On a Delta Airlines trip, a passenger’s laptop screen cracked when the passenger in front of him reclined their seat. As a result, the passenger was left without a working laptop. Yikes…
Film producer and podcast presenter Pat Cassidy turned to Twitter to criticise Delta Airlines after the person reclining the seat in front of him completely destroyed the screen of his laptop.
He added the following note to the image of his smashed Mac: “small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat.”
The 37-year-old then tweeted Delta again, adding: “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.”
After the incident and a number of complaints, Cassidy updated his nearly 13,000 Twitter followers on the matter, noting that little had actually changed, he hadn’t been given a new laptop, and there were still no warnings on the seat backs.
What’s the deal with reclining seats, given all of this? Is it essential, or ought it to be prohibited?
According to a CNN article, reclining airline seats are, uh, declining. In fact, all economy seats always featured the option to recline, but it seems that more and more models these days lack the feature.
Given that this function necessitates additional parts that a typical upright seat does not, the site explained how the capacity to recline seats places an additional cost on the airline.
Additionally, reclining chairs add weight to the aircraft. CNN reports that the average aeroplane seat weighs between 15 and 22 pounds per passenger and that any weight that can be removed from the aircraft will result in a considerable reduction in fuel consumption.
Naturally, having seats that don’t recline also eliminates the issue of awkward seat etiquette, especially when someone reclines their seat so far back that their laptop screen is broken!
German seatmaker Recaro has become well-known for their pre-reclined seats for short-haul flights. Recaro’s CEO Mark Hiller told CNN: “The airline can choose a pre-defined backrest angle position of 15 or 18 degrees within the seat configuration process. This helps to provide either more comfort via increased backrest angle or fulfil special layouts with specific passenger counts.”
Hiller added: “The main advantage is increased living space, as a passenger’s living space is not intruded by recline. In addition, the low total cost of ownership – fewer moveable parts on the seat, improved reliability and simplified maintenance – and low weight and cost, with no mechanism, kinematics and so on required.”
Featured image credit: Panther Media GmbH / Alamy
