Airline passenger shares photo of 'reclined' seat debacle: 'Dude is in my lap'

"First Class." Dude is in my lap," user @av_COVA posted along with a photo of the seat in front of him reclined so far back it appeared to be pressed into his knees.

"You continue to be awful @AmericanAir."

After paying significantly more for a first-class ticket on AA1851, @av_COVA expected to have a comfortable seat for the more than two-hour flight. Instead, he was immobilized and frustrated, he said.

"I can't use my tray table, and no chance of getting up," @av_COVA posted.

"I'm in 3C, so 2C is clearly broken. Get it fixed before someone else wastes a fortune on first class and gets f-----"

"He shrugged it off - basically saying 'It's an old airplane; some of these seats are worn out,'" @av_COVA said of the crew member's response.

American Airlines responded to the passenger's post, writing on X, "Keeping our planes in top-notch shape is always the goal. We're sorry for this inconvenience and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We'll get this right over to the Maintenance folks for review. Our apologies again."

@av_COVA replied, writing, "Maintenance isn't gonna review the money I wasted."

"No matter how I positioned myself, the seat was still against my knees. The gentleman in the seat in front of me was very sympathetic, but he was unable to get the seat to lock forward, as it was inoperable," @av_COVA said. 

Leff said while maintenance problems like this one aren't very common on a majority of flights, they do happen.

"They're certainly not uncommon, especially on American's old Airbus A320s, some of which date to America West times and which didn't see a real update to their interiors after US Airways took over American nearly 12 years ago," Leff said.

Last month, a viral video from a flight that departed Denver shows an irate passenger shaking the seat in front of him and pushing it with his feet to stop the passenger from reclining.

In the video, posted on Instagram, a flight attendant intervenes to deescalate the situation, as people have the right to recline their seats, Leff wrote in a blog post about the incident.

Leff said that when someone pays extra for first class, they should get what they paid for, which includes extra legroom and added personal space. 

And that doesn't seem to have happened this time in @av_COVA's case, he added. 

"The airline provided transportation only, but that's what you get from a coach ticket," Leff said.

"The passenger ought to receive either the difference in price between cabins as a refund or miles sufficient to cover a future first-class ticket. Unfortunately, airlines, and the terms written into their contracts of carriage, don't see it the same way." 

In their view, Leff added, while airlines advertise a premium product, they do not owe that to customers who purchase it.

@av_COVA said American Airlines did not offer him a perk or refund.

"They said all they can offer is their apologies," he said.