Foiling the Frequent Flopper Airborne Courtesy and Reclining Seat Backs

Source: ABC News

Feb. 22, 2006 — - Will Rogers -- once known as the American patron saint of aviation -- did, indeed, say he'd never met a man he didn't like. But if Will could join us today on the average airline flight, I'm fairly confident he'd make an exception for one guy in particular.

What, exactly, qualifies you as a frequent flopper? Primarily the propensity for suddenly snapping a coach seat from the full upright position to the reclined position without first checking to see who, or what, might be affected behind you.

I'm sure you know to whom I'm referring. It's the "Frequent Flopper," a subspecies of the human race who may be described (at times of anger) as a boorish, clueless creature who's somehow convinced that the airspace immediately behind the airline seat he (or she) occupies has been deeded to him. This is the guy who annually breaks dozens of laptop screens, smashes fingers in slammed lids and trays, beans countless fellow passengers who were fated to lean forward at the wrong moment, and has apparently no idea that you may not be pleased to spend the rest of the flight to Cleveland with your face inches from the top of his head.

Think I'm being a bit harsh here?

Well, maybe for those of us who've momentarily forgotten on some dark and stormy flight that there is human life aft of our seat rows, or who -- Robert Fulghum to the contrary notwithstanding -- are unable to remember the lessons on airborne courtesy from kindergarten. (Actually, I don't think that course was offered.)

In fact, years ago The New Yorker hit that point rather squarely with a cartoon concerning mutual passenger courtesy. In the panel, a weary, obviously wrung-out businessman has taken the last seat in a rush-hour subway as an obviously disgusted woman, forced to stand, glowers at him.

"No, Ma'am," the caption says. "Chivalry isn't dead ... I am."

So, yes, sometimes slightly discourteous passenger behavior in an airliner may be understandable. But in the absence of a clear and present reason to ignore common courtesies, we really should be far more disapproving as a people of certain airborne behaviors and attitudes that clearly cross the line, and reclining a seat in an airplane without any regard for the welfare of those behind you is certainly first on my list.

What, exactly, qualifies you as a frequent flopper? Primarily the propensity for suddenly snapping a coach seat from the full upright position to the reclined position without first checking to see who, or what, might be affected behind you.

Now, really, isn't it obvious that reclining an airline seat too fast can easily catch some poor guy or gal with their laptop open and unprotected? Yet it keeps happening, flight after flight. And even if the offending flopper doesn't succeed in jamming the lid shut on someone's hands (maybe even breaking a finger -- hey, it has happened!), the chance of breaking the hinges on an expensive laptop screen are very high. At the very least, reclining a coach seat fully, even if you do it slowly and carefully, will probably destroy any chance of useful work in the seat behind you for the duration of the recline.

Yes, I hear you. You really want to sleep, and, darn it, you want to recline your seat. What's more, you paid for that seat, so why shouldn't you use every square millimeter of it?

But let's pare that in two for a moment.

First, regardless of rights and needs, it never hurts to ask the guy or gal behind you if he or she minds. Or, at the very least, wouldn't it be more polite to at least tell them, "Excuse me, I'm going to be reclining now?" (Read: Basic Courtesy.)

Second, may I delicately ask where the devil passengers are getting the idea that the contract of carriage you purchase when you buy an airline ticket somehow grants a property right in the seat? This isn't First Cabin on the Queen Mary II, or a rented sleeping compartment on Amtrak (with walls and a right to privacy). Truth is, you're merely buying passage, and along with it goes the responsibility on your part to understand that you'll be sharing that enclosed aluminum tube with other humans (and perhaps a few assorted small, fur-bearing animals).

Sharing. We all remember that word, too, from kindergarten (along with assorted phrases such as, "plays well with others," "runs with scissors," etc.). For some strange reason, however, some friendly, caring, empathetic people well-attuned to sharing things graciously go amnesic when airborne and begin acting as if they hold a contract to their seat, the armrests, as much overhead space as they want, and especially the space behind the seat back. You've seen the attitude. It's akin to a paraphrase of Ratzo Rizzo's hood-slapping moment in the movie "Midnight Cowboy": "Hey! We're reclining here!"

Look, even if courtesy and mutual respect are not your thing, you still have a duty (yes, I really did say "duty") to understand that the airspace behind your seat back does not belong to you. It is shared territory. Community property. Commonwealth. And as with anything shared, appropriating it for your own exclusive, private use requires consideration of the hapless person behind you.

We've probably all witnessed or been victimized by a frequent flopper, but in some cases the assertive territorial claims become downright abusive and even dangerous. There was, for instance, the international flight last year that began with an angry male passenger flopping his seat back to the fully reclined position and impacting the passenger behind him who politely asked him to come forward so he could extricate his hands from his closed laptop. The guy up front refused, the hands were withdrawn anyway, and the passenger behind him began swatting the offending "gentleman" with a rolled-up newspaper until both had to be restrained. They barely avoided arrest.

My theory on all of this is that no one has ever tapped the collective flying public on the shoulder before and made the case for sharing and courtesy and politeness in this matter of seat backs and seat rows jammed too close for comfort. We don't include this in the predeparture flight attendant briefing along with the oxygen-mask demonstration, we don't talk about it in the in-flight magazine, and it's nothing you'll see mentioned next to Sharper Image's listings in the in-flight shopping catalogue. Of course, perhaps we should come up with some international symbol behind a red circle with a diagonal, and make it a warning light we pilots can activate from the cockpit.

"Sorry, folks, the 'no boorishness' light is illuminated, and FAA regulations require you to refrain from being a horses' patootie until the captain has extinguished the light at our destination."

Bottom line? Please, next time you want to recline, respect the guy or gal behind you, turn around, and reach a polite agreement. Then, SLOWLY recline only as much as you absolutely have to. Dell may sell fewer replacement laptops, but the rest of us will greatly appreciate it!