Air rage: Is reclining your seat a right? [View All]

[Liberal_in_LA]

Air rage: Is reclining your seat a right?

By A. Pawlowski, CNN
December 9, 2010 --
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As Brian Dougal leaned back on the Denver-bound flight late last month, he felt someone bump his seat, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

"Are you serious? My knees are up against the seat," said the man behind him, identified as Tomislav Zelenovic, according to the complaint.

Dougal suggested that Zelenovic also recline, slide into an empty seat next to him or move his legs to the side. Dougal told the man in 10C that he paid for his seat and was going to recline it.

Zelenovic then shook the back of Dougal's seat and grabbed his right ear, pulling it back and down with enough force to knock Dougal's glasses off his face, according to the complaint.

When the plane landed in Denver, police officers escorted Zelenovic off the flight. He was charged with assault "by striking, beating, or wounding on an aircraft" and has pleaded not guilty. Zelenovic's attorney declined to comment on the case for this article.

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Steve Collins, an Australian broadcaster who runs the blog Grumpy's Getaway Guide, argues that he shouldn't have to put up with passengers who lean back and invade his personal space.

"I don't recline my seat, primarily because I have respect for the person behind me, and I simply hate it when the person in front of me shifts their seat as far back as it will go," Collins recently vented in a blog entry titled "Ban the reclining seat on planes."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/12/09/reclining.seat.rant/?hpt=C2