Airlines have developed a pulsating skill.
It's called lump as much as you can onto the passenger.
This means baggage fees, change fees, seat selection fees and all sorts of other hidden joys are paid for out of your pocket.
As an added bonus, should you be flying in coach, you get less legroom than inside a catwalk model's skinny jeans.
Is it truly surprising that passengers, being mere humans, become frustrated? But how should that frustration be expressed?
On Sunday, a woman wanted to recline her seat. The man immediately behind her was employing a . This is a somewhat draconian device that prevents the seat in front from reclining.
You clip it onto the seat in front and suddenly its occupant is paralyzed.
As the AP reports, the woman in front didn't take kindly to having her movement restricted. When the man refused to remove his device, even when asked to by cabin crew, the woman offered him an impromptu cup of water challenge.
http://www.cityofspanishfort.com/UserProfile/tabid/110/userId/6769/Default.aspx
This led to their United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to Denver to make an impromptu landing in Chicago.
The two passengers were removed, but no arrests were made. However, actively preventing a seat from reclining represents a significantly aggressive act, couched in a defensive posture.
The Knee Defender Web site says that the product is adjustable "to help provide only as much protection as you need." It claims to be the protector of the tall against ever-decreasing legroom.
But it also impinges on the rights of another passenger from leaning back and using their seat as it was designed.
Moreover, it gives the user the ability to lock the passenger in front in a non-reclining seat, while feeling free to lean back themselves.
I contacted Knee Defender's maker, Gadget Duck, to ask whether there wasn't something stunningly self-righteous about the device. I will update, should they lean in with a response.
Clearly, the biggest offender here is the airline, which insists on crushing passengers in, purely for the sake of making money. We're only one step from standing tickets, which some airlines have already contemplated.
However, this particular incident happened in Economy Plus, a part of the plane that enjoys an extra 4" of legroom. Not that 4" is much, but reports suggest the Knee Defender user was one of those charming types who needs to use the tray table for slapping his laptop upon and typing away.
These laptop lizards seem to have no clue how their typing (and flailing elbows) might annoy others.
Surely the first step when a seat suddenly reclines in your direction is to politely ask the passenger in front whether you can reach an accommodation. Slapping them in your own self-righteous seat-cuffs is a touch provocative.
Knee Defender insists on its site: "If the airlines will not protect people from being battered, crunched, and immobilized -- very real problems according to healthcare professionals, medical studies, government agencies, and even some airlines -- then people need options to protect themselves."
Some might describe this as an argument of which the NRA would be proud.
Spirit Airlines thinks it has a solution for all this. It describes its new seats. This would be a euphemism for "don't recline at all."
So who's right? The passenger who wants to recline a seat that does actually recline? Or the one on the laptop who wants to stop someone else from reclining, while reserving the right to recline himself?
I fear the Supreme Court may soon have to sit and ponder this one.
If you're hoping to nab the contentious Knee Defender to protect your legroom on your next international flight, think again: the seat-jamming device is prohibited by Canada's two major airlines.
Air Canada and WestJet say the seat-locking Knee Defender is not allowed on their flights.
Calgary, Alta.-based WestJet specifically names the Knee Defender on its list of unapproved carryon items. "You are not permitted to attach any unapproved device to any part of your seat or any other part of the aircraft," the WestJet website says. "Some examples of unapproved devices include knee defenders, seat belt extensions and booster seats."
On Sunday, a fight between two passengers over personal space, a thrown cup of water and the use of a controversial plastic gadget that prevents airline seats from reclining caused United Airlines Flight 1462 from Newark, N.J., to Denver to divert to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the AP reports
.
During the flight, a man seated in the Economy Plus section, which offers four more inches of legroom than other coach seats, was reportedly using a $21.95 gadget called a Knee Defender to prevent the woman seated in front of him from reclining her seat.
http://www.palmettostatetrans.com/UserProfile/tabid/4426/userId/23318/Default.aspx
While the Federal Aviation Administration does not prohibit the use of the Knee Defender, like most other major U.S. airlines, "we do not allow customers to use devices that prevent seats from reclining," said United Airlines spokesman Charles Hobart via e-mail.
But the male passenger refused to remove the device when asked to do so by the flight attendant.
The woman whose seat could not recline stood up and threw a cup of water at the Knee Defender user, a law enforcement official told AP, and soon after United made the decision to land the plane in Chicago.
"Authorities met the aircraft, removed the two passengers and the flight continued to Denver shortly afterwards," said Hobart.
No arrests were made because the incident "was deemed a customer service issue and not a threat to aviation security," said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Ross Feinstein.
"Sometimes people do things they shouldn't do on airplanes, but as far as I know this is the first time anything like this has happened," involving the Knee Defender, said Ira Goldman, the man who invented the device in 2003 and continues to sell it online.
"United could make seats that do not recline, but they have not chosen to do so," said Goldman. "In the meantime, the Knee Defender says right on it: 'Be courteous. Do not hog space. Listen to the flight crew.' Apparently that is not what happened here."
It's called lump as much as you can onto the passenger.
This means baggage fees, change fees, seat selection fees and all sorts of other hidden joys are paid for out of your pocket.
As an added bonus, should you be flying in coach, you get less legroom than inside a catwalk model's skinny jeans.
Is it truly surprising that passengers, being mere humans, become frustrated? But how should that frustration be expressed?
On Sunday, a woman wanted to recline her seat. The man immediately behind her was employing a . This is a somewhat draconian device that prevents the seat in front from reclining.
You clip it onto the seat in front and suddenly its occupant is paralyzed.
As the AP reports, the woman in front didn't take kindly to having her movement restricted. When the man refused to remove his device, even when asked to by cabin crew, the woman offered him an impromptu cup of water challenge.
http://www.cityofspanishfort.com/UserProfile/tabid/110/userId/6769/Default.aspx
This led to their United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to Denver to make an impromptu landing in Chicago.
The two passengers were removed, but no arrests were made. However, actively preventing a seat from reclining represents a significantly aggressive act, couched in a defensive posture.
The Knee Defender Web site says that the product is adjustable "to help provide only as much protection as you need." It claims to be the protector of the tall against ever-decreasing legroom.
But it also impinges on the rights of another passenger from leaning back and using their seat as it was designed.
Moreover, it gives the user the ability to lock the passenger in front in a non-reclining seat, while feeling free to lean back themselves.
I contacted Knee Defender's maker, Gadget Duck, to ask whether there wasn't something stunningly self-righteous about the device. I will update, should they lean in with a response.
Clearly, the biggest offender here is the airline, which insists on crushing passengers in, purely for the sake of making money. We're only one step from standing tickets, which some airlines have already contemplated.
However, this particular incident happened in Economy Plus, a part of the plane that enjoys an extra 4" of legroom. Not that 4" is much, but reports suggest the Knee Defender user was one of those charming types who needs to use the tray table for slapping his laptop upon and typing away.
These laptop lizards seem to have no clue how their typing (and flailing elbows) might annoy others.
Surely the first step when a seat suddenly reclines in your direction is to politely ask the passenger in front whether you can reach an accommodation. Slapping them in your own self-righteous seat-cuffs is a touch provocative.
Knee Defender insists on its site: "If the airlines will not protect people from being battered, crunched, and immobilized -- very real problems according to healthcare professionals, medical studies, government agencies, and even some airlines -- then people need options to protect themselves."
Some might describe this as an argument of which the NRA would be proud.
Spirit Airlines thinks it has a solution for all this. It describes its new seats. This would be a euphemism for "don't recline at all."
So who's right? The passenger who wants to recline a seat that does actually recline? Or the one on the laptop who wants to stop someone else from reclining, while reserving the right to recline himself?
I fear the Supreme Court may soon have to sit and ponder this one.
If you're hoping to nab the contentious Knee Defender to protect your legroom on your next international flight, think again: the seat-jamming device is prohibited by Canada's two major airlines.
Air Canada and WestJet say the seat-locking Knee Defender is not allowed on their flights.
Calgary, Alta.-based WestJet specifically names the Knee Defender on its list of unapproved carryon items. "You are not permitted to attach any unapproved device to any part of your seat or any other part of the aircraft," the WestJet website says. "Some examples of unapproved devices include knee defenders, seat belt extensions and booster seats."
On Sunday, a fight between two passengers over personal space, a thrown cup of water and the use of a controversial plastic gadget that prevents airline seats from reclining caused United Airlines Flight 1462 from Newark, N.J., to Denver to divert to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the AP reports
.
During the flight, a man seated in the Economy Plus section, which offers four more inches of legroom than other coach seats, was reportedly using a $21.95 gadget called a Knee Defender to prevent the woman seated in front of him from reclining her seat.
http://www.palmettostatetrans.com/UserProfile/tabid/4426/userId/23318/Default.aspx
While the Federal Aviation Administration does not prohibit the use of the Knee Defender, like most other major U.S. airlines, "we do not allow customers to use devices that prevent seats from reclining," said United Airlines spokesman Charles Hobart via e-mail.
But the male passenger refused to remove the device when asked to do so by the flight attendant.
The woman whose seat could not recline stood up and threw a cup of water at the Knee Defender user, a law enforcement official told AP, and soon after United made the decision to land the plane in Chicago.
"Authorities met the aircraft, removed the two passengers and the flight continued to Denver shortly afterwards," said Hobart.
No arrests were made because the incident "was deemed a customer service issue and not a threat to aviation security," said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Ross Feinstein.
"Sometimes people do things they shouldn't do on airplanes, but as far as I know this is the first time anything like this has happened," involving the Knee Defender, said Ira Goldman, the man who invented the device in 2003 and continues to sell it online.
"United could make seats that do not recline, but they have not chosen to do so," said Goldman. "In the meantime, the Knee Defender says right on it: 'Be courteous. Do not hog space. Listen to the flight crew.' Apparently that is not what happened here."
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