Day 910: Keep your laptop safe when joining the mile-high (work) club
When I was flying home yesterday I wanted to be productive, and decided to whip the laptop out.
I just about managed to squeeze it onto the tray in front of me, with it poking into my belly a little bit.
The height of the laptop screen tucked just nicely underneath the lip of the space that the tray folded out of; a perfect fit!
Being an observant kind of person I had noticed before the elegance of how the open tray table stays level when the chair moves into the reclined position.
I worked for a few minutes snugly tucked under, but then just couldn’t shake the worry that maybe the height of the space could shrink a bit during reclining, damaging the laptop.
In the end I pulled the screen out of the lip of the seat, and just looked down on it in an awkward angle, with the screen almost at an L shape under my nose.
Well, it seems like I was wise to be cautious, because that very evening the algorithm gods read my mind and showed me this tweet:
@Delta small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat. pic.twitter.com/QHmphXiDhH
— Pat Cassidy (@HardFactorPat) February 26, 2020
And it’s not the first time this type of thing has happened:
So this happened on my flight home… pic.twitter.com/FQx7lS2ejT
— Jud Mackrill ? (@JudMackrill) October 4, 2019
Yes, it seems that inviting space for your laptop definitely does shrink, and can destroy your screen quite easily.
From reading these threads it seems that the airline will likely not reimburse you, but people have successfully for claimed it under Applecare.
If you don’t have quick access to an external monitor (and the cables), or a quality repair service at your destination it could put quite a dent in your business.
So be careful if you decide to join the mile-high (work) club!