?

VT_hawkeye

You seem to have missed a relevant clause in the post you spun this off of (emphasis mine):

People who aren't 6'2"+ don't seem to get that unlike working on a laptop or not, this isn't a choice for us.

I didn't get a switch to flip at age 14 to stop growing at 6'/165, nor did I start getting a $200/itin bonus flying-while-tall credit 8ish years ago to compensate for the rise of E-. Not being able to try to work IAD-SEA is annoying, but knowing I'm going to suffer through back and knee pain for the next few days so the 5'6" middle manager in front of me can lay back and luxuriate is infuriating.

(Also, given our relative head positions post-recline, I'm staring at his bald spot the whole way, and that's even worse than pre-DirecTV UA IFE.)

For the record: I don't own a Knee Defender, and I won't. It's not worth crossing an FA. That said, as an introvert I sympathize 100% with not feeling comfortable directly confronting someone who'll be <2 feet away from me for the next 5 hours and who's already shown a willingness to hurt me for his personal comfort.

gobluetwo

First, there are seats with either non-reclining seats or no seats directly in front, many affording extra legroom. These are known quantities. What are not known quantities are physical characteristics of passengers immediately adjacent to you.

Second, how are you defining "harm"? Slamming the seat back and actually causing injury to one's knees is certainly harm, but is restricting space to work "harm"? Also, it's in no way equivalent to running down a pedestrian because pedestrians, even in unmarked crosswalks, typically have right of way over motor vehicles. There is no such law, or even airline regulation, to that effect when it comes to seat recline.

Finally, to your point, it is SHARED space. Everyone needs to get over the fact that some people are going to share the space through reclining their seats.

EDITED TO ADD:
First of all, that's not what "introvert" means. And speak up if something is bothering you. As I mentioned above, it is a SHARED space, but if you feel I'm intruding on your space to the extent that it is causing you genuine discomfort (rather than just annoyance at the gall of the person in front to recline), I would want to know. Most people would be accommodating to someone who politely makes a request, as opposed to the ill will caused by banging the seat, muttering under your breath, etc. All this passive-aggressive (or sometimes just downright aggressive) behavior does nothing to facilitate a civil and enjoyable travel experience everyone claims they want.