Steve Hart: Defender of leg room sets strong boundaries

Tired of having fellow airline passengers recline their seat into your personal space taking up valuable leg room?

Although some airlines are better than others when it comes to the space between seats (pitch), it is a problem the world over.

The person in front reclines - sometimes without a thought for the person behind - causing drinks on the flip-down tray to spill, crunching legs and putting their bald spot just centimetres from your face. Ah, the joy of economy class.

Inventor Ira Goldman of the United States is 1.9m and became so sick of having his knee room reduced by people reclining their seats that he came up with a gadget to stop it - the Knee Defender.

Looking like a cube with a slot, it is placed over the metal support arm of the tray in the back of the seat to physically prevent the seat from being reclined. It basically jams the mechanism.

The Knee Defender costs US$9.95 ($16.25) and 1000 have been sold since it went on sale last month. And, while apparently not illegal, it has caused a bit of a fuss on travel website chatrooms between supporters of the gadget and those who see it is an affront to their right to recline and relax.

One person says: "If you want the 'air space' in front of you, you should buy a first class ticket."

While another says: "This product rocks! I hope they also invent baby-cancelling headphones, anti-seat kicker devices and the upgrade-o-matic."

But as another pointed out: "This product still does not prevent the person in front from getting annoyed and beating the @$#@$# out of you."

On his website Goldman says: "A seat in front of us that is poised to recline is a collision waiting to happen - with our knees serving as bumpers."

Obviously concerned that passengers may react badly to not having the freedom to recline their seat, Goldman has a leaflet on his website for customers to print out and hand to the person in front. It explains that their ability to recline the seat has been restricted.

If ever there was something to generate air rage - apart from 10 bottles of Elephant beer - this is it. Passengers are restricted enough on aircraft as it is without having people stopping the only comfort left to economy class passengers: reclining the seat and nodding off.

An Air New Zealand spokesman says he knows of no law against the gadget.

"Our seats are designed to recline and so customers have that right. Common sense should prevail. All customers need do is talk to each other to avoid problems.

"As yet we haven't come across anyone using this gadget."

In the US, Northwest Airlines has banned the Knee Defender from all its flights. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are concerned but say they don't know what to do. One airline even claimed the Knee Defender can break a seat's mechanism.

But are there other ways to "encourage" a fellow flyer to get their head out of your face? One person suggests pointing the air nozzle at them, hoping the cool breeze will force the person in front to move forward.

Or you could ask for the bulkhead seat where there is no one in front.

* There are some funny stories about items taken from passengers at airport security checks introduced last year.

One person had a pencil sharpener confiscated in case she used it to sharpen pencils on the aircraft to use as weapons.

Another had 10 pens in her bag (promotional gifts from a conference she had just attended), was told they were dangerous and nine were confiscated. A Starbucks coffee was also taken from a passenger.

And one man, in the US, carried a half-eaten lamb chop to the airport hoping to finish it off on board instead of having the airline food. A security screener closely examined the chop, decreed the bone sharp and a potentially dangerous object, and confiscated it.

* And talking of food, Air New Zealand sent over a dozen or so of their new inflight cafe-style meals to the Herald for us to taste test. The meals are being served on the Tasman Express service to and from Australia.

Created by chef Rex Morgan of Citron restaurant, Wellington, we thought the Caesar salad was good, the fudge brownie was delicious (although sweet) and the pastrami sandwich was not really big enough to sustain one hungry journalist in our office (who also wondered where the person was with the tea and coffee).

While the meals are a tasty snack that's well presented, my advice is to eat before you board and use the cafe-style meal to fill the gap.