Should Delta Flight Attendants Have Thrown Off Man Who Repeatedly Reclined His Seat?

How many chances should a passenger be given to obey lawful crewmember instructions? Twice? Three times? Just once? A recent seat recline incident on Delta Air Lines forces us to consider this dilemma.

Delta Case Study: How Should Flight Attendants Respond To Man Who Repeatedly Reclined His Seat Before Takeoff?

A Delta flyer recently experienced a seatmate who would not respect flight attendant instructions to bring his seatback up for takeoff.

Recently sat in the first row of Comfort+ on a flight. First Class guy directly in front of me sits in his chair as we’re boarding and immediately reclines his seat. No big deal.

After everyone is boarded, and we’re ready to roll, the flight attendant tells him to put his seat in the fully upright position which he does. The second she turns to walk away, he reclined it again.

A second flight attendant comes by and asks him to put it in the fully upright position, and once again, after he turns and leaves, first class guy reclines it again.

The first flight attendant returns and asks him to do it one more time and this time in a little bit more stern of a voice, to which he does. For the third time, once the flight attendant turns to walk away, the guy reclined seat. Again.

By this time, the first and main flight attendant is in her jump seat by the cockpit when a third flight attendant from the rear of the plane, brings something up to the front. The third flight attendant notices the seat is reclined and for the fourth time the guy is asked to return his seat to the fully upright position.

I know, judging a book by its cover is probably not a nice thing to do, but just based on this behavior and how the guy handled himself, I pegged him to be a first class a-hole.

A couple of notes:

• Delta doesn’t have a bulkhead or other real divider between first class and economy on some of its aircraft, so if you are sitting in the last row of First Class, you do recline into Comfort+ (Delta’s extra-legroom economy class seat)
• I’ve seen people like this personally, though never anyone “caught” four times by flight attendants onboard; usually, they are asked to put their seat up, the flight attendant sits down, then they put their seat back down before takeoff

It’s a fair question to ask whether someone like this should be removed. I know a lot of flight attendants read this blog and would welcome feedback on how you would handle such passengers.

I get being asked once and perhaps even twice, but three times, then four times? By his actions, the passenger suggests that he will not follow crewmember instructions. That’s a big red flag.

We do not recline our seats during taxi and takeoff because if an emergency evacuation is required, we want to make egress as easy as possible…lives could depend on it.

I think the third time should have come with a warning that if there was a fourth time, the plane would return to the gate and offload him.

What do you think?

image: Delta A321-200 interior