Passenger Gets the Hero Treatment for Punching the Seat of the Woman Who Reclined in Front of Him

Source - An American Airlines passenger has divided social media after video-shaming a fellow traveller who 'punched' and pushed her seat when she reclined it.

The passenger, Wendi Williams, filmed the man - who was sitting in a seat behind her that didn't recline - on a flight from New Orleans to Charlotte.

She posted a clip of him continually nudging her seat to Twitter, but many on the social media site were conflicted about who was in the wrong and whether she should have even reclined her seat in the first place.

However, when he finished eating, she reclined again and alleges 'he punched my seat about nine times then I started videoing'. ...

Wendi also claims that despite complaining to a flight attendant, they offered the man a complimentary drink and threatened to have her escorted off the plane.

She also says that after complaining to American Airlines, she was told she would have to get in touch with the FBI 'to get any resolution'.

She tweeted: 'The airline didn’t really accept any culpability, although she apologized and said what happened was wrong - that’s it.'

I think we can all agree that there's more to this story than Wendi Williams is letting on. By now I'm accustomed to being treated on a plane like I'm Ben Hur being loaded into the bowels of a ship and chained to the oar I'll be pulling if I want to stay alive. But as much as I've come to expect abuse from surly, misanthropic flight attendants, the idea of one giving out a free rum to a guy for punching the seat of a passenger who was minding her own business just strains credulity. 

But even still, the thing that stuns me about this is the amount of online support Punchy McBeardo got on this. The flight attendant may or may not have treated him like a hero, but for sure Twitter has:

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Seriously, what am I missing? Maybe I'm just being obtuse, but sincerely I don't get it.

Reclining your seat? This where we're drawing the line now? Passenger jets have become city buses with wings. The internet is lousy with photos of people with their hair extensions hanging over the video screens on the back of their seats. Girls taking their flip flops off and sticking their bare feet on the seats in front of them. As America gets fatter, open warfare has broken out all along the Armrest Front. People bringing dogs, pigs and horses on board.

But recline your seat and now we've got trouble, is that it?

To review, in case it's not clear, this lady didn't break into the seat back and release some screws so the thing would recline like a Lay-Z-Boy. She pressed that button that's on every arm rest and leaned it back that two inches or so they all designed to go. That standard amount, according to regulation Airline Passenger Seat specs. But what, we're all required to sit straight up like we're in a dining room chair if some hipster behind us feels his personal space is being invaded? 

I mean, exactly how many cubic inches of room is one entitled to? And since when did it start being more than the exact amount that a reclined seat has always given the person sitting behind it? I'm not sure I've ever objected to the person in front of me kicking back. You could say that's because I'm like 5'9" and it doesn't affect me. But it's really because I don't give a fuck. And I'm usually just as reclined. For sure I wouldn't declare Shillelagh Law. Especially on a flight from New Orleans to Charlotte, which is practically nothing. 

The best solution I can find for this is the one I've been doing for a while now: Fly as little as humanly possible. But the next time I do fly, I'm flying American and I'm punching the seat in front of me as much as it takes to get free rum. That'll make it tolerable. Thanks for the travel tip, Wendi! 

So by all means, please explain to me in the comments how I'm wrong and Rummy O'Belligerent is right. Because I seriously don't get it.