Man Punching Airline Seat In Front Of Him

I'm dying to hear the VMB takes on this issue. I doubt this jackass would've done this to a man. Had it been me... I would've sternly told him to knock it the F off and had he not ceased, I'd probably be arrested upon landing, cause I'd have kicked his ass right there on the plane.

 

I'm more of a jam my knees into the seat in front of me to prevent them from reclining kind of person. If they manage to get reclined, I concede defeat and can't imagine acting like this guy.

 

Personally, I feel people who recline their seats, even though they are reclineable, are ignorant people. I once had someone recline their seat on a bus and they were in my lap. I never recline my seat just to be considerate of other people. What he did was ridiculous.

 

I wish that all planes/trains had like one inch of recline. Enough to custom-tailor your seating position to a reasonable extent, but not so much that it causes harm (real or imagined).

 

If someone politely asks me to not recline my seat, I am happy to oblige. The full article states that this guy asked her repeatedly. He is in the last seat (i.e. his seat does not recline).

Apparently, her response was that she contacted the stewardess. No idea what her behavior was actually like, but judging by the fact that the stewardess apologized to the man in question and that her response at the end of the flight was claiming serious injury and call the FBI, I am going to say both these people were being jackasses

 

I dream of something like this happening to me. I love a good confrontation!

But the fact that she’s going to undeniably lawyer up makes me angry.

 

I hate both of them but now all of a sudden she said she has headaches, cervical spine issues, etc.

 

Yeah, I'd say that's a true statement. Then again, if he'd asked me to move forward, I'd have done it (you're flying two hours from NOLA to CLT...not across the Pacific).

It's my understanding that he asked her, repeatedly, if she could recline a tad less. She opted not to - since SHE HAS A RIGHT TO RECLINE!. I think the FA comped the guy a cocktail, recognizing who he had to contend with. I think both parties need to grow the f**** up. Lemme know how the FBI investigation shakes out.

This sort of behavior is not uncommon in small claims court. Seen it quite a few times.

 

Air rage!

I probably would have asked to be re-seated.

 

First off, I don't recline my seat, as it doesn't really make things any more comfortable, and out of politeness, I understand reclining the seat does impact the people sitting behind me. With that said. If the airplane is designed that the seats can recline, I would fully expect and not be upset if the person in front of me reclined their seat. This is similar to when people don't book assigned seating, and then get mad that I won't " switch with my friend so she can sit beside me, shes terrified of flying " . Then spend the extra 8 dollars and sit together. If you need more space, book first class. If that moron started punching the back of my seat, I would turn around and punch him. If he was doing this to my wife or child, they would need an ambulance for him when the plane landed.

 

The easiest solution to all of this is to make it where no seats recline unless you pay the extra to sit in first class.

 

False machismo and an entitlement complex ... never good things.

 

Guy is an asshole an I am sure she was a peach herself. With that being said the chair reclines, she didn't design the plane.

 

i think if you recline your seat, you’re selfish regardless of if they recline or not. These seats shouldn’t recline and the whole “oh it’s within my right to do so” is so tired and played out. There’s a lot of things in life “within your right” but doesn’t make them the best choice. Go buy a first class ticket if you want to lounge around with extra space.

 

There are a lot of questions/topics here...

The ethics of reclining your seat? Tell the person behind you you're going to recline, and just do it. You don't need their permission, but it's courteous to give them a heads-up in case they have anything on their tray table that they, in their best judgement, believe they should move or secure.

Was this assault? Absolutely. It was the wilful application of force to a person's body without their consent. I'd love to hear any other explanation or justification for him doing that to her.

Is her claim of bodily injury suspect? It doesn't matter. He voluntarily chose to repeatedly punch her seat knowing she was in it, and NOT knowing what pre-existing conditions or sensitivities she may have had that doing so could aggravate (or, of course, what new problems he could cause)... so by making that choice he assumed full responsibility for any injury that may have resulted. If medical examinations conclude she sustained some kind of injury that could plausibly have been caused by this, he doesn't really have an alibi IMO.

Should she sue the airline? One hundred percent. The FAs not only wilfully refused to correct this man's behaviour, but actually REWARDED him for it? That's a negligence claim waiting to happen.

 

Flying out on spirit for the next Las Vegas trip for the first time, so I don't have to worry about reclining or not

 

I don't agree with this at all. If it wasn't yours to use, they wouldn't put a recline option on the seat. If you want more space where you aren't affected by other people reclining, then you should pay for it.

 

flight attendant needed to say if you don't stop this you're getting arrested when we land. And then she needed to make it happen if he didn't stop. I don't know what happened on the plane, but if I had complained over and over, I'd be absolutely white hot and I'd have expected AA to make this up to me in some way.

 

She paid for a seat with recline; if the flight attendant told me not to recline because the person behind me was a crybaby, I'd comply because you have no choice. But, I would have told her when I got off the plane that I took her name and the flight number, and I'm reporting her to AA customer service for her inability to do her job correctly. I'd expect AA to shoot 5-20k miles my way for the mistreatment (that's how these things end, you get miles, not cash generally)

And, yeah, I'd have videoed this and put it on social media if AA hadn't given me something substantive in return.

 

Again, you bought a ticket on a plane with recliner seats. You don't get to complain to someone else in person that they've used the features available to them. They paid the same as you and bought the same perks. You don't get to dictate how they use them. It's not your plane, and it's not "your space." The airline made it their space when the made the seats able to recline.

If someone behind me told me they really could use less recline because they are desperately trying to work and they need their laptop out that's one thing, but "I like you not reclining" is not my problem.