Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, may have accidentally canceled himself …
Earlier this week the Internet exploded into debate after the following video depicting an American Airlines passenger gently punching the fully reclined seat of the woman in front of him went viral:
Watch:
This video has the internet legitimately divided .
Dude is in the last seat on the plane. Seat doesn’t recline.
Hers does. And she reclines.
He’s upset, and is punching her seat incessantly— so she records.
Who is right?!
Who is wrong?!See you at 7p on #FOX5LION@fox5dc pic.twitter.com/jjjTLLwvEc
— Marina Marraco (@MarinaMarraco) February 12, 2020
To recline or not to recline, that was the question the video inspired. After the clip went viral, social media users began debating the matter, with far-left radicals bemoaning the “entitled” man’s “privilege,” of course, and more sane people debating whether it was rude for the man to punch the seat or rude for the woman to recline her seat.
Even Bastian weighed in on the matter, telling the hosts of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the proper etiquette for recliners is to first ask for permission.
“I think customers have the right to recline … but I think the proper thing to do is if you’re going to recline into somebody, that you ask if it’s okay first and then you do it,” he said.
He added that he personally never reclines his seat because it’s not “something as CEO I should be doing.”
Conversely, “I never say anything if someone reclines into me,” he added.
Listen:
Uh oh …
While some might view his remarks as fair and sensible, a large, surprisingly bipartisan army of detractors lost their ever-loving minds over him tacitly siding with the seat puncher. Included among the dissidents was Buzz Patterson, a Republican congressional candidate out of California, and Eugene Gu, the notorious left-winger who sued President Donald Trump for blocking him on Twitter.
Look:
No. No, I don’t. If I buy your seat and it reclines, I’m going to gently, and respectfully recline it. How about this? You build more space between the sardine can seats?!
Delta CEO Says Passengers Should Ask Permission to Recline Seat https://t.co/ki0zcWXMPM
— Buzz Patterson for Congress (@BuzzPatterson) February 14, 2020
Delta CEO also says peasants should eat cake.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) February 14, 2020
Don’t fly that airline
— Rosanna Arquette?✌? (@RoArquette) February 14, 2020
Hey Delta CEO Ed Bastian.
A) When is the last time you even flew commercial? Flew economy?
B) Why do your seats even RECLINE if you think we should ask permission from the passenger behind us?
C) Why don’t you take a pay cut and remove 3 rows instead? ?#RECLINEGATE
— Josh Cohen – ESPN WP (@JoshCohenRadio) February 14, 2020
No. @Delta are the seats designed to recline? If the answer is yes, then I’m not asking anyone if I can use that function.
— Rachel Cue (@Rkaycue) February 14, 2020
If you ASK permission, then you are allowing the other person to control the outcome. #nope
— Paula DeBaugh (@NikeChick51) February 14, 2020
Hey @Delta — no! You want to create a situation where we all have to negotiate and fight with each other? Are you mad? We pay to recline. How about massive discounts when the people behind us say no? https://t.co/xU44px9TgY
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) February 14, 2020
.@Delta CEO Ed Bastian was able to weigh in on whether someone should recline their seat on a plane but can’t acknowledge airline catering workers who service DAL at its hubs in Detroit & Minneapolis protesting poverty wages & inaccessible healthcare. ?https://t.co/hFBVYqZ8Kc
— Diana Hussein ?? (@heyadiana) February 15, 2020
Is it really THAT serious? YES, it’s that serious!
#ReclineGate, as it’s now being called, has sparked the most serious national debate since, well, the president’s impeachment. Crazy, right?
But for every critic who blasted Bastian for saying that recliners should employ some empathy and etiquette by first checking in with the person speaking behind them, there was an anti-recliner saying basically the same thing.
And again, just like with the pro-recline statements, the anti-recline remarks were distributed among a shockingly bipartisan spectrum of critics.
Included among the dissidents was well-known conservative commentator Matt Walsh and left-wing ABC News commentator Matthew Dowd.
Look (*Language warning):
People who recline their seats on airplanes, people who use FaceTime in public, and people who ditch their shopping carts in the middle of a parking lot should all be rounded up by armed men, shoved into a capsule, and launched directly into the sun
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 13, 2020
Tall people have 1 inch of space on an airplane. If you recline, you take that space, causing their knees to be crushed up against your seat. You are causing significant discomfort to someone else in order to increase your comfort by a small margin. You’re an asshole.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 13, 2020
my opinion on reclining an airplane seat (and i spend a lot of time on planes): just because you have the right to recline the seat, doesn’t mean the kind and compassionate thing to do is reclining your seat if someone is cramped behind you. I always ask before i recline.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) February 14, 2020
She’s completely wrong, we have only seen her recording half way through the event, the guy probably asked her not to and she ignored or refused.
— Ryan (@GrieverZER0) February 14, 2020
As it’s daytime and there’s no need to sleep I’d suggest her. There’s no need to recline your seat in this instance.
— Padstock (@twickydicky) February 14, 2020
Wow. Who would ever thought that a viral video from an American Airlines flight would bring Republicans and Democrats together like this!?
That being said, it seems that the following gentleman, Tony Posnanski, may be onto something (*Language warning):
Both are horrible. He is an ass for hitting her seat and she is an ass for videoing it and not just telling him to stop or getting a flight attendant. Fuck both of these assholes. In other news I made incredible guacamole last night.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 13, 2020
Frankly, that sounds about right …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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