IT’S EXTREMELY annoying when the person in front of you on a flight decides to lean their seat back.
Many of us have probably been tempted to take defensive action. But one conflict between two passengers got so out of hand, the entire plane had to divert.
The fight started on a United Airlines flight on Sunday in the US, because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a gadget that attaches to a passenger’s tray table and prevents the person in front of them from reclining.
The fight started when the male passenger – seated in a middle seat – used the Knee Defender to stop the woman in front of him from reclining while he was on his laptop, according to a law enforcement official.
A flight attendant asked him to remove the device and he refused. The woman then stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water at him, the official says.
That’s when the airline decided to land in Chicago.
Chicago Police and TSA officers met the flight, spoke to the passengers — a man and a woman, both 48 — and “deemed it a customer service issue,” Feinstein said. Neither was arrested but the two passengers were not allowed to continue to Denver.
The Federal Aviation Administration leaves it up to individual airlines to set rules about the device. United Airlines said it prohibits use of the device, like all major US airlines. Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air take the reclining mechanisms out of their seats, leaving them permanently upright.
The Federal Aviation Administration can impose a civil fine of up to $25,000 for passengers who are unruly. In this case, no arrest was made, according to airport spokesman Gregg Cunningham.
