Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian shocked America on Friday after he said you should ask if it’s okay before you recline your seat on an airplane.
Bastian chimed in on the debate during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” saying it’s “proper” to ask the person behind you before reclining.
“The proper thing to do is, if you’re going to recline into somebody, you ask if it’s OK first,” Bastian said. “I never recline, because I don’t think it’s something as CEO I should be doing, and I never say anything if someone reclines into me.”
The reclining seats airplane debate took over the internet earlier this week after a video of a man repeatedly punching the back of a seat of another American Airlines passenger went viral.
@BravoAndy Here’s a great jackhole! He was angry that I reclined my seat and punched it about 9 times – HARD, at which point I began videoing him, and he resigned to this behavior. The other jackhole is the @AmericanAir flight attendant who reprimanded me and offered him rum! pic.twitter.com/dHeUysrKTu
— wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 9, 2020
The man was reportedly rewarded for his behavior, while the woman was left confused and angry.
She should be angry. Bastian has it all wrong. The proper thing to do would be to recline your seat, if you’d like to. When you get on an airplane, you either sit in a seat with the option to recline, or you don’t. If you know you’re going to be sitting in a seat that doesn’t recline and you’re going to throw a fit about it, you should do everything in your power to change your seat before the flight. (RELATED: Plane Passenger Goes Viral For Hitting The Seat Of A Woman Who Reclined In Front Of Him)
However, it is not up to the person sitting in front of you to be responsible for your comfort on a flight that is already uncomfortable for every single person on the plane.
If you’re sitting on a plane, wondering if you should recline your seat, I only have one thing to say to you.
If you want to, do it.