Delta Air Lines has just figured out a way to make flying slightly less annoying–or at least lessen the likelihood that you’ll end up with a stranger’s head in your lap.
The Points Guy reports that the airline will limit how far passengers can lean back on some domestic flights. To make the knee-saving change, the airline will retrofit its fleet of 62 Airbus A320 jets starting on Saturday to reduce the coach seat recline from four inches to just two inches.
It’s not just coach passengers that will have to cope with change: First-class seat recline will decrease from 5.5 inches to 3.5 inches.
The airline claims it just wants to make flying more comfortable, but traveling skeptics will be forgiven for thinking this is a precursor to the airline shoving in more seats and further reducing legroom. According to The Points Guy, though, the airline has no plans to do so yet.
Instead, it seems to have recognized that travelers on the shorter domestic flights are busy working on laptops or watching TV on their seat-back screens, two activities that are hampered by the person in front of you who suddenly slips into a full recline. It’s annoying when you’re catching up on old episodes of Adventure Time, and can be costly when the person slams their seat into your laptop.
Anyway, well done, Delta. Our knees thank you, and hopefully other airlines will follow. Now to just get rid of people who order tomato juice with Biscoff cookies and expect us not to stare at them in horror.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
