I fly once or twice a year. I don't have a problem with people reclining their sits (although I'm only 6'), however I hate when some stupid people recline the sits as soon as the drinks are served. It happens quite often they the drink gets spilled on my lap.
Passengers that get angry when you recline your seats: rant
- Thread starter stinkynuts
- Start date
I'm 6'4" and I have never once confronted somebody for reclining their seat in front of me (even though several times I've had my knee caps gouged).. Having said that I think it's really irritating (and kinda selfish) when somebody insists on reclining their seat for a 45 minute flight between Toronto and Ottawa..
Last time I checked pilots have to pee too. Or wildly fuck the FAs in the washroom. I'm thinking locking them in the flight deck will only make them mad, or frustrated.
Do obese people have the right to demand that the person next to them lift the seat divider between them so they can get more space? Of course not. Same principle.
Obviously the pilot should be able to relieve themselves.. And "locking them up" is stupid.. Having said that, the pilot should NEVER get involved with unruly passengers.. Nor should they really venture into the cabin for anything other than a snack and to pee (and those are both located right by the cockpit..
If you're a pilot and you're going back to "mediate" between two morons, then you've just joined their ranks..
Yep. Deregulation and competition have made airline travel available to the masses. Where once you would have been on board with people dressed in their Sunday best, you now get to sit beside some schmuk who hasn't showered in a week dressed in an undershirt and flip-flops - and their entire family.
As to manners, that is another story, and a sorry one at that.
Dealing with passengers is our proper responsibility. The life support systems ("It's too hot"/"It's too cold") are our responsibility. Cabin pressurization, passenger comfort regarding turbulence, etc... All that is under the purview of the pilots. And under federal law, a captain is a peace officer and has ultimate authority and responsibility for his aircraft and its occupants. There's also never just one of us assigned to fly it, and both of us would never leave the cockpit at the same time. We're not idiots.
If I get called out, it's because things are bad. As in yelling and cursing bad. And I just treat people like children since they're behaving like them. Get along or I'm turning this thing around and going home. And in the case of a dispute over a reclined seat, I usually tell the FAs (if they ask) or the passengers (if I get called out) to put their seatbacks upright. I manage to get by without reclining my seat, it's not that big a deal. Don't like it? You're welcome to be placed under arrest by me and meet the RCMP, FBI, Polizei, Carabinieri, etc when we land.
Pilots can say whatever they want, the law says thou shalt obey the rules of thy cabin crew. So the airlines won't change it our whims and potential lost income just because we say we have to go back every now and then. And the number of times I'm called back to deal with disputes is minimal. On the whole, people are reasonable creatures. It's not like I spend 90% of my time in the back dealing with complaints. Besides, be careful what you ask for. The result of claiming insufficient legroom causes reclining seats to create unsafe situations wouldn't be more legroom, it would be seats that can't recline.
The only secret to upgrades is ask. Some staff are annoyed by people that ask, but you won't be upgraded be being silent either. If you ask and you're told no, you're up shit creek. My only useful advice would be...become a pilot or a flight attendant or a mechanic, and start travelling on flight benefits.
There's more than one pilot up front, and the captain of the aircraft is the ultimate authority charged, by law, with dealing with everything. This is the same complaint I have with people that think they can demand aviation policy because they watched all about MH370 on the news... The system doesn't need to be changed. As the captain, I don't want someone else having ultimate authority. SOMEONE needs to be the boss. SOMEONE needs to be the last straw. And that SOMEONE just might need access to the back. Besides, if a passenger complains that an engine is leaking, or that a piece of the plane is missing, do you want a flight attendant deciding if that's important or not and examining the situation with their trained coffee-serving eye, or do you want the pilot to come back and take a look?
I'll stay out of your office if you stay out of mine.
If you think you know better than a pilot how a pilot should do his job, I think I have a few choice names I can sling right back at you.
I hold absolute authority and responsibility over my flight. When a flight attendant says "Passengers are fighting and they won't listen to us", I have a decision to make. Do I continue to destination, do I turn around and go back, do I land and the nearest airport, do I need to declare an emergency? Bear in mind that these decisions have far-reaching repercussions. Do I trust the FA to have made the situation clear to the passengers? Do I ask her to describe the situation in detail so I can make my informed decision? Or do I just blindly toss a coin to decide how to proceed?
When I'm making a decision that's going to cost my company tens of thousands of dollars or more and disrupt the plans of at least the hundred+ passengers on my flight, I like to know the situation. And I can't get that situation 2nd hand. I have to go see it myself. But thanks for your input on how moronic I am to make informed decisions about the safety and well-being of my aircraft, crew and passengers instead of just going about it blindly.
Thanks for taking the time to reply; I'm sorry you seem to feel you and your fellow captains don't have any responsibility for or influence over the inadequate accommodations your corporate masters deem minimally saleable. I do understand they seldom ask nor listen. But I'm sure they do value you, Captain Laser, more than they value any one of us. Of course Captain Smith of the Titanic put on his fancy uniform and sailed without complaining of insufficient lifeboats for his passengers, didn't he? Apparently not much has changed.
Not that I'm asking you to suffer as we do in our seats (and as he did, going down with his ship and passengers), but when you head back to the cockpit seat after telling the recliner-kneecap-victim it's no big deal, it makes me think of Bruce Ismay, the boss who could have ordered enough lifeboats but didn't, and who sneaked into one of the seats disguised as a woman.
Thanks also for the warning to suffer in silence, and not speak up lest we be given RyanAir seating that doesn't reline at all. Some might consider that better than a fake 'option' that cannot actually be used; it certainly would have saved that crushed laptop, and made the incident that we're discussing impossible.
Like you say, you gotta ask, if you want things to be better. Sorry you don't seem to.
I have flown in excess of 5 million miles on commercial airlines, and never had a real problem with reclining seats. While I flew most business travel on business and first class, when I pay my own ticked I fly economy. I have politely suffered non-reclining seats at the bulkhead and large people behind me, that asked me not to recline my seat. Not a big deal.
There are a lot worse situations you can find yourself in, like once I was seated beside a preacher for 14 hours, or in the middle of a group of parents going to the olympics to see their children compete. The worst is sitting in front of children who kick the seat for the whole night. This year I found myself on a crowded overnight flight with my SO sitting in front of an obese couple with a 3 year old "baby" on their laps (don't sask me how that happened). I asked the FA and she gave us better seats.
There are a lot worse situations you can find yourself in, like once I was seated beside a preacher for 14 hours, or in the middle of a group of parents going to the olympics to see their children compete. The worst is sitting in front of children who kick the seat for the whole night. This year I found myself on a crowded overnight flight with my SO sitting in front of an obese couple with a 3 year old "baby" on their laps (don't sask me how that happened). I asked the FA and she gave us better seats.
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