A man on a Delta Airlines flight can’t use his laptop anymore because the person in front of him leaned back in their seat and broke the screen. Yikes…
Pat Cassidy, who makes movies and hosts podcasts, went on Twitter to call out Delta Airlines after someone reclining their seat in front of him broke his laptop screen.
He wrote next to the picture of his broken Mac:
small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat.
The 37-year-old then tweeted Delta again, adding:
Also, this one is more of a critique than a suggestion. I really appreciate that your flight attendant came over to tell me that the passenger in front of me ‘needs to be able to recline’ and then asked him ‘if he was okay?’ as if your seat hadn’t just ruined my livelihood.
@Delta small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat. pic.twitter.com/QHmphXiDhH
— Pat “Beave” Cassidy 🦫 (@HardFactorPat) February 26, 2020
@delta Also, this one is more of a critique than a suggestion. I really appreciate that your flight attendant came over to tell me that the passenger in front of me “needs to be able to recline” and then asked him “if he was okay?” as if your seat hadn’t just ruined my livelihood
— Pat “Beave” Cassidy 🦫 (@HardFactorPat) February 26, 2020
After the ordeal and several complaints, Cassidy updated his almost 13,000 Twitter followers on the situation. He wrote that not much had changed, that he hadn’t been offered a new laptop, and that there are still no warnings on the seat backs.
Nah, @Delta got scared when @BarstoolBigCat threatened the old 💀💥. Someone from corporate called me, but when I called back I couldn’t get through to anyone. Still no warning on the seat backs. Sad.
— Pat “Beave” Cassidy 🦫 (@HardFactorPat) March 1, 2022
All of this makes us wonder: what’s the deal with seats that lean back? Should it be allowed or should it be stopped?
Well, a source says that plane seats that recline are, well, on the way out. In fact, all economy seats used to be able to recline, but it seems like more and more models don’t have that feature anymore.
The news source explained that the ability to recline seats costs the airline more money because it requires extra parts that a normal seat doesn’t have.
Then, reclining seats add more weight to the plane. According to the source, most airplane seats weigh between 15 and 22 pounds per passenger, and any weight that can be saved on a flight can save a lot of fuel.
Having seats that don’t fall back saves the trouble of awkward seat reclining etiquette, especially when one person reclines so far back that they break a laptop screen.
The German company Recaro is well-known for its short-haul seats that already lean back. Mark Hiller, the CEO of Recaro, said,
The airline can choose a pre-defined backrest angle position of 15 or 18 degrees within the seat configuration process. This helps to provide either more comfort via increased backrest angle or fulfil special layouts with specific passenger counts.
Hiller added:
The main advantage is increased living space, as a passenger’s living space is not intruded by recline. In addition, the low total cost of ownership – fewer moveable parts on the seat, improved reliability and simplified maintenance – and low weight and cost, with no mechanism, kinematics and so on required.
We should probably leave it up to you guys to decide if reclining shouldn’t be allwoed. How do you feel? The question is whether or not to recline.
