More Fights Breaking Out Over Shrinking Airline Seats

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Have you noticed that more and more fights are breaking out in airlines lately? It seems most of them start out with passengers arguing about knee room since they're being squeezed by increasingly tight seating by the airlines.

The AP reports that over the last eight days, three U.S. flights have made unscheduled landings after passengers got into fights over the ability to recline their seats. Disputes over a tiny bit of personal space might seem petty, but for passengers whose knees are already banging into tray tables, every bit counts. 

To boost their profits, airlines have been adding more rows of seats to planes. Southwest and United both took away 1 inch from each row on certain jets recently to make room for six more seats. American is increasing the number of seats on its Boeing 737-800s from 150 to 160. Delta installed new, smaller toilets in its 737-900s, enabling it to squeeze in an extra four seats. (Remember the last time you tried to use an airplane toilet? ;-}) And to make room for a first-class cabin with lie-flat beds on transcontinental flights, JetBlue cut the distance between coach seats by one inch.

Today's flying experience is far from glamorous. Passengers wait in long lines for security screening, push and shove at the gate to be first on board, and then fight for the limited overhead bin space. They are already agitated by the time they arrive at their row and see how cramped it is.

The latest spate of passenger problems started Aug. 24, when a man on a United flight prevented the woman in front of him from reclining thanks to a $21.95 gadget called the Knee Defender.

It attaches to a passenger's tray table and prevents the person in front from reclining. A flight attendant told the man to remove the device. He refused, and the passenger one row forward dumped a cup of water on him.

Three days later, on an American flight from Miami to Paris, two passengers got into a fight, again over a reclining seat, and the plane was diverted to Boston.

There were 14,903 flight diversions by U.S. airlines in the 12-month period ending in June, according to an Associated Press analysis of Department of Transportation reports. That means 41 flights a day, on average, make unscheduled landings at other airports, for one reason or another. It seems banged knees and frayed nerves are the cause of more and more of them.