Passenger ‘punches the back of a plane seat’ as person in front tries to recline

A PASSENGER has revealed how he witnessed a dispute over a reclining seat on an airplane which resulted in a man banging on another person’s seat.

Josh Martin was on a flight from Havana to Madrid when the incident happened over the Caribbean Sea.

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He claims it was all started by a young Spaniard trying to move his seat back for a little more comfort.

However, the French passenger seated behind him became annoyed with his reclining, sparking a heated argument.

Josh told Stuff from New Zealand: “Before the drinks trolley left the galley, a tattered Spaniard in his 20s reclined his seat. Just like many other passengers too.”

“The reaction of the French passenger behind it was like someone spat in his croissant.”

Josh claimed the passenger began pounding the back of the reclined seat before other people on board stood up, chimed in and called out their opinions on the matter in different languages.

He continued: “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” He patted the back of the seat like an irritable toddler unhappy with bedtime.

“This led to fellow passengers standing up and commenting on the matter. All in Spanish and French, of course, with much getting lost in translation and general anger.”

Eventually, the flight attendants saw what was going on and eventually got the pilot to put on the seat belt sign, forcing everyone to sit back down, calming the situation.

Josh concluded that the Spanish passenger had every right to put the seat back and that the French passenger should have done the same instead of getting upset.

Sun Online Travel’s flight attendant agrees, saying if your chair has a reclining function, people have every right to use it.

They said: “By far the most common cause of disputes between passengers is seat recline, and that’s where we can only really intervene during meal times.”

“When food is served, the seats have to be upright, but as soon as we take the trays away, people quickly put their seats back down.”

“And they have a right to it – every passenger has both the ability and the right to recline their seat.”

“My only advice would be if you can’t beat them, join them.

“If the person in front of you reclines their seat, recline your seat and wave a little if necessary.

“As long as you’re not unfairly invading people’s space, do what you have to do to make sure you don’t feel pressured throughout the journey.”

Meanwhile, this passenger revealed an “evil” method she uses to prevent people from reclining their seats.

Another person explained how they win lie-down wars against other passengers.

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