It seems almost every day, airlines are redesigning their cabins to squeeze more passengers into the cheap seats. Just recently, Southwest did it by adding several more rows of seats, thereby making the already-cramped passenger spaces even more uncomfortable for anyone over 3 foot 10.

Now a company has come up with the Knee Defender, a device that prevents the passenger in front of you from inclining the seat into your vulnerable leg parts. The small, portable $20 plastic block locks onto your tray table and keeps the seat in front from pushing into your vulnerable space.

Instead, of course, as you settle into your seat before the flight, you can politely ask the passenger in front of you not to push back. As is our experience, you may then get the angry lecture about paying for the seat and the need to squeeze your knees, because the guy in front of him is also tilting and squeezing.

For more information, go to kneedefender.com/html2/how_to.htm