To think the male American Airlines passenger punching the reclined seat should be charged with assault if legally possible.

[SiousieSoo]

I have watched the video of the man continually punching the seat occupied by Wendi Williams who had positioned it to recline. I am totally appalled that she was not given assistance when she drew the flight attendants attention to her predicament. This mans behaviour was totally unacceptable. I find it hard to fathom his behaviour and really feel a bit disturbed by it. I don't think he would have acted this way had it been a man in front... Am I being unfair in thinking this?

I’m surprised by these responses. I’ve never reclined a seat on a plane but if those around me do I can’t blame them - that’s literally why they recline, so that people can recline them! If people aren’t supposed to do it, they shouldn’t be able to do it.

I would never do that if the person behind me had a toilet seat
I also would not do what he did , no way

Both terrible people

simple solution for her would have been to put the seat back up.....problem solved

The simple solution would have been for a male not to use violence against a female when he doesn't get his way.

I get the rage easily on a plane especially if someone reclines when I'm eating or drinking... or gets really drunk & loud & lairy.... or gets in my space

So I close my eyes, put my ear buds in & trance music on, do my breathing exercises & picture myself as being anywhere other than trapped for hours in a tiny metal tube with over 100 strangers....

Seriously flying economy is not always great & you have to learn coping skills.

I don't think seats should recline on a short haul flight at all.

On long haul you have to kind of accept people will recline.

He shouldn't of punched the seat but I can understand his frustration.

She was in the wrong. Why the fuck are people defending her? Because she’s female?

Will never forget the joy of being trapped in a middle seat while the lady in the aisle seat literally jammed against me had her husband actually climb on top of her & snog her

ThatFriendsReunion the wrongs or rights of reclining the seat is not the question here. For what it is worth, the seats recline so she was not breaking any rules by reclining it. He was however breaking all rules of common decency by acting aggressively. No one could get arrested for reclining a seat but they could for punching a seat and acting violently.

Back to the situation i think she was in the wrong & I would have kneed her seat in a passive aggressive manner

Agree with you, OP. He looked like a menacing psycho. So brave of him pick on a middle-aged woman. The flight attendant was complicit and thus unfit for her job.

The posters supporting his behaviour are barbarians.

I have had very tall people recline their seats into my lap and no matter how annoyed I have been, I have never felt the urge to get physical with them because I am a civilised person. I speak to them or an attentive flight attendant notices and speaks to them on my behalf.

His behaviour was inexcusable.

Onetwothreeeee using the seat function does not make one in the wrong. Annoying perhaps, but not wrong. No more wrong than ad adult watching a violent film on offer when seated next to someone else's child. The services are on offer. Utilising them does not make you 'wrong'.

She was in the wrong.

They both were.

The airline is at fault for having a seat that reclines so far it's in the other passenger's lap. They should have mediated that situation.

Define wrong... She was inconsiderate but totally within her rights to do this. He on the other hand acted like a menacing brute.

if you look at her twitter account you'll see that he was punching the seat before she started filming him.

It's all her story, isn't it?

I have always bene a believer in 2 sides and all that.

people do irritating things all the time and you can't go around acting like he did

^^this

Ummmmm, some MRAs on this thread. Of course he's s dick.

@Onetwothreeeee Watching a violent film in front of a child is WRONG. What kind of a society do we have when people don't give a crap about children? It's my right to watch something that harms a child? That's a terrible and childish attitude.

On short-haul flights people shouldn't be able/allowed to recline their seats.

@recordthebox.

Very willing to hear his defence or the airlines. Not forthcoming yet though.

I think she was inconsiderate I also think there is an awful lot more to this story, she was talking about the incident in an interview and said how he was 'throwing punches at her seat' he clearly wasn't, he's nudging it, she also said how SHE got handed a customer disturbance notice by the flight attendant for HER behaviour. There's an awful lot you don't see in the video also the interaction with the flight assistant, there's clearly more to it.

I don't blame him!

He was trapped in a tiny space - she should have put her seat at least part-way back up.

The airline provides seats that recline. Therefore if I need to recline, I use the functionality. However, if the person behind me indicated that thier seat did not recline (so they couldn't create some space of their own), and asked me (pleasantly) if I could refrain from reclining fully, I'd comply.

having said that, the sensible thing to do would be to limit the recline gradually towards the back of the cabin, so that you're not left with one row that can't recline at all,and the row in front having full recline.