[mattezell]

Anecdotal 'me too' story:

I am 6'2" and on my last flight I had a not so friendly interaction with an older 'gentleman' in front of me - no tray or laptop involved.

This 'gentleman' quickly/forcefully reclined his seat, driving the supporting rail into my kneecap...

I immediately made an instinctive "Owww" sound/cry and moved my legs due to the pain of the impact - which could have been the end of it... Instead, he immediately turned around in an aggressive manner and demand I quit 'kicking' his seat.

When I retorted that I hadn't kicked his seat and that I merely was attempting to prevent my legs from being further banged against, he became irate, yelling to the attendant 1/2 a cabin away that I was kicking his seat - all the while, continuing to recline his seat in a bouncing manner (because we're in kindergarten?).

Fortunately, an attendant behind us witnessed the interaction from the start and intervened - offering the 'gentleman' flying solo a new seat with no one behind him or to not recline. After relocating the guy to his new seat, she came back to check on me and apologized, indicating that the seats were too cramped already (and indicating that the guy clearly had a bit of an attitude from the start of our interaction).

I agree with the popular sentiment expressed here and in the comments of the article - "just treat each other respectfully and you'll likely come to an amicable resolution"... This said, there are always those out there who really aren't concerned with an amicable and friendly resolution - those who are more concerned with just doing what they want without challenge or compromise, regardless of the impact to those around them.

In the end, this is a problem with the airlines and their ever obsessive pursuit of the bottom line - more sardines in the can... As someone who started flying as much as I could as a young man, I can say that in recent years the airlines have reduced my air travel to only required business travel where no suitable alternatives exist. Factor in the TSA with the hassle of dealing with the above and I'd rather just drive - even if it takes me 3 times as long to get to my destination.

[jiggy2011]

In this case, the gentleman's behaviour helped resolve the issue because he got to recline and you got to sit without him in front of you. Much as we like to criticize asshole behaviour, it can be be very effective at times.

[r00fus]

Explanation as to why siblings are such jerks to each other? Because parents have the ability to intervene and provide more resources?

Ultimately, the instigator of such a request should have used a more polite way of making his/her request - just like we ask our kids to do. Because at some point there won't be extra resources to shift around and then the situation escalates and someone gets hurt.

[jiggy2011]

Flight attendants and many other customer focused workers learn to triage. If you make a polite request the chances are that you will continue to be polite and so become a low priority. A situation like mattezell described has the potential to spiral and draw in other passengers or cause complaints to be raised. Thus the attendant has every incentive to mitigate the situation even if it comes at a cost to more polite passengers.