The Colorado businessman whose dispute with a fellow airline passenger over a reclined seat sparked a national debate about air-travel etiquette says he’s embarrassed by the way the confrontation unfolded and regrets his behavior.
But don’t expect James Beach to stop using the Knee Defender, a $22 gadget that attaches to a passenger’s tray table and prevents the person in front from reclining. He just plans to be nicer about it.
“I’m pretty ashamed and embarrassed by what happened,” Beach said Wednesday. “I could have handled it so much better.”
The argument became so tense that the pilots of the Aug. 24 fight diverted the Boeing 737 to Chicago. The incident started a broad public discussion of whether passengers should be allowed to recline.
Beach, 48, reached out to The Associated Press to clarify a few things about the episode, primarily that he initially complied with flight attendant instructions to remove the device. For the record, he said, he never reclines his seat.
“You have the right, but it seems rude to do it,” said Beach, who is 6-foot-1.
The dispute occurred on the final leg of Beach’s return trip to his home near Denver. When the jet was airborne, Beach took out his laptop and used the Knee Defender to prevent the woman in front of him from reclining.
U.S. airlines prohibit use of the Knee Defender, but the devices are not illegal.
When the flight attendants came through the cabin to serve beverages, the woman said her seat was broken. The flight attendant asked Beach to remove the device, and he did.
“As soon as I started to move it, she just full-force blasted the seat back, right on the laptop, almost shattered the screen,” he said.
The situation escalated and the woman threw a cup of soda at him. The woman was moved, and Beach argued with the attendant. Eventually, the plane changed course for Chicago — a decision that Beach said “amazed” him.
“The plane was dead quiet for the rest of that flight,” he said. “Nobody said a word.”
