How gadgets may be killing the 'comfort' of reclining seats on airlines

People sit for hours in cars and buses without the facility of reclining seats and do not come to blows. The average chairs in offices are also not similarly equipped, but their occupants complain little. So what is it about airline trips, however brief, that makes passengers want to lie back and enjoy it? Clearly, it is a matter of some importance as an aircraft in the US had to make an emergency landing this week to offload two passengers who faced off over this very issue. Its seriousness can also be gauged from the fact that not only have gadgets been devised for passengers to prevent other passengers from reclining their seats, many airlines have included these contraptions in their list of illegal items, alongside other such airborne hazards as weapons, pickles, nail clippers and matches.

Airlines are squarely to blame for ‘optimising’ inside their cabins so efficiently that reclining passengers’ heads come within two inches of the crania of those behind them and also lock their knees into immobility. Perhaps their next optimisation innovation — which has earlier included such unimplementable gems as saddle seats — will make all seats non-reclining for short-haul flights and reclining for longer flights for a premium fee, chargeable to passengers both front and behind, of course.