A passenger on an American Airlines flight was told to put her seat in its fully upright position for departure. She refused because she said other passengers weren’t doing it either. So the rule was being applied unfairly!
The confrontation over this woman – dubbed a “Karen” by the person filming – had her insisting she could recline her seat during taxi and takeoff.
- She argues back and forth “no, it wasn’t” and “neither is his” about whether other passengers were complying
- Then she laid out her case: “if they don’t have to follow the rules, I’m not going to follow the rules.”
The flight attendant here stayed calm. A second crewmember joined. But the passenger just refused. Ultimately, a flight attendant dropped their version of the line we all know, that ends it all: “are we going to have a good flight or are we not?”
The passenger responds with an insult: they’ve “apparently” been doing this “too long” because she “overlooked things.” The captain turned the plane back to the gate to have her removed.
@dayana.hansley Had a Karen on our @American Airlines ♬ Love Is Bold – Daniel Sid
FAA rules specifically require seatbacks in their upright position for takeoff and landing on a commercial flight under §121.311(d). And passengers are required to comply with crewmember instructions regarding cabin safety.
Even if that Cranberries album were true, and everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we? it doesn’t matter:
- that passengers seat had to be upright
- they had to comply with the crewmember’s instruction about safety
This is an odd hill to die on. And litigating it isn’t going to end well either because even if you somehow win (you won’t) you won’t win in the moment. That’s what happened here.
Some commenters oddly in social media feel that “she paid for the seat, leave her alone” – but she’s still required to follow federal safety rules. You purchase transportation between two points, not the ability to do anything you wish with the seat for the duration of flight. That’s simply not the bundle of rights you’re paying for.
Just a couple of months ago, a United Airlines passenger got kicked off for refusing to sit while the plane was on the tarmac during a delay.
(HT: Johnny Jet)
The seatback upright for takeoff and landing thing is because a reclined seatback makes a minor obstacle to the row behind you if there’s an evacuation. It’s for folks back there who might be, ahem, less than fully limber and spry.
Same thing with the tray tables sticking out or bags/objects/etc. on the floor.
Too bad that the passenger behind the entitled person didn’t have the Knee Defender.
Just another case of an entitled person thinking that they are entitled to recline but getting the timing aspects wrong. I have zero pity for her.
I know it is a rule, but is it really a rule. Can’t we just ignore it this one time.
Sorry to make it political, but isn’t that what a certain party is saying about illegal invaders?
Glad the captain followed the rules, now are there going to be paid protesters everywhere disrupting everything?
If I were the passenger behind her I would have forcibly pushed the seat forward with my feet. Instead everyone was delayed when they had to return to the gate.
Taxiing out at DFW a pax refused to fasten his seat belt after about a:45 minute gate delay. Got on the PA told the passengers that seat 31D refused to fasten his seatbelt per FAA regulations and we would have to return to the gate and have a further delay for Federal Law enforcement officers to arrest him and take him to jail.
He fastened his seatbelt, I told the F/A’s to tell him if he caused any further problems the Feds would be waiting for him at DCA.
I figured she was either a coach for the women’s ice hockey Olympic team or on her way to MSP to join the other Karen protesters.
So this moron was then removed from any AA flights and will now have to find another airline. Stupidity has consequences.
Well, I hope Miss Sunshine enjoys paying the fine.
Society is crumbling even as we speak, ban her and create a rule than allowing Airlines to share this behavior!
Love the Cranberries.
Stupid, entitled cows are just gonna stupid no matter what. She did not purchase “rights” she purchased passage, and complying with uniformed crew is one of the foundations of that contract. Rather than accommodating these asshats, we need to open them up for civil liability. What if there was an organ being transported to a desperate child in hospital? What if a $700 million dollar deal was list because the guy in 2B missed too many connections? Sue her into oblivion along with a lifetime ban from any airline other than Spirit, RyanAir or Frontier will sort her attitude just fine. And remove her from the presence of civilized, polite fliers.
@Michael Mainello racists never manage to keep their racism to themselves. Not every occasion is a time to spout racist ramblings. *Cough* Sir, this is an airport *Cough*
Something like this where it’s an FAA issue, there needs to be less discussion and an early statement that, if she doesn’t comply, she’ll be removed, and follow through. Stop giving people like her the impression that it’s a discussion.
So, she wasn’t lying. There were other passengers who were reclining, but she was the only one the crew angrily confronted. And the video shows the man in the foreground appears to have his seat slightly reclined. (And he never did straighten up his seat.) I guess she wanted the crew to yell and scream at them. Why didn’t they treat all non-complying passengers the same way? That was probably why she was uncooperative.
@Victoria R – Not sure I see any racism, but I do know that females are very touchy and easily see things that aren’t there. Bless your heart and have a great life.
such bs. just remove her from the flight. no fly list for 5 years
I remember being on a flight where a woman was told she needed to give a verbal response for her being able and willing to assist in an exit row and she refused.
she was promptly removed from the seat. end
Just to be provocative: if the reason for upright seat backs is so not to impede the egress of the pax behind you… what about J shell seats which don’t recline into the pax seated behind?
Maybe it is time for standard non-reclining seats. There seems to be more issues surrounding the use of reclining seats than just about anything else. Do we really need the headaches involved with a seat back that moves about three inches? Just get rid of the root cause and the problem goes away.
Right in the center of the video you can see that another passenger’s seat was reclined, too. The central character here seems a bit overwrought, BUT…she’s right: the stewards should either make everyone put their seats up or STFU.
Most people don’t understand th reason why seats have to be upright and locked for takeoff and landing. This includes passengers as well as most flight attendants.
The seats have to be upright and LOCKED because when the seats are certified for use, they are tested when they are upright and locked. If they are not locked, then occupants are not given the required protection of there is an accident. It has little to nothing to do with the comfort of the passengers behind. Flight attendants generally do a poor job of making sure seats are locked because they don’t understand the reasoning behind it.