Delta reduces the number of passengers who can tilt their seats – Quartz

Delta Air Lines began to reduce the tilt of the coach seats aboard its Airbus A320 jets by 4 to 2 inches, to protect the "personal space" of passengers and allow people to work without interruption on laptops.

The airline insists that the change will have no effect on legroom and that it will not add additional seats to airplanes, which generally provide short-haul domestic services. The tilt depth of the A320 first class seats will increase from 5.5 inches to 3.5 inches.

Many air rage incidents have been caused by people sitting, hijacked and other aircraft making emergency landings after the outbreak of the fighting. In 2015, a man on board a Southwest Airlines flight allegedly attempted to smother a woman in front of him after leaning too far to his liking.

Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate and current president of Utah, was attacked by a passenger during a flight in 2010 after asking the man to back off his seat for takeoff. The following year, fighter planes escorted a United plane to Dulles Airport, Washington, DC, during a brawl around an inclined seat. The plane was forced to burn about $ 50,000 worth of fuel before it could land.

Gadgets such as Knee Defender, which prevent the siege from bowing down, are not illegal, but have been banned by most airlines. In an incident involving the $ 22 aircraft, a plane was forced to land after a passenger could not tilt his seat, as the Seat Defender passenger used in the next row threw him a glass of water in the face.

Drugs and / or alcohol account for 33% of all incidents related to air rage, according to the International Air Transport Association. Unruly passengers can face federal charges, including fines of up to $ 25,000.

According to Delta, the seating arrangement update is only one test and will consider extending it to the rest of its domestic fleet based on passenger comments. One kilometer at a time indicates that business travelers, in particular, can appreciate the ability to work on a laptop without hindrance.

The airline currently does not plan to change seats on longer international flights.

"It's not about adding seats in the cabin or finding a way to reduce seat height," said Ekrem Dimbiloglu, Delta's Director of Embedded Products and Customer Experience. "It's about ensuring an optimal experience."