Photo courtesy of Twitter
It's called the "Knee Defender," a nifty little gadget that airline passengers can attach to their tray table that prevents the person in front of them from reclining their seat.
The $21.95 Knee Defender might end up costing somebody $25,000.
Two passengers in a dispute over a reclining seat caused enough of a ruckus on Sunday that a United Airlines flight from Newark to Denver was forced to land in Chicago. The two passengers were removed, and the flight continued on to Denver where it landed 98 minutes late.
The argument began when a man seated in Row 12 of the plane attached the Knee Defender to his tray table, lowered it, and began working on his laptop. A woman seated directly in front of him turned around and asked him to remove the device so she could recline.
He refused.
A flight attended intervened and asked the man to remove the Knee Defender, as they are prohibited on United Airlines flights. He again refused. The female passenger then stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water at him, according to the Associated Press.
This is what the Knee Defender looks like:
And this is where it goes:
Contrary to popular opinion, this is NOT what it looks or feels like:
In all seriousness, however, the two passengers were removed from the plane. Although they were not charged or arrested, the two have bigger problems - the Federal Aviation Administration has the authority to impose a $25,000 fine on each passengers because the flight was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing.
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