Fliers are getting fed up with cramped seating

If you've flown coach on a commercial flight lately, you know firsthand that airline seats are becoming smaller, don't recline as much and are generally quite uncomfortable.

It has gotten to the point where travelers on some air carriers feel so cramped that fights have broken out between passengers vying for those extra inches of leg and knee space.

In fact, three flights have been diverted from their planned destinations in recent weeks due to in-flight scuffles over reclining seats.

Reporter Jack Fink, from CBS affiliate KTVT in Dallas, recently asked Southwest Airlines (LUV) CEO Gary Kelly if by adding more seats to each flight to squeeze out more revenues, the airlines bear any responsibility for the discomfort that leads to these incidents.

"You know, that's a fair question," Kelly said. "I'll just admit to you I have not given it a lot of thought, and it is something that is worthy of thought."

But Kelly added that he opposes the use of devices like Knee Defender, which prevents seats from reclining.

A passenger's use of a Knee Defender last month on a United (UAL) flight from Newark to Denver led to a fight with another passenger and forced that flight to divert to Chicago.

"We do try to provide all our customers the ability to recline their seats," he added. "You'd like every customer be able to take advantage of that."

Still, Southwest has added an additional row of six seats on many of its 737s in the past several years, while American Airlines is adding seats on its 737s and some widebody 777s.

Flight attendants often find themselves on the front lines of the seat wars.

"It's definitely a concern," said Kelly Skyles, chair of national safety and security for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

"We're trained every year through our reccurring training how to defuse situations, defuse conflicts, so we're very capable of that," she added, "but sometimes you get individuals that just don't want to listen."

And while employees want their companies to be profitable, "I do hold the airlines accountable, Skyles says, "because they've created this." Indeed, some airlines have been recording record quarterly profits, due in part to the fees they charge passengers for additional legroom and other amenities.