A man travelling by plane had his laptop completely destroyed after the passenger in front of him reclined their seat. Personally, I think I'd cry if this happened to me.
Film producer and podcaster Pat Cassidy was flying from Austin to Los Angeles back in 2020 when his poor laptop ended up in a very sorry state due to the person in front fully reclining their seat mid-flight.
In a post on Twitter at the time, Cassidy wrote: “Small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or some way to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat."
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In a follow up tweet, he added: "Also, this one is more of a critique than a suggestion. I really appreciate that your flight attendant came over to tell me that the passenger in front of me 'needs to be able to recline' and then asked him 'if he was okay?' as if your seat hadn't just ruined my livelihood." Ouch.
The post prompted a fair bit of debate among social media users about whether it's appropriate to fully recline your seat - particularly without warning.
Responding to his viral post, one person wrote: “Isn’t it time to ban seat reclining?”
Another said: “The problem with reclining seats on aeroplanes is in the design. Reclining made sense when the economy classes were roomy back in the day. That’s not the case today. Today short distance flights should either have limited recline, or the bottom of the seat should slide ahead.”
A third commented: “People have got to be more considerate to check and ask before jumping to action seriously! Couldn't the person in front at least check, ‘hey I'm gonna recline my seat back.’”
However, others disagreed and believed the person sat in front had a right to position their seat whichever way they felt.
One person said: “Nah bro this is your own fault. While I agree fully reclining is kinda a d**k move, they also have every right to.”
While another chipped in: “This is negligence and lack of due precaution on the part of the airlines. Passengers with a reclining seat should be able to do so at will. The seats and trays should be designed for adequate damping to not pose a danger to passengers and property.”
And someone else asked: “How do you know the person in front doesn't have a bad back and need the seat reclined?”
What do you think? Perfectly acceptable behaviour or rude AF?
Topics: Travel
Claire Reid