Third plane diverts after seat reclining passenger row

Third flight diverted in seat reclining row

A woman who became upset over a reclining seat in front of her was removed from a flight to Florida in the third such incident in a week.

The Delta flight from New York to West Palm Beach was diverted to Jacksonville, where the woman was removed.

Amy Fine, 32, was resting her head on her tray table when the passenger in front of her reclined her seat.

The table bumped Ms Fine on the head and the passengers reportedly began arguing.

According to the The Guardian, three flight attendants said Fine became aggressive and started swearing as they tried to calm her down.

An investigative report said: "She was shaking her hands and very combative in her demeanour to the point that they were concerned for the safety of themselves and the passengers."

Fellow passenger Aaron Klipin told the Daily Telegraph: "This woman sitting next to me knitting tried reclining her seat back, the woman behind her started screaming and swearing. The flight attendant came over and that exacerbated what was going on."

In Jacksonville, Fine denied being disruptive, but did say she was "emotional" over the recent death of her two dogs.

She was not arrested and was allowed to go home in a rental car.

It is the third time in a week that an American plane has been diverted in a row over seat reclining.

Last week, a flight en route from Miami to Paris had to be diverted after a passenger flew into a rage when the woman in front of him reclined her seat.

Edmund Alexandre, 61, reportedly became disruptive when asked to calm down by cabin crew, and eventually had to be restrained by under-cover federal air marshals on the flight, reports The Times.

The American Airlines flight was diverted to Boston, where Massachussetts state police arrested Alexandre at around 10pm.

And, a couple of days before that, a flight was diverted and two passengers were kicked off a plane after one of them started a row by using the banned anti-reclining seat device, the Knee Defender.

A male passenger attached a Knee Defender lock to the seat in front of him to prevent a woman from reclining her chair while he was using his laptop, reports Travel Mole.

An attendant on the United Airlines flight 1462 asked him to remove the device but he refused, and the woman then threw a cup of water at him.

The pilot decided to divert the four-hour flight from Newark to Denver to Chicago O'Hare airport, where it was met by police and security officers.

Transport Security Administration spokesman Ross Feinstein said the incident was deemed a "customer service issue".