After I have read an article on BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/28942485) about a flight that diverted from its route due to an argument over the invasion of the leg room of a traveller, it came in my mind many other changes that faces the future of traveling by plane. There were many talks about this; from the possibility of building aircrafts from some transparent materials, or the fuel to be replaced with the cooking oil, to the introduction of live TV and internet on bord of the planes, and so one, to from now, the possibility of not reclining your seats.
For me reclining the seat is a pleasure and I find it necessary during both long and short flight. In the long haul flights it is obvious that it helps travellers to rest and even sleep; but, it might have the same role in the short flight, to take a nap, especially when we have no other things to do (no entertainment of any kind, no view, no magazines – or if they are, they are filled with promotions – etc.).
Therefore, I think it is weird and impolite to use such thing like the knee defender, for preventing reclining of seats. It is because when you book a seat in a plane you have the possibility of booking a seat with more room for legs, for which you obviously have to pay, as it is the case of the food or the baggage. So, if you don’t book a seat with more room, than you know what you have: a tiny space with not space to move or stretch; but it was your option, so you don’t have to bother others because you didn’t want to pay more for more space.
It happened to me recently to have such a gentleman next to me, who, from before taking off the plane, he asked the flight attendant to find him a seat with more space, because he had not enough space. I was surprised to hear such a request, as much as I am surprised to read about this incident, and I honestly don’t understand them. In my case, I have no complaints when the passenger in front of me recline her/his seat, because I know that I also need to recline my seat from time to time.
After reading this article, I understood that actually there are the majority of travelers who would like seats not to recline anymore; still, for me it doesn’t sound right; it is like we won’t be let go to the toilet because we might disturb our fellow traveller, seating at the aisle, who’s playing Solitaire.
However, this might be only a funny article, that will be forgotten soon by the readers, but I do believe that this approach to the seats are already considered by airlines, and so, sooner or later, plane’s seats won’t recline anymore; especially if you think that this might also help companies maximise their incomes, giving them the possibility to introduce one more row (see Ryanair). Let’s hope we won’t be ask to stand up and hold a bar :)!
Spot'n'go! 