Airline passenger CHOKES another for reclining her seat. Discuss....

A man allegedly strangles a woman who had the nerve to recline her seat! http://gawker.com/man-allegedly-strangles-woman-over-reclining-seat-1737308260

And the flight was pretty short - L.A. to SanFran. The flight of course, had to be turned around.

Waiting for a senator to say that if passengers were allowed to bring guns inflight, this whole issue could have been resolved amicably.

What's to discuss? People shouldn't choke each other. Moving on...

The flying public shops by price first. I can't think I the last time I booked a flight and found the "premium economy" seats full. On a recent flight they didn't even get someone to pay the relatively low upcharge at the gate and on board they had to ask for volunteers to sit in the exit rows.

There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

OMG, I agree with zoinks.

kibbegirl said:

Waiting for a senator to say that if passengers were allowed to bring guns inflight, this whole issue could have been resolved amicably.

I am reminded of a Don Martin cartoon (Mad magazine) from the early 1970's when airline hijackings were mostly trips to Havana. The first frame showed all the passengers sitting quietly. In the next frame, every passenger was standing with a gun drawn shouting, "This is a hijack!" In the third frame, all passengers were against sitting quietly with sheepish looks on their faces. So, this is cartoon evidence that arming everybody can work.

bettyd said:
But admit it, there have been times you wanted to.

Which is why carrying a gun is a bad idea - all it takes is a basically decent person who is having a really bad day to turn a rage incident into a tragedy.

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

the answer is not to prevent seats from reclining but to institute regulations requiring airlines to provide enough room so that seats can recline comfortably. The airlines have been steadily reducing the space by jamming as many seats into the plane as possible.

hoops said:

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

the answer is not to prevent seats from reclining but to institute regulations requiring airlines to provide enough room so that seats can recline comfortably. The airlines have been steadily reducing the space by jamming as many seats into the plane as possible.

And a pony!

hoops said:

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

the answer is not to prevent seats from reclining but to institute regulations requiring airlines to provide enough room so that seats can recline comfortably. The airlines have been steadily reducing the space by jamming as many seats into the plane as possible.

You can have more space. Just pay more. As RobB said most people have as their primary interest the cheapest price. They can not then turn around and demand more space for that price. When their are options that most do not pay to get additional space.

mjh said:

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

OMG, I agree with zoinks.

YIKES! Me too!

Me three.

But the airlines are responsible. Sure, each individual has to answer for his or her own actions. But when you increase the stress level of a situation you increase the likelihood of an incident. And when you increase the number of people exposed to that stress you further increase the chances.

The airlines have steadily ratcheted up the density and stress, and have made something like this inevitable.

And they aren't exactly advertising their flights with glowing phrases like "barely enough room to read a magazine" or "less leg room than your average coffin."

The fact that they can sell more tickets is not mitigating.

The airlines have purposely made the journey unpleasant in order to charge passengers for small perks that make it slightly less unpleasant.

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/30/10_ways_monopoly_airlines_are_actively_trying_to_make_your_life_miserable_partner/

I have to admit, I would pay extra for seating in the piano bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_5jJbTqTM

I read this morning about a flight from Lisbon to Dublin. It was diverted to another airport because a 24 y.o. passenger bit another passenger in the leg. Then the bitter died.

His flight companion, 44 year old female was then found to have 5 pounds of a substance believed to be powdered amphetamine.

Possibly the biter was a mule and a balloon with amphet. burst in his stomach.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:
I read this morning about a flight from Lisbon to Dublin. It was diverted to another airport because a 24 y.o. passenger bit another passenger in the leg. Then the bitter died.
His flight companion, 44 year old female was then found to have 5 pounds of a substance believed to be powdered amphetamine.


Possibly the biter was a mule and a balloon with amphet. burst in his stomach.

That sort of thing doesn't happen on at least 80% of the commercial flights I've taken.

tom said:
Me three.
But the airlines are responsible. Sure, each individual has to answer for his or her own actions. But when you increase the stress level of a situation you increase the likelihood of an incident. And when you increase the number of people exposed to that stress you further increase the chances.
The airlines have steadily ratcheted up the density and stress, and have made something like this inevitable.
And they aren't exactly advertising their flights with glowing phrases like "barely enough room to read a magazine" or "less leg room than your average coffin."
The fact that they can sell more tickets is not mitigating.

Bravo @tom! The nightmare of trying to watch personal items go down the line so a skeevy TSA agent won't pilfer a loose coin from your bag to walking barefoot on a floor that millions of other feet have touched, to purchasing a damn near $6 OJ at a kiosk is all too much. Couple that up to people who may have anger issues and one false move topples the dominoes.

Why is it unreasonable to expect that when you pay a fare - even an economy fare, that you get a seat where you aren't treated as cargo, to be stacked and squished as closely together as space allows?

If I don't like it I can pay more? Thats ridiculous.

Yes it is unreasonable. You get what you pay for.

I won't be flying with your airline zoinks. You can go out of business.

There has to be some incentive to upgrade, right?

I would not. Ryanair is know as the most unpleasant ways to fly and constantly tries to make the experience even less pleasant. But it is consitently the cheapest way to fly. So it is very successful.

dave said:
There has to be some incentive to upgrade, right?

sure but in my obviously minority opinion we consumers are being offered a false choice. "Upgrade" to a seat that used to be the regular sized seat. Its not upgrading to first class service.

Its that we've all been downgraded and I see many here think even allowing enough space so a seat can recline 3 or 4 inches is too much to ask an airline to provide for every passenger.

I just do not agree.

Let seats recline one inch only. People will feel like they have some control and the passenger behind doesn't get crushed. Done.

On an inflation adjusted basis, airline travel is much less expensive than it used to be. Somehow the proliferation of fees has been more tolerable than fare increases to the flying public, so that's how the airlines have done their pricing. It stinks, but it seems that is what the market forces have done for us.

hoops said:

dave said:
There has to be some incentive to upgrade, right?

sure but in my obviously minority opinion we consumers are being offered a false choice. "Upgrade" to a seat that used to be the regular sized seat. Its not upgrading to first class service.
Its that we've all been downgraded and I see many here think even allowing enough space so a seat can recline 3 or 4 inches is too much to ask an airline to provide for every passenger.
I just do not agree.

I agree with Hoops on this one. Paying the airlines more simply to get out of the untenable situation THEY created is not the answer.

The real problem isn't that market forces have given us this air travel system. Realistically, the FAA does have to regulate routes, or else the skies would be filled with planes flying every which way, and air traffic would be stacked up over every major city. So we don't have unlimited competition and choice. In some markets (like Newark), one massive carrier controls most of the flights. Want to fly to LA? Good luck finding convenient options on an airline other than United.

By allowing mega mergers of airlines such that 4 carriers control the vast majority of the routes among major U.S., cities, and near monopolies for each within their hubs, we ended up with the worst possible service. The worst thing to happen to NJ travelers was the United/Continental merger. Continental wasn't great by any means, but they didn't nickel and dime you for baggage fees, meals, or "economy plus" seating. United is major step down in customer service from Continental. And in Newark, we also ended up with high fares as well. I don't see the government breaking up any of the airlines, so this flight has left the gate, and we're probably stuck with what we've got. In Newark, it means high fares and bad service because United has a stranglehold.

Inciting violence shouldn't be allowed just because "market forces" seem to make it desirable.

bramzzoinks said:
There is no excuse for choking someone. But seats in economy should not recline. There is just not enough space to allow that.

100% agree. The space is already barbaric. Reclining shifts the entire scenario to subhuman.