Legroom scuffles increase

NEW YORK It’s been dubbed the legroom wars.
For the third time in nine days, a US commercial jet has been forced to divert by enraged passengers flying into a temper over a reclining seat in the cramped confines of economy class.
A 32-year-old woman trying to snooze on a tray table on a flight from New York to West Palm Beach, Florida became the latest offender Monday when the woman in front slammed her seat back, bashing her alleged victim’s head at the end of the Labour Day holiday weekend.
The woman who allegedly struck by the back of the seat became verbally abusive, and when cabin crew tried to calm her down she got worse, forcing the pilot to divert Delta Air Lines flight 2370 to Jacksonville, northern Florida.
She was escorted off the flight by the airport’s security officers.
Delta Airlines told AFP that flight 2370 was re-routed “out of an abundance of caution” due to a passenger disruption, and continued onto West Palm Beach after the passenger was removed.
On Thursday, a Frenchman was arraigned in Boston after becoming disruptive when the passenger in front of him reclined their seat on American Airlines flight 62 from Miami to Paris.
The offender chased a steward and had to be apprehended and hand-cuffed.
He was thrown off the flight in Boston and admitted to hospital at his own request, then charged with interfering with a crew member while he was at Massachusetts General Hospital.
On 24 August, United Airlines said flight 1462 from Newark to Denver diverted to Chicago and two passengers were ejected due to a disturbance over leg-room space.
One of the passengers used a USD22 gadget dubbed the “Knee Defender” which blocks the seat in front from reclining.
He refused to remove the device when asked by a stewardess and his neighbour threw a glass of water in his face.
Airline industry analyst Robert Mann said that diversions over a reclining seat were an “overreaction” and called for a better standard operating procedure in such circumstances.
“This is a case of passengers overreacting and behaving badly. It’s just hideously expensive in terms of cost to the airline, and very inconvenient for everyone on board,” he said.

sourced:ttrweekly.com