I’m not sure what “guaranteed potential” is, but if the problem is as bad as you suggest, then with tens of thousands of people flying every day, we should have seen a multitude of lawsuits by now for injuries related to reclining backrests. Where are they?
I don’t think passengers should be able to manipulate the functions of any part of an aircraft, so no, no Knee Defenders allowed.
As to the reclining seat issue, I see two solutions. One, is it really necessary seats be so upright when taking off and landing? Why not set them all to a static, half reclined position that’s not adjustable.
Or two, make it so that when the seat is set to recline that it’s the bottom part of the chair that’s moving forward, not the upper headrest moving backwards. A person can recline but it’s their own footspace that’s being reduced, not the headroom of another passenger.
The stark upright position is for the person behind. Makes it easier to get in and out of their seats.
Makes sense. It’s option two I like better though, if the seat is to recline make the bottom part move forward as opposed to the upper part moving back. That way the recliner can decide if he wants to reduce his own legroom and other passengers aren’t inconvenienced.
One ore thing, unless it’s a little kid behind me I always turn around and ask the person behind me if they mind if I set the seat back, and then do so slowly. It’s no wonder there are confrontations when some stranger suddenly violates your personal space with little to no warning.
As noted, the back of said seat is my territory. Has my air sickness bag and my tray and my Skymall catalog and everything. If I feel like kicking my Skymall catalog, you have zero right to whine and bitch about it. Don’t like it? That’s YOUR problem.
No need. If you have a problem with someone kicking their Skymall catalog for three hours, go find another airline.
I wouldn’t use Knee Defender, but reclining all the way when there is someone in the seat behind you is incredibly douchy behavior. I’m 6’1" and if you recline all the way back the seat back is in my knees.
I’ve always thought the correct approach was simply to ask, politely, for the person in front of you to refrain from reclining.
I’ve often wondered if it would be better if everyone leaned their seats back all at once. I would lose the three inches in front of me, but I’d gain three inches by leaning back, and the same would be true for every row. Except of course for the first and last row, but I think airlines sometimes charge different prices for those rows.
I will admit to leaning by seat back sometimes on flights, but never through the whole flight, and I always lean it back slowly, and if asked to not recline then I won’t do it.
I wonder if that would make it more difficult for the people in the window seats to get past an aisle seat that’s reclined that way. Also I’m not sure if that’d be more difficult to set up on a seat, or if that’d be more likely to break. But otherwise it’s a good idea. I would love for my space not to be suddently restricted by the person in front of me, and for me not to have to worry about bothering the person behind me.
Yes, because it enables the fastest evacuation of passengers in an emergency. That’s the reason.
You want to know why the window shades have to be up then, too? That’s so the FA’s can see if it’s safe to deploy the slides on that side, and so rescue crews can see what’s happening inside the cabin.
I’m sure you understand why the safety lecture doesn’t go into detail about those things.
Mainly because it’s tough to make a sliding seat mechanism that is guaranteed to hold still in a 17-G crash.
What do you tell the guy sitting right in front of you who thinks the same thing? :dubious:
[QUOTE=Mr. Excellent]
I’ve always thought the correct approach was simply to ask, politely, for the person in front of you to refrain from reclining.
[/QUOTE]
That prolly works better if one is a six foot six inches square Turkish gentleman with strong moustaches built like a brick outhouse than for a slight five foot nothing shy little thing.
I’m over six feet tall (only just, admittedly) and I have never had an issue with space. Legroom, sure, but I suck it up. If you can’t fit into an economy seat then you need to pay for more space. Granted, most airlines make you go business class to do that but there are always the slightly more expensive seats at the front of each row.
For the record, I ask people behind if they mind me reclining.
How often do people say it’s okay versus how often do people say no?
I’m fairly certain nobody has ever said no. A few people have asked me to un-recline temporarily while they were eating and the like.
I don’t have a problem with the reclining seats, even though I am on the taller side.
I have a problem with passengers who try to push and squirm the seat for an extra reclining inch (the seats will ‘give’ an extra 3-4 inches before bouncing back). Those people should receive electric shocks.
I’m going with ‘something else’, which is that the only fault here is with the airlines, who insist on squeezing 22 rows of seats into space designed for 18, or whatever it is. If there’s not enough room for you to recline and me to use my laptop in the seat behind you, there’s not enough room, period.
Fortunately, I haven’t made “stupid and hopelessly naive” arguments like that someone should only fly first class or invest in fractional ownership of a private jet. Those are clearly not practical solutions, and I don’t know why you raise them – maybe it’s just easier to respond to posts with ridiculous exaggerations rather than discuss content.
What I have suggested is that if every traveler has to balance the price of tickets, the service of the airline (including amenities like additional legroom), and schedule of travel; the 3% of the population that is taller than 6’ 2" and believe that they risk serious physical injury because of prioritizing cheap airfares on airlines known to skimp on legroom, that those people re-evaluate how they prioritize cost, schedule and service in order to make a better choice for their needs. Especially when the cost for premium economy can be – but is not always – pretty reasonable, this is a suggestion that deserves to be taken seriously; it isn’t a suggestion that only Oprah can make use of.
One can also use seatguru.com to determine that flying COPA airlines is probably a terrible idea, while other carriers may offer an additional 1 or 2 inches of pitch on similar routes.
On the other hand, if you want to place priority on flying crappy airlines, saving money, and taking the risk of serious injury, one’s choice has been made.
[QUOTE= lieu]
… if the seat is to recline make the bottom part move forward as opposed to the upper part moving back. That way the recliner can decide if he wants to reduce his own legroom and other passengers aren’t inconvenienced.
[/QUOTE]
As to the difficulty to pass from a window seat, wouldn’t it be near the same as trying to get around a reclined headrest from behind? I guess with either it’s simplier if the recliner returns to upright to let someone pass.
Just out of curiosity I googed the Lazy Boy site thinking I remembered they had a chair you could put right up against a wall and it would still recline without moving backwards, much like what we’re discussing. They do…
“Wall Recliner
Tight on space? Our Reclina-Way feature lets you lean waaay back without hitting a wall. In fact, you can fully recline just inches from any surface.”
I’d think that Lazy Boy is just as stable on the floor as a conventional recliner, so the airline seat theoretically should be able to be made just as stable too.
Maybe it wouldn’t work but I’d sure like to know that the Boeing designers at least gave it some consideration.
I have a lot of sympathy for tall people on planes. I’m 5’2", and my legs barely fit in those seats. If I want to recline, I look behind me and make sure some huge tall person isn’t wedged in before I do so. I don’t really like the “knee defender” thingie, though, it seems likely to cause problems.
Maybe, if there were an infinite number of rows. But eventually you get to the aft bulkhead, and that poor schmuck gets squished.
What if there isn’t an option? The exit rows have more room, but they’re often quickly grabbed up by other passengers. There isn’t a “tall people” section I can purchase a seat in. Not every domestic flight has first class, or even business class.
I’m also one of those freakishly ginormous 6’3" people. I’ve pretty much given up on flying. I’ve got enough seniority here I can either pass on business flights, or drive if it’s a trip to LA or something.
But I was also 6’3" in 1985, when I started flying, and there was a lot more room back then. People could recline their seats without putting me in a vise.
Why does *your *comfort trump the person in front? Oh, because you are only thinking of you. So then why are you upset when the other person is doing the same thing?