The rule has always been and remains that you have a right to recline your seat (and so does the person behind you). But what impressed me most on a Turkish Airlines A350-900 flight was the restraint shown by a passenger when the man seated behind him began violently shaking his seat.
Man Shakes Seat Violently In Attempt To Prevent Seatmate Recline On Turkish Airlines A350-900
From what I can gather, the incident took place on Turkish Airlines flight TK202 from Denver (DEN) to Istanbul (IST) onboard an Airbus A350-900 jet. Video shows a man in an aisle economy class set violently shaking the seat of the person sitting in front of him.
The man seated in front appeared to jump up and I thought for sure a fight would break out, but that man had remarkable restraint and simply called a flight attendant.
A flight attendant appeared and advised the angry man that the person in front of him had a right to recline the seat, but he did too.
That seemed to defuse the matter.
When I see such poor, deplorable conduct I have to wonder how often he beats his spouse…
Such a temper is disgusting and yet I know we all have our breaking points. In that sense, I was far more impressed with the restraint of the person in front of him. As much as I’d like to think I would show the same restraint, I do wonder how I would handle such violence onboard…
He handled it precisely the correct way and I appreciate the flight attendant for seeming to calm the angry man behind him.
As View From The Wing notes, you are allowed to recline if your seat reclines, except during takeoff and landing, when you’re instructed by the crew to be in a full upright position for safety–and I’d also add during meal service, even if you skip meal service and want to sleep. Legroom is very tight on Turkish Airlines and so I understand the frustration, but you don’t get to tell your seatmate what to do with his seat and especially cannot become violent.
I can understand the frustration, but at the end of the day violence is never the answer.
I regret that you are incorrect. Our morass of recorded history, and inferred history prior to records being kept, proves that violence is frequently, if not always, the answer when solving problems. Inflicting violence and pain is the most effective method to gain timely compliance.
Our global leaders continuously validate violence through war as an effective route to conflict resolution. If it’s good enough for our elites, then it’s good enough for me.
It makes me sad to adopt this position, and doing so also makes me correct.
The sitting in front of him should have broken his jaw.
First thought it was a child doing this, but I see it’s just a child stuck in an adult’s body. At the end of the day, it’s rather frustrating and the person who threw a fit may have asked the person in front to not recline, but the rules dictate that the passenger is free to recline except during the times stated here. It’s just an unfortunate consequence of flying these days and that’s what you’re paying for when booking in Y or even W.
I honestly find the extra inches of recline you get on many international carriers to be a net negative. While it’s great to lean back more to sleep, it takes away so much from your space. Getting up, eating, using laptop, even watching the seat back tv, etc are all so much more difficult.
Seat pitch and width info is commonly available but wonder why seat recline isn’t. Would be a nice add to seatguru
SeatGuru hasn’t been supported for years. Try aerolopa.com. That is always up-to-date and it does include recline.
If the seat can recline i’m allowed to recline…full stop.
Sorry don’t care what anyone else says.
This happened to me a Lufthansa flight from MUC-IAD about a decade ago. An old German woman screamed (in English) she was in pain and kicked the back of my seat in a rage. My wife and I switched seats.
I felt if she was honestly in pain the FA would probably take her side and let it go. I enjoy reclining in economy class if it’s a 9 hour flight and I want to sleep but I can see how some tall people will suffer.
On the flip side, on a similar flight on the same route, a young boy was kicking my wife’s seat by accident because the shape of a 3 year old boy typically makes it difficult for them to put their legs down and they tend to bump the seat in front of them. My wife was about to lose it so I apologized to the father behind me (while my wife was in the lav) and he was ok about it and I switched seats.
I’ve almost lost my temper (not outrageously) when I thought I had misplaced all of our passports (and as Matt knows, that can be super stressful) so I can sympathize that people can be emotional.
I think it helps if someone practices meditation and mindfulness and I think, also, to support each other. It can be extra stressful if there are multiple people who are complaining rather than helping to provide calmness and solutions. In both cases, my wife and I provided support to each other to mitigate our emotions and the situation.
I’m reminded of the line from Up in the Air by Ryan: “Socially isolated? I’m surrounded!” In a manner of speaking, both were correct: Airports and airplanes are immensely crowded places but yet we feel ‘alone” in the sense of most people are not going to help us, will be burdened by our very presence, and compete for space and resources.
When I fly, I do have to go into a different mental state than in ordinary life to function optimally and most are not practiced in this.
When I took my daughter at 4, it seems like yesterday, for her first flight we went to the airport 2 weeks ahead of time and I familiarized her with the airport and the whole trip in advance including the IFE. She was excited to go. She was a pro from day 1 and the least of my concerns when leaving for the airport.
It’s amazing how people board a pressurized tube none of which they own and they are suddenly more aggressive and territorial than they are over their own possessions. Great job by the flight attendant. I have a family member who is a flight attendant and I know she would have been snarky and sarcastic (in a “bless your heart” kind of way).
3rd world savages, as usual.
Hard to find anyone that smells worse than someone from Turkey.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, dude…don’t lump everyone into that category. Come on, man.
@Matthew … “whisky tango foxtrot” is the title of an outstanding book by a very brave and competent man : Lynne Black . I recommend it whole-heartedly .
I’m gong to make a (nice) generalization and wonder if he’s Turkish due to him playing a chess game on a flight. I’ve never been to Istanbul but I imagine the parks are full of Turkish men socializing over lunch with coffee over games of chess with cats lounging around in the background. Hoping to visit on a long layover at IST.
I’m thinking it would be neat if the chess games allowed you to play against other passengers instead of the computer.
It looks like the guy’s seat was pretty tight and he may be uncomfortable already without the recline.
Regardless of all of what you said, what he did was wrong.
Agreed.
When it comes to savage and deplorable behaviour, nobody is outdone by the US military and American soldiers. They have a tendency to rape and sexually assault their own soldiers who have a one in three chance of being sexually assaulted. They go to places like Japan and Korea and assault the local women and expect to be treated with kid’s gloves simply because they are ”serving” their country. Just a few weeks ago a US soldier in Okinawa was arrested for attacking a child. What a pity those violent freaks can’t hold themselves back in uniform.
Looks like he’s from some other foreign country. No manners. Stinky
It appears that the guy behind feels very cramped, judging from his knees touching the seat in front and sticking out slightly. He may be very frustrated but that is no excuse for his bad behavior. Ideally, he should have bought a ticket allowing him more leg room.
Economy seats should not be allowed to recline based on how short the airlines have made the pitch