JDErickson

Had my first "peanut allergy" situation on board recently. 3 rows on both sides of a lady were made "peanut free".

I was mildly perturbed because why should someone else disability become a loss of rights for me. If someone has a peanut disability this bad they shouldn't be flying.

zcat18

This is an issue that I have, as well, and I do everything I possibly can short of not sleeping to minimize it--sleeping in contorted positions to open up my airways, using BreathRight strips, etc. On a recent flight (I think it was DCA-ORD), I was asleep and apparently snoring. Instead of politely informing me that I was snoring, the elderly woman sitting next to me elbowed me sharply and repeadedly in the ribs until I woke up. In the interest of maintaining civility on such a short flight, I opted to pretend I didn't notice and read a magazine for the remaining hour of the flight.

However, I think that people need to take a step back and realize that a plane is essentially public transportation, and as a result, you as a passenger are going to be exposed to other people's habits, quirks, sounds, etc. Some people are tall, some are short, some snore, some are louder talkers than others--this is the nature of being among other people, and I think that people have to accept the fact that you will have to endure some mildly annoying realities of this particular mode of travel (yes, a neighbor's snoring or the reclining of the seat in front of you are mild annoyances, nothing more, and those who regard them as major ones are not being realistic).

uszkanni

Get your doctor to write a note saying that you have a "peanut dependency" and are required - AT ALL TIMES - to have ready access to peanuts or peanut containing products. Then you can get a battle-of-the-ADA's thingy going.

Or... eat a ton of peanuts; so many that you actually sweat peanut oil. Inform the GA/FA's and let them announce your "condition" to the other pax. Maybe they'll move all those with peanut allergies away from you, maybe even freeing up a whole row to two just for you. Maybe even bump you to F (fewer people to be concerned about).

Yaatri

Interesting discussion about BO. When was going home after KAtrina, I was in a similar position. I had not showered in three days in August, as the place where I was had no water, nor electricity. There was a distinct possibility that I might smell of sweat. I asked the people I was staying with if I smelled bad. They told me I din't but I wasn't sure if they said so because they didn't want me to feel bad, or that they wanted me to leave due or in spite of the smell. Once airports in the region resumed flights, I was able to move my labour day weekend booking by two days so hat I could go home. I washed as much I could in the bathroom at the airport, as used more than the normal amount of deodourant and cologne. I was also afraid of standing from overdose of either. Once aboard the aircraft in First cabin, I talked to the lead FA discreetly, told her about the situation and apologised if I smelled. She assured me that I did not smell. To this day, I don't know if she was being nice, or I really did not stink after three days of no running water, no electricity, no fan, no a/c and some hours of physicakl labour trying to clear fallen trees and other debris from the road, as well as clean up in the front and back yard.

That said, some people are more sensitive than others, while some are more aware of another's odour than their own.

LTBoston

That's a good analogy.

Reclining your seat all the way back into another passenger's knees is obnoxious, whether or not you have the "right" to do so.

How I wish airlines would simply remove the "recline" button entirely and eliminate this topic as a point of contention.

sepulvedaj3

Why use the " ". Peanut allergies are one of the most severe allergic reactions, with the quickest inducements of anaphylactic shock. You cannot control your level of "peanut disability." Each and every subsequent contact is more severe.

You not being able to eat peanuts is not a loss of a "right." There is no "right" to eat peanuts. Its a privilege.

Maybe they shouldn't be flying, maybe they shouldn't be allowed to take a train, maybe they shouldn't be allowed out in public at all! Lets just keep them contained in a bubble! In their own homes!

dlflyer2

Do you think that someone boarding an airplane before you, can just sit in your seat and ask you, as a courtesy, that you take their seat?

Or the wide shouldered, just encroach on your space with no attempt to minimize the encroachment?

Or the person that stores their carry on bags under the seat in front of you?

Courtesy is not going along with someone's exaggerated opinion of the themselves, their importance and their space as imposed upon you without your consent.

Yaatri

Oh but they use amount of recline as a selling point. Reclining feature does have some benefit for the person who reclines his seat. Maybe airlines should increase the pitch. People recommend that overweight people should buy and extra seat. How about buying the seat in front if you absolutely do not want the seat ahead of you to recline. I am simply throwing some ideas for people to think about.
I don't always recline my seat but sometimes I really want to recline. I an empathise with tall people. Since I am not tall, nor do I have long legs, I do not know for sure about how uncomfortable it is for someone who has tall legs.
Is it really an issue or is it just a matter of preference? I have the sme feelings about people with peanut allergies.

WildPlumYonder

Having flown on planes where the seat in front of me reclined to the point where the forward pax's head is just about in my lap and there is no way to get out of the seat without using said pax's head as a handhold (I exaggerate, but not by much), I'd like to blame the airlines for using seats with a ridiculous amt of recline, but: when I am in one of those seats and want to recline, I try to be respectful of the space of the people behind me as well. While it might be my right to crank that puppy all the way back, it's neither polite nor even reasonable.

kimberlyrose

Since he couldn't smell, then he needs to be in the habit of preventing this situation. He knew he'd been in and out all day, presumably he'd been perspiring, because body odor doesn't just happen. In that case, the onus is on him to makes sure he stays clean, and yes, this means he needs to be more aware than people who do have a sense of smell. Is it fair? No, but that's life.

My son has Asperger's and ADHD, and I've made it very clear to him: his condition is an explanation, not an excuse. He has to work harder than neurotypical kids his age because he's not wired the same way they are. Again, is it fair? No. Again, it's life.

The poster wasn't discriminated against because of his disability. Like it or not, his hygiene at that point in time was lacking, and that's why he was removed from the flight. I have a very low tolerance for people who pull the discrimination card where it's not warranted.

Ancien Maestro

How would you know that their knees would be there when you recline.. plus the reclining feature is very limited to how much of an angle a passenger can recline..

You want to go where?

I don't know where this ridiculous idea comes from that people have a 'right' to recline. Yes, the seat may have a capacity to recline, but that doesn't make it a right.

In the TV in the hotel situation - if you play the volume too loud and disturb others and don't turn the volume down at the request of others/management, you can be arrested for disturbing the peace.

Rights are important things - most of them are enshrined in Constitutions - some of them may be god-given, if you believe in a deity - but I doubt any ethicist, legal scholar, or theologian would include reclining on an airplane among them.

Otherwise there may be rules, contractual agreements, privileges, but let's not confuse them with rights.

Calling something less than fundamental a right is often a way for the discourteous to justify their discourtesy.

Ancien Maestro

For myself, I've never really thought about it.. just if I need to recline because of my tiredness and make it a point to slowly recline a bit at a time, so that I don't catch the person behind me off guard..

Curious, do you politely protest if the person in front of you reclines? I've personally never seen an argument coming out of a passenger reclining..

You want to go where?

I generally don't recline, because I don't personally find it comfortable. I also can't think of a time when someone in front of me reclined that it bothered me particularly.

If reclining is important for you because you are tall or tired, I think that your approach seems courteous and thoughtful. Absent a serious objection to someone reclining, I don't see why people shouldn't indulge. My concern is simply this idea that because a seat reclines, an individual has an absolute 'right' to do it, regardless of the the problems that it may cause others. By necessity (unless you are flying alone in a private plane), space aboard a plane is shared, and consequently there must be some give and take.

I think that too often conflict on planes happens not because two people really have conflicting needs (as opposed to desires) but because someone is insisting on having something that they could easily do without, just because they think it is a 'right'.

Yaatri

That's why I often wonder, if it's a real issue or that tall people do not want to keep all that space for their use even if it means restricting another's choice or comfort. That's why I think it;s similar to peanut allergy spectre.
Yes reclining slowly is very important. Some seats, however, defeat your effort.