Knee Defender Review

They look like little plastic Lego crab claws, but just what is the knee defender? These ingenious (and devious) little c-shaped product slips around the legs of the airline seat-back tray of the seat in front of you, stopping the seat in front of you from reclining.

Some people hate it, and some people love this idea. I guess it just depends on whether you’re the user or having it used on you. Sure, I understand both points, but let’s face it folks – if the world were a perfect place, no one would even think about having to invent these. But it’s not. And so here we have them.

The quick & dirty:

Where you can get one:
Gadget Duck $14.95

Why it rocks:

Ingenious

Small and easy to hide

Funny Disclaimers

Stops the seats from reclining!

Why it bites:

You could get a black eye

Seat-of-the-pants rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Long Winded Version:
What most people want to know, is “do these really work?” Carrie from Business Travel Logue did a thorough test on them, on multiple airplanes, and even chatting with people at the airport bar about them. Luckily for her, no black eyes resulted from use, although that picture would have been a good one!

Here’s some of what Carrie has to say:

The Knee Defender prevents airline passengers from reclining their seats in front of you. Whether you’re tall and don’t want your knees smashed or you’re working and need the space, the Knee Defender is designed to prevent the passenger seated in front of you from reclining. Maybe it isn’t the nicest thing to do, but I guess sometimes it’s necessary. The product contains notches to allow it to accommodate different seat styles on different aircraft.

The instructions are pretty clear, although some are kind of funny. I really like the disclaimer “Listen to Flight Attendants” listed in the instructions for this product. That just seems to be good general advice to avoid being tackled by the Air Marshall in the next row. Also listed in the instructions, “Courtesy among passengers is extremely important. You may want to advise the person in front of you that you are using Knee Defender to help protect against possible damage from a reclining seat.” If you’re going to take the time to tell the passenger in front of you that you’re using the product, you might as well just ask them not to recline their seats.

• Test One, Boeing 757-200: Knee Defender worked like a charm. She couldn’t budge her seat once I put the product in place.
• Test Two, Boeing CRJ: On this test, I managed to move [recline] about an inch.

Read Carrie’s full experience and review at BusinessTravelLogue.com

Wanna buy one? You can get it from here:
Gadget Duck $14.95