Economy class blues

With lack of space sometimes causing violence between passengers in economy class, should the seating be as high-tech as the rest of the plane?

Ahmad Barghouthy claims he was assaulted by another passenger in a fight over economy class space. Courtesy Ahmad Barghouthy

One of the ironies of modern air travel is that as the average size of the passengers has progressively increased, the opposite has been occurring to the space in economy class. There has been a series of reactions to this, ranging from the invention of devices that prevent the passenger in front from reclining their seat through to instances of violence over perceived encroachment into one’s personal space.

The latter seems to have been the cause of a clash on board an Emirates flight from Beirut to Dubai this week, in which a Jordanian-Palestinian man who lives in the UAE claims he was attacked after reclining his seat before takeoff and keeping it that way for most of the flight, enraging the man behind him.

There cannot be any excuse for physical violence, whether in the air or anywhere else, but given the restricted space on offer at the back of the plane, maybe more effort needs to be put into making economy class more comfortable for everyone.