Space Invader

June 6, 2009

in Seat Stories

I was on the 2nd leg of a trip back home, flying from Vienna to Washington D.C. I was already desperately tired after being in Armenia for a few weeks. It was daylight out for the duration of this flight, and I was looking forward to tilting my seat back a few inches in an attempt to get a little sleep.

Well, I put it into position, put in some earplugs, closed my eyes, and as soon as I was reclined, I felt someone pushing against the lower back of my seat. I thought maybe it’s a kid playing around and kicking the seat. I thought it would stop after a few minutes, but it didn’t. I turned around and lo and behold, it was a middle aged Indian woman who didn’t appreciate me trying to invade 4 inches of her space; the kicking continued. I refused to bring my seat up, however, and let her deal with it for the rest of the flight. (Did I mention I’m 6’3″?!?)

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

GottaLoveIt May 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm

Sucks to be her.

Reply

SAW June 24, 2009 at 3:34 am

Everyone complains about reclining seats. Fact is, seats are uncomfortable, and on a long flight, that little recline can make a big difference.

Now, I'm a fairly big guy – I don't overflow my seat, but I fully fill it. When someone reclines their seat in front of me, I have a bit of claustrophobia case and feel trapped, so instead of complaining, I recline my seat as well – problem solved.

The issue with the recline comes into play when those that DO recline don't consider the people behind them at all. They do things like :

Recline the seat at rocket speed

so that cups and items on the

tray table behind them go flying

or they bang the person's knee.

Recline all the way in the next

to last row if not required, and

trap the people behind them who

can't recline.

Stand up to go to the bathroom

and are gone for 1/2 an hour

leaving the seat still reclined.

Reclining a seat for a child

who doesn't even fill the seat

and is sitting in it sideways,

thus, getting zero benefit

from the recline.

As uncomfortable as it is for me to be BEHIND a reclining seat (especially when I'm in the last row), I certainly don't begrudge anyone that right – as long as they're decent about it.

Reply

Jodi June 24, 2009 at 4:18 am

Being that I’m only 5’2” I cannot sympathize with your height problem but I do not begrudge someone from reclining their seat at a reasonable speed as long as they don’t end up in my lap. A few inches is fine. As for her, she was far more rude, instead of kicking your chair, she should have simply asked you to move up an inch or so, at which point you could have complied or refused. But kicking someone’s chair is just childish.

Reply

iamdogmatic June 25, 2009 at 7:59 am

I smell bullshit. This is just a made up story with a sprinkle of racism because some Indian somewhere pissed you off. I simply cannot believe that someone was kicking you non stop. I think that kicking constantly would be more uncomfortable than dealing with a little less space or 4 inches of space as you put it.

Reply

SAW June 25, 2009 at 9:25 am

Apparently, iamdogmatic, you've never experienced this. There actually ARE people who would spend an hour kicking someone's seat on a plane. I've experienced that myself. People will do amazingly retarded things – don't kid yourself.

Having been a frequent flier for some 30 years now, I absolutely believe this person's account of what happened.

Also – there was nothing "racist" about the story, and to infer that inflammatory at best.

Reply

GottaLoveIt June 25, 2009 at 10:12 am

Oh there are certainly people out there who are just immature and just stupid enough to spend an entire flight kicking a seat out of spite. Those people are rare, and apparently incapable of functioning in a civilized society, but they are out there.

Reply

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