Air rant: Rudeness unseated

If you check out Shel Holtz's Road Weary blog, you'll find a post about seat hogs who recline and lie in your lap. (My husband is 6'4'' and admittedly, reclines his seat in coach...but he at least tries not to do it during meals.)

(In case you don't know the blog, Holtz is a web guru who travels frequently for business and blogs about the hassles thereof.)

I can relate. The airline seat nightmare that burns me most is The Kid Behind You.

Either this kid really gets around or he's got plenty of clones, because I hear friends rant about the same.

This is the kid who kicks the back of your airline seat...for hours on end. The parent is either completely inured or worse, couldn't care less. (It might be the same couple who, one night in Miss Saigon, let their kid SCREAM nonstop for more than an hour. When they got up to leave, the entire restaurant applauded. Don't people like this have ANY manners?)

My friends and I are divided about how to handle the Kicking Kid. We all usually start with turning around and politely letting the parent know about the situation. If the parent does anything, it's usually a mild (exasperated) "Johnny, don't do that.''

Of course, the reason Johnny continues is that he's heard this before and knows it isn't followed up by any consequences. (I've noted that parents who have routinely followed up with their kids aren't the ones whose kids drive you nuts on planes.)

Now you, the back-sore traveler, have two choices. You can suffer silently, or you can take action.

One of my frustrated friends once finally grabbed a kid's foot and suggested sternly that he stop it THAT INSTANT. She must look mean, because it worked.

But of course, the parent who wouldn't address this herself was incensed.

So what do you think? Should you just sit there and let the kid harrass you for the next three hours, or should you do something? And what should you do?

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