Seat Defender

I flew several times back and forth between France and the US (AF, KLM, AA, Delta), and despite people reclining in front of me, it never hurt my knees, ever, and I'm not small by any measure. Reclining the seat hardly affects the leg room because the frame of the seat is fixed, otherwise reclining would make the tray on the back to recline with it, which it doesn't.
At any rate, if your knees are at tray level, you should pick exit row seats in the first place. ;) Or alley seats and putting your legs in the alley like I've done more than once.

What did happen once and really pissed me off is that once the guy in front of me reclined his seat while we were eating, which bumped my glass and spilled apple juice on my tray and myself. If he had asked before I would have warned him or I could have moved my glass, but noooo. Personally, I only recline when people start sleeping, in particular if the person behind me reclined his/her seat.

Height is a big factor, but another thing is the leg to torso ratio. That's why some people who are taller can state that it's not as much of a space issue for them.

I'm 5'11" and a bit, so I'm not nearly as tall as some of the giant Scandanavians on the forum. Still, I have a good bit of leg length. On a plane my knees are typically very close to the seat even when it's upright.

I view it similarly to when I'm in a car. I never just run the seat back if someone is behind me. I check first to see what their seating situation is, and we find a happy medium.

Honestly, it's never even occurred to me to lean my seat back on a plane because space is so tight, but maybe for a person who hasn't experienced the issue (because they're shorter) they just haven't thought about it.

Seems to me that the best rule is to simply ask/check about the seating situation of the person behind you. We're all traveling together so simply saying "I'm going to recline because I can, and it's not my fault if I hurt your knees." or "'I'm going to assume that you're about to bash my knees, and stop that." are both too presumptuous.

I do think it's rather telling of how personal space is shrinking on planes that someone felt the need to create this device, and that it is selling.

As tight as they've made space on planes today, the reclining option does just seem like a fight waiting to happen.

I'm very non confrontational so I never recline my seat or say anything when anyone else does. If I did, though, it would be nice if someone communicated with em instead of just being a jerk about it

I have long legs. When people in front of me try to recline the seat doesn't bang against my knees because they're already against the chair. My legs themselves prevent people from reclining. There's not much I can do about it. People sitting in front of me have never said anything but a few have given out a huffy sigh. No one has ever turned around to ask, though.

I don't have it now because I'm on my phone, but I read today that this guy was using this device because he was using his laptop and didn't want the screen to be at a funky angle. That is plain and blatant assholery.

I don't know if it's blatant. I watched a dude ask the person in front of him not to recline because he had his laptop out. The person didn't listen despite the people around him telling him to quit, and eventually he ended up cracking the dude's screen. It was a bit of an incident.

I think people are afraid to talk to strangers on an airplane, especially those they aren't sitting next to. I think the reclining function of an airline seat was something nice back when they weren't messing with pitch and space between seats as bad as they do now.

Maybe they should just pull the reclining feature out of seats.

I'm mindful of my passengers. If I notice I have someone behind me, I recline just a tad or not at all. If there's nobody, I'll be more comfortable reclining. If someone was in front of me, I should expect them to ask or behave in the same manner as myself. If they don't, I'll just deal with it because I don't want to make a big scene out of an inconvenience to myself and to the person in front. :S

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Originally Posted by Nate

I don't know if it's blatant. I watched a dude ask the person in front of him not to recline because he had his laptop out. The person didn't listen despite the people around him telling him to quit, and eventually he ended up cracking the dude's screen. It was a bit of an incident.

I think people are afraid to talk to strangers on an airplane, especially those they aren't sitting next to. I think the reclining function of an airline seat was something nice back when they weren't messing with pitch and space between seats as bad as they do now.

Maybe they should just pull the reclining feature out of seats.

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If a person does not ask the person in front of them if they can refrain from reclining, if they do not ask the person in front of them or the flight personnel if they can install a recline-locking device, if they do not remove the device after flight personnel has asked them to, and if they do this all with five extra inches of leg room and so that they can use their laptop - which means it was not a physical discomfort situation, it was an "I want to do what I want" situation - then yep, it's blatant assholery.

Many flights last for hours at a time, and I don't care to sit at a ninety degree angle between hours of flying and terrible seats at the airport during layovers. I always recline my seat for comfort, and I always see other people doing it. I have never been asked if it's okay with me, nor have I ever asked anyone else - I didn't even know this was a thing. I would hope that if someone behind me had a problem, they would let me know. Otherwise, I'll choose to exercise the comforts the airline has provided by allowing my chair to recline.

Maybe a better option would be to include fewer seats in an aircraft carrier so that people have a bit more personal space instead of disallowing everyone to comfortably travel. :p

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Originally Posted by Shorty

Maybe a better option would be to include fewer seats in an aircraft carrier so that people have a bit more personal space instead of disallowing everyone to comfortably travel. :p

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Profit margins say airlines won't go that direction, and decreasing space says the incidents will simply continue to occur. Perhaps even at an increasing rate. We all know it's not just space, there's a reduction in everythying. There's less amenities, less anonymity, and less service. I remember when I traveled to Europe as a kid. Since I was a little kid I got a free model of the plane I was flying on, extra special attention from the flight attendant, visiting the captain and co-pilot, and they even gave my teddy bear (I am all that is man) his own seat beside me. Now? No more drinks and snacks on flights that used to have them. Longer flights also see less drink and food service. You sometimes pay for baggage handling, personal space, towels, pillows, bottled water, and so forth.

The atmosphere of air travel is changing, and whether passengers like it or not, it's going to require some communication and cooperation to try and help every one travel as comfortably as possible.

I suppose if enough travelers boycott air travel perhaps airlines would listen and give back some space and other things. As dependent as we are on air planes, I seriously doubt that will happen.

Wow, I'm of a wholly different opinion. You obviously feel the person wanting his space was being an entitled douche. And I feel people who expect everyone to just live with them leaning back into their space are being douches. I think the airline was remiss in even giving the option to begin with if it crowds into other people's space. Not everyone wants to speak up about their claustrophobia and/or agoraphobia or whatever it might be considered when someone in front of them crowds into their space. I would feel guilty and paranoid even attempting to recline without making sure it was okay with the person behind me. I wouldn't dream of just doing it because I'm entitled. Like I said before, that reminds me so much of entitled ghetto Walmart shoppers, and horribly entitled road hogs. I've had to drive on 7-hour long trips. Can't take a nap at the wheel. I'd have no problem sitting up in a plane either. In fact, I'd imagine most plane seats are a bit more comfortable than most car seats. I'd just bring a book or something. Or I'd ask the person behind me if they're okay with me laying back and taking a nap, instead of just doing it

As far as feeling like airplanes shouldn't have reclining seats in the first place, I'm of the mindset that cars should also not have horns, because nobody uses them for their intended purpose anymore. They just use them to be douche-bags to everyone else on the road. Or even in homes, in lieu of like getting out of the car and knocking on someone's door

Long story short, if I had a social condition where I didn't like being crowded, having someone sitting on either side of me would be enough. To be expected to be okay with the person in front of me crowding me as well seems a bit excessive and ridiculous. And I for one am glad this invention exists. Even though I never fly. I probably wouldn't use one if I did. But good god I am absolutely positive I would want to

The whole airplane seat thing is just an example of where when you give people a little discretion, they make the worst of it. The same thing with car horns.

I used to travel for a living, and spent at least 3 days a week with some sort of flight in it for a few years. People on planes are just rude, which is exacerbated by the tight conditions. I flew in the 80's and it was never like that (even though I was a kid). I believe that if you're flying coach on a discount fare, don't expect 1st class treatment. And at the same time, do what you can to not be a jerk to the people around you.

I think the flight attendant could have just asked the person not to recline. I don't see why that's a problem. The airline owns the space, not the passenger. And let's face it, customer comfort is not a concern of the airline when you're flying coach. If you want comfort, pony up some money.

I'm American and I'm entitled to that space behind me. Manifest Destiny, bitches.

Yeah I pay for the space in front of me, I want all of that available!

What they should do is basically have a little wall behind each seat, and the seats can't recline past that wall. Not to mention, there is reclining technology where seats come down and fold out, rather than leaning straight back. It's kinda ridiculous that there's even a problem with them stealing space. They don't/shouldn't need to

Also, Del made me lol because I feel that's how most people feel. Which is sad

In all seriousness I always recline my seat on a plane and would pretty annoyed if a tall person prevented me from doing so. I also assume the person in front of me will also recline. If they don't I just figure the seat is broken rather than them being polite or considerate or any of that nonsense. Sitting upright on a plane is uncomfortable, especially on longer flights. Recline away, my airline brother.

If you are too tall to handle a reclined seat at then just pay the extra $20 for a front row seat or whatever it is. It's not my fault you're tall so I'm not going to give up my comfort to accommodate you. Similarly with fat people who should buy two seats.

If anyone tried to seat defender me I'd slap the thing out of their hands. Except for Rantzien. I really like that guy.