To Recline or Not To Recline, Whose Right is it?.......Knee Defenders!

After dealing with the hassles of getting to the airport, very long check-in and security lines.

you just cant wait to recline your seat and sleep off as soon as the seat belt signs go off.

But wait. What's happening?

Despite pushing that little round silver button ,your seat refuses to recline.

You've just been blocked by the Knee Defender.

The Knee Defender is a gadget that uses two small pieces of plastic, which are clipped on to the arms holding up the tray table. If they are placed snugly against the seat back, that seat is blocked from reclining, keeping the users' knees safe.

 “It gives you the chance to be human beings,” says Ira Goldman, the inventor of the Knee Defender, who has seen traffic to his online store rise 500 times above average since an altercation Last Sunday, a U. S. flight had to make an emergency landing in Chicago after a fight involving a passenger using his laptop who attached a "knee defender" to his tray, preventing the woman in front of him from reclining her seat prompting her to throw a glass of water in his face.

On Wednesday evening, a Miami to Paris flight was forced to turn around after a heated argument over leg room became too much for staff to contain.

 The knee Defender has  been generating controversy ever since, between those who feel it's-my-right-to-recline and stay-outa-my-personal-space proponents vying to out-shout the other .

 The real problem however is undefined property rights over the same four or five inches of space. People don’t agree on who has the rights. The airlines leave it foggy.

Ira Goldman added that he views the Knee Defender as something of an "early warning device." As we all know, people frequently recline with not a thought for the passenger behind them who may have a laptop open, a cup of coffee on a precarious perch, or a "lap baby,"

 The Defender even comes with a courtesy card for your fellow blocked passenger which, in part:

"If you would like to recline your seat at some point during the flight, please let me know and I will try to adjust myself and my Knee Defender so that it can be done safely.

I realize that this may be an inconvenience. If so, I hope you will complain to the airline. Maybe working together we can convince the airlines to provide enough space between rows so that people can recline their seats without banging into other passengers.

Thank you for your understanding

That card, with its passive-aggressive tone, is just asking for trouble.... try it with Naija passengers..lol

The gadget surprisingly does not violate any FAA regulations (it can't be used during taxi, takeoff, and landing, when the tray must be upright), but airlines have the right to forbid its use.
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 A little civility, would go a long way.  For the "Pro-Knee Defenders'" If those in front of you never notice or care, then no harm done. When they do notice, what usually happens is that they complain to a flight attendant that the seat is broken. The flight attendant will know immediately what’s up. In that case you remove them at once and, if necessary, apologize. (No major airline condones their use because they can cause a ruckus in the cabin, as happened last Sunday when a pilot had to divert a plane to eject two unruly passengers.)

And for the "'Anti-Knee Defenders" it will be nice to inform the person behind before reclining your seat so you don't spill hot coffee on them or damage their electronic devices.


should airlines do away with reclining seats altogether? share your thoughts in the comment section.