The more we talk about airplane travel and airlines, the more we’re beginning to see a pattern: even though flight is amazing and this option of getting from point A to point B is the most practical one, that pretty much ends the list of positives.

As for the negatives, well… it would probably take a while to list all of them. And no matter how you view it, this next situation also sucks because that’s one expensive laptop down the drain.

More Info: X (Formerly, Twitter) | BarStool Sports Post

History has shown us that nothing is safe, nor sacred on airplanes, and that all that we can ever blame on flights are the seats. For everything. Including crushed laptops

Image credits: Kelly (not the actual photo)

This one guy shared on X (formerly Twitter) how his laptop was demolished by the poorly designed seat geometry when a passenger in front reclined

Image credits: HardFactorPat

Image credits: HardFactorPat

Image credits: HardFactorPat

There were hopes that Delta Airlines would do something about it, but they claimed zero fault in this and gave a consolation prize of sorts in the form of 7,500 mile points

Image credits: HardFactorPat

No, this isn’t a situation where someone was fighting over an airplane seat this time around. Though an airplane seat was involved.

‘Co-Co-Lead Anchor’ at Hard Factor, Pat Cassidy, was traveling from Austin, TX to Los Angeles, CA on… yes, you guessed it… Delta Airlines. He thought he was gonna get some things done on his laptop while partaking in the miracle of flight, but then a catastrophe struck.

The fellow in the seat in front of Cassidy decided to spontaneously recline. As you might have guessed, seat reclining on planes is never good, and that went triple this time around as it leaned in a way that crushed the screen of Cassidy’s $1,500 (supposedly) Apple MacBook Pro.

This alone made Cassidy very upset. As he recalled the event in a Hard Factor talk, his sudden and very audible reaction immediately drew the attention of both the recliner and the flight attendant. According to Cassidy’s pretty funny recollection, both of them were useless in mitigating the situation.

This ultimately led him to, then, Twitter (now X. Mind you, this happened in 2020) where he kept bugging Delta Airlines about it. Some time later, Cassidy was told by Delta’s Twitter manager to reach out to their customer support. He did. And though Delta was sorry about the whole incident and even transferred 7,500 miles points to Cassidy as a token of good faith for being a loyal passenger, they ultimately said that this was not their fault. The story was elaborated on a bit in his personal post on BarStool Sports.

The thread sparked quite a bit of debate among X’ers, discussing who’s truly at fault here: Cassidy, the reclining guy or Delta?

Image credits: HardFactorPat

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Image credits: Kelly (not the actual photo)

This is what sparked a debate on who was at fault here: Cassidy, the other passenger, or Delta? Well, folks on X (again, I can’t get used to calling it that. That thing that used to be Twitter) had arguments for all sides.

On the one end, we had folks who met the same fate. Even shared pictures of how their laptops also “folded like tacos” under the immense pressure of that guy’s seat rest. Of course, there were those who narrowly avoided the danger, but they also related to Cassidy’s situation.

Many argued that the seat design is just flat out terrible and that Delta ought to be the one taking the blame on this one. If not for the cramped seats and inhumane seating, this probably would never have happened.

Others were, however, saying that this was 100% Cassidy’s fault because he was the one who put the laptop in that situation in the first place. He couldn’t have not known that the seats recline, right? A little foresight could have been in order then.

Besides that, a number of people were inclined to blame it on Cassidy because of his “childish” reaction. Cassidy’s suggestion to put up a warning label on the seat was, in the eyes of some, unnecessary for a something that was common sense. Folks also encouraged him to practice thinking before making his problems public. Harsh words, but ’tis the internet.

This happened back in 2020. Two years later, in 2022, someone poked Cassidy about it, asked if Delta did anything more than just throwing miles points at him—corporate called, but Cassidy couldn’t get through to them when he called back and that was that.

Some were on Cassidy’s side and explained that it is ultimately Delta’s fault for the crummy seat design

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Most airlines have their terms of use up and freely available online for anyone to read. And practically all of them have some form of “we’re not responsible for whatever happens to your stuff onboard”. In fact, a number of them also throw in the same language about luggage, though those issues people have better chances of arguing with.

But this is where insurance comes into play. A recent study says that 35% of people (the largest group) buy insurance for things like flight delays, reservation problems and baggage loss, while the next biggest category went for health-oriented insurance.

Travel insurance is widely available, but most folk (more than half of those surveyed, 55%) got it via the travel agency they were booking the flight with, while nearly a third (28%) went with word of mouth. Lastly, another 35% opted for no insurance because they never really had accidents before and didn’t see a point to insure themselves, and nearly a fifth of people didn’t see a point in it because of their cheap trip.

Others, however, blamed it on Cassidy for doing something that to some is common sense

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Image credits: Wamly13

Image credits: BallerTopf

Image credits: John McArthur (not the actual photo)

Image credits: JoeRauzi

Whatever the case, the discussion is now passed on to you: do you think anyone is to blame for the crushed laptop, or was this just an accident and, well, crap happens? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below!

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