DL2SXM

Good afternoon;

Earlier this week I was on a CO flight (EWR to SXM).

I was traveling with the misses and NEVER do I start any kind of shennanigans with anyone. I take my seat and keep to myself.

As is customary when I take my seat, I recline the seatback to enjoy the few extra inches of comfort while still on the ground. As soon as the forward boarding door is closed, I put the seat to its normal position.

Now, let me get to the juicy details:

I was seated in coach for this flight.

After I recline my coach seat, the person sitting behind me starts kneeing my seat back repeatedly. Then, she starts making loud comments, obviously so I could hear them, to her travel partner (could've been her husband, boyfriend, brother...not really sure).

The comments were of a nature that I shouldn't have my seat reclined, that it was against the rules and I obviously have no idea what I am doing.

Here's my first mistake (yes, I do admit some culpability).

I turn around and tell the lady kicking my seat that if you ask me to not recline my seat, I'll move it forward a little bit, I tell her she doesn't need to kick my seatback. Again she says, well its against Continental policy to recline your seat before take off.

Some more words were exchanged between us, as things obviously start taking a turn for the worse. The lady sitting behind eventually stops a flight attendant and asks her to have me please move my seat forward. The flight attendant says I am allowed to have it reclined until the safety demonstration begings. So, at this point I decide the heck with it, I'm gonna leave my seat reclined.

After some more back and forth and nastiness, I finally turn around and call the couple sitting behind me an a$$hole. Not to loud, but loud enough for the lead flight attendant to hear me as he walked by. At this point he stops and engages me and without him even asking what the problem was, he threatened to have me removed from the plane.

Everytime I tried to explain to him what the problem was, he just said, Sir, I will have you removed from the plane.

At this point I am very aggravated now, my voice raising, trying to remain calm, I ask for the flight attendants name. he gave me his first name and said thats all I am getting.

Finally, after threatening me one last time with removing me from the plane, we push back and the people sitting behind me were given different seats.

I guess I feel like I was treated pretty badly by the CO FA, and I'm really not sure what to do about it.

He didnt care about what the problem was, only that he seemed to want to throw me off the plane.

cerealmarketer

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You're asking for sympathy for being loud and belligerent?

Don't care who's right or wrong with reclining -- or whether they got loud first -- there's no excuse for acting that way. You were being disruptive and the flight attendant is within his realm to kick you off.

Learn to take the high road on a plane. It's the classy thing to do.

UA-NYC

No offense, I find it in bad form to recline while you're still on the ground - especially in Y

BigPoppaCO

IMO the OP was completely in the right here. The woman was acting like an ....... and deserved to be called one. The FA acted like a mall security cop who failed out of the police academy. Would have done the exact same thing.

Bernoulli 777

Recline back as far as you can, as long as you can, but keep your lips closed too. Except to complain to the FA (quietly) that someone is repeatedly kicking the back of your seat! Go on the offensive, do not BE offensive.

B7

vicarious_MR'er

Hmm. I don't even want to bother analyzing the actions of either side.

I am sure the FA didn't really want to deal with the he said/she said. I wouldn't have wanted to, either. He did hear you drop the A-bomb on the other person, though, and that isn't he said/she said.

Was the reaction of the FA perhaps a bit much? yea. However, if you don't want to take that risk, I'd stop directing profanity toward other passengers lest you come off as the aggressor.

Stripe

I don't think it's just bad form to recline while on the ground. I don't think it's allowed at all. It impedes a quick exit should that become necessary.

And no doubt the FA (and a good portion of the rest of the plane) heard only the OP's cursing and properly identified him as a disorderly passenger. In every way the OP was in the wrong. People like that make flying unpleasant for everyone. The FA was right to threaten removal.

CObigtimefan

+1 You got "caught", therefore you're in the wrong.

cova

My understanding is that seats are to be upright on the ground. What if there was an emergency while passengers are sitting in their seats on the ground and need to exit quickly - ie the food truck crashes into the plane and starts a fire.

You should have been removed from the plane in my view.

zombietooth

This happened to me once while in-flight!!! Some woman behind me (I was in the aft emergency exit row) started kicking my seat repetitively and pushing on my seat back. She never asked me to decrease my recline or anything, which I might have acceded to, so I completely ignored her. I finally heard her talking loudly about how unfair it was that I had all of that legroom in the exit row and that I was a jerk for not reducing my recline. She kept harping and kicking until one of her seat mates told her to stop, whereupon an altercation ensued. A flight attendant approached to see what was going on and the woman told her tale of woe and was politely informed that I had paid more than her for my seat, and that if she wanted a seat with more leg room, she could have paid for it. The FA said that, if she continued, she would be arrested upon landing for hindering the flight crew. The woman called the FA something nasty under her breath, but did finally quit her childish exercise. During this entire event, I never said a word or acknowledged her existence in any way. Upon landing, I got up and saw my antagonist giving me the stink eye, so I told her to have a nice day. Boy did she looked steamed.

Vermando

FAs have a difficult job playing investigator, judge, and jury in such situations. If he had taken adverse action against you then I'd consider seeking satisfaction. But if it's just wounded pride you're upset about I'd let it go.

HoustonConsultant

Dude, don't lean back before take off.

The 2-inch recline is just not worth making someone else uncomfortable, especially as people are boarding, getting to their seats, and putting away their stuff.

I doubt there are huge safety ramifications, but still, you are in the way.

bocastephen

+1


+1

It's hard in these circumstances to not turn around and crack a rolled-up magazine over the moron's head - but there are other, far more artistic ways to handle a customer issue while remaining clear of the fray.

If you're still on the ground and someone is behaving like this and causing a disturbance, escalate to the lead flight attendant - and if they hem/haw about doing something, you can point out that you'd be happy to call the airport police and report the passenger who is causing a disturbance so they can be removed.

Billiken

"Can't we all just, get a long?"R. King


In the spirit of full disclosure, my FT signature used to be:
Continental treats me like a king.....Rodney King.

jjnyc71

Kicking the seat was unacceptable and justifies a verbal response. you have the right to recline your seat.

I would report the flight attendant. With the name and lfight number you can get him identified.