A Delta Air Lines passenger has reignited the debate on reclining airplane seats after his laptop was allegedly destroyed by a reclining passenger on a flight from Austin to Los Angeles last week.
Pat Cassidy of Barstool Sports posted a photo of his MacBook Pro with a broken screen to Twitter on Wednesday. “@Delta small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat,” he wrote in the post.
@Delta small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat. pic.twitter.com/QHmphXiDhH
— Pat Cassidy (@HardFactorPat) February 26, 2020
“I really appreciate that your flight attendant came over to tell me that the passenger in front of me ‘needs to be able to recline’ and then asked him ‘if he was okay?’ as if your seat hadn’t just ruined my livelihood,” a sarcastic Cassidy added.
The airline’s customer service team issued him an apology but said it wasn’t responsible for the damage, instead offering Cassidy 7,500 bonus miles on his SkyMiles account, according to The Independent.
“Update: @Delta is giving me the equivalent of a $75 gift card and an explanation that you would give a six-year-old. Cool,” he wrote in a Twitter post on Friday.
Update: @Delta is giving me the equivalent of a $75 gift card and an explanation that you would give a six year old. Cool. pic.twitter.com/etGLUXOOjs
— Pat Cassidy (@HardFactorPat) February 29, 2020
Cassidy’s frustrating experience comes less than one month after American Airlines passenger Wendi Williams brought the issue into the spotlight after posting a video of the passenger behind her repeatedly punching her reclined seat.
Her video and subsequent assault claims quickly went viral, leading travelers to choose sides and some to call out the airline industry for packing more and more seats into their planes in the name of profit.
