oh no. i’m fairly tall and i love my legroom, but what happens when you are the one in front of the person with the knee defender, unable to recline the seat for the duration of a long haul flight? and this “courtesy card” seems like an invitation for confrontation! possibly not the best way to begin 12+ hours of unescapable close proximity with your fellow passengers.
I think the real problem is how far people recline. I have no problem with a few inches; I hate to sit at a rigid 90-degree angle myself. And reclining all the way during the “sleeping period” on a long-haul flight is okay too. But I always seem to get seated behind the jerk who reclines all the way back as soon as the seatbelt light goes off and keeps it there the whole flight… even during the meals! It’s impossible to eat with their heads in my face. I imagine that these folks all sit in big La-Z-Boys at home and are incapable of propping themselves upright. So many people get on airplanes with this aggressive “I’m more important than everybody else” attitude (as evidenced by how many of them completely disregard the instructions to stay in their seats while taxiing to the gate). It just pisses me off.
So yeah, the Knee Defender is rude, but sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire. I wouldn’t use it on every flight, but if I had somebody hellbent on reclining and wouldn’t respond to my polite request, as soon as that seat moved an inch I’d wedge the Defender in there. It’s the principle of the thing.
Kristen
October 27, 2003 — 11:56 am
oh no. i’m fairly tall and i love my legroom, but what happens when you are the one in front of the person with the knee defender, unable to recline the seat for the duration of a long haul flight? and this “courtesy card” seems like an invitation for confrontation! possibly not the best way to begin 12+ hours of unescapable close proximity with your fellow passengers.
Kris
October 27, 2003 — 3:20 pm
I think the real problem is how far people recline. I have no problem with a few inches; I hate to sit at a rigid 90-degree angle myself. And reclining all the way during the “sleeping period” on a long-haul flight is okay too. But I always seem to get seated behind the jerk who reclines all the way back as soon as the seatbelt light goes off and keeps it there the whole flight… even during the meals! It’s impossible to eat with their heads in my face. I imagine that these folks all sit in big La-Z-Boys at home and are incapable of propping themselves upright. So many people get on airplanes with this aggressive “I’m more important than everybody else” attitude (as evidenced by how many of them completely disregard the instructions to stay in their seats while taxiing to the gate). It just pisses me off.
So yeah, the Knee Defender is rude, but sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire. I wouldn’t use it on every flight, but if I had somebody hellbent on reclining and wouldn’t respond to my polite request, as soon as that seat moved an inch I’d wedge the Defender in there. It’s the principle of the thing.