Defending Your Knees

Knee Defenders

The Sunday New York Times yielded this nugget in an article about comfort on planes called "How to Avoid That Cramped Seat."  You can buy a gadget called "The Knee Defender," which is described as "a set of plastic wedges that slip onto the legs of your tray table and physically prevent the seat in front of you from reclining." Oh, boy!

Several years ago,  Jerry and I sat behind a couple in Economy who immediately reclined their seats after take-off and left them reclined for a 7-hour flight from Paris to New York. By the time we got off the plane, we were crippled: our hips ached and our legs were so stiff we could barely stand.  I despised this selfish couple (and these days would speak up), and immediately began investigating frequent flyer miles so we could upgrade to Business Class.

But we still fly Economy on shorter flights, and sometimes it's hell.  People want what they want, with no thought to the people sitting behind them, who are then in the moral dilemma of screwing the people behind them.  I blame it all on the airlines, pitting passenger against passenger.

GadgetDuck, which sells this ingenious item, knows this.  They provide a courtesy card for the traveler whose seat is being blocked: "I realize this may be an inconvenience.  If so,  I hope you will complain to the  airline.  Maybe working together we can convince the airlines to provide enough space between rows so that people can recline their seats without banging into other passengers."

You can adjust the Knee Defender  to give the other passenger some reclining room.   And it's perfectly legal to use them (but would I?)  GadgetDuck.com for $19.95.

The Knee Defender at work.  You install it with the tray table lowered.