Last Wednesday, a passanger caused a flight from Miami to Paris to divert to Boston. Edmund Alexandre was charged in U.S. federal courts Thursday with interfering with an airline flight crew. This violation of the federal law can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Alexandre was "arguing with another passanger and became disruptive", according to a press statement from Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. The argument began when the passangers seat recliner inched into Alexandre's knee space. He was then asked to calm down by a crew member , in which,"Alexandre allegedly began raising his voice again, followed the crew member towards the back of the plane, and grabbed the crew member's arm," according to Ortiz's statement. The flight was then diverted to Boston, where he was arrested.
Earlier that week another flight was diverted after two passangers argued over one passangers use of a "knee defender." One of the passengers was not completely satisfied with the extra space in the Economy Plus section where they were seated, which provides an extra 5 inches of legroom compared with standard coach seats. None of the passangers were arrested. "The main problem is packing too many seats too close together into a right space," said veteran flight attendant Heather Poole. Aviation blogger Bennett Wilson states "that decreases seat pitch which can be uncomfortable for someone like me, who is 5'3...But imagine being a foot taller squeezed into that same space."
He belives that the situation will get worse before it gets better. These events have caused the FFA to contemplate on having stricter rules on seat blocking devices
We wouldn't have these problems if people would just ride the plane and get off. All you have to do is chill and wait for the flight to be over.
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