To think it's actually OK to recline your seat on a long haul flight?

Common sense and common courtesy says don't recline unless you want to sleep- preferably when everyone else is doing so. Otherwise expect a trip notable for the back of your seat being regularly pinged, heavily and abruptly leant on and bumped. Especially when you have your eyes closed.

yeah this is why I don’t recline even if someone reclines in front of me. They’re not doing anything wrong as such but I wish planes would have (economy) sections where you can’t recline or just remove the option altogether.

On my last trip to NYC there was an argument between the tall-ish guy in my row and the man in front of him due to reclining.

And on the way back I had to ask the cabin crew multiple times to ask the guy in front to put his seat up during meals.

It would save a whole of discussion and annoyance if they removed the ability to recline

Let it be known that I do not care if someone reclines. If you're sitting in front of me, go wild. Hammer that button, I simply couldn't care less.

That’s the thing - I don’t recline because it’s not that much more comfortable for me but it’s much worse for the person behind.

I think people are referring to long haul business class.

For the people who say they should go business if they want to recline. How ridiculous. I travelled short haul in business and the seats were the same as the rest of the plane. The first 8 rows or something curtained off and the 2/3 sears used on each down with the middle closed off. So you’d recline and still have someone behind you complaining. My point through was more for long haul flights. Not many people can afford those business class pods on longer journeys. Even premium economy was out of my price range going to Australia and you’d still be reclining on someone or would be reclined on.

The only way to avoid not reclining on anyone is to get a back row seat/ or back of a section on long haul. The only way to avoid being reclined onto would be to sit at the front of a section.

Why when there is a perfectly functioning recline button on the seat?

Then it's probably just the one or two I've skimmed through - whilst at work! Sssh!!! 😉

To be fair most of those comments are in response to the "it is antisocial to recline your seat, ever ever ever" posts. I think most folk have been pretty clear that they're talking about longer flights and outside of meal service.

I keep seeing 'if plane allows you to recline then you are fully within your rights....blah blah blah'. It's one of those legally against morally options.

Sure recline if meal has not only been finished but rubbish also collected and it's long haul but keep it upright or very slightly reclined if short distance. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of 'I'm alright jack, sod everyone else!'

It’s so annoying and Inconsiderate. They really should disable it

I totally agree.

Yep.

There are economic advantages to going for no recline at all - firstly the reduction in seat weight means reduction in aircraft weight meanz better fuel consumption, also less to go wrong on the seat, means potentially lower maintainance costs...

However it's probably significant that even the most cost cutting of Longhaul operators such as Norse Atlantic still retain basic economy seats with some recline....

When we went to Australia last year I deliberately booked the seats at the back of a section so that we could all recline without issue. It is so much more comfortable than sitting upright. I did get into an argument with the huge man sat in front of my daughter who reclined as her food arrived, nearly spilling it. I had no issue with him reclining when not eating. Even more annoying was when he then started hitting his child’s seat to recline onto my other daughter. It totally rattled her food around that she was trying to eat. Again, no issue with people reclining but not when the person behind is trying to eat their meal that just arrived.

Any airline CEO trying that across all cabins would never get another job in the industry.

Be interesting to see if any CEO/CFO would be brave enough to try it for basic Economy class only...might just be a seller therr on some routes.

I'd ban reclining on all plane seats. End of arguments.

I wouldn't during meal service, but on long haul, I would, after service has finished. I wouldn't fully recline, but due to having a bad back and hips I have to. Upright is really painful.

I have never reclined and can't stand it when the person in front of me does.
We had issues on our last flights as my husband and son are both 6ft4" and the people in front couldn't recline due to their legs. One woman was absolutely screaming at us but there was physically nothing they could do about it.

This.
If the airline gives you the option to recline then you are fully within your rights to do so. However during meal service it can be a nuisance and I have never had a problem with getting the flight attendant to ask the person in front to raise their seat

I'm less than 5 foot tall and the seat head-rests push my head forward so I've got my chin on my chest - very uncomfortable and I'm certainly not going to do that for the whole flight. To compensate, I recline my seat slightly, so my head is under the headrest. Partial recline is only fair for a long journey. I recline more when the lights dim for sleeping on long-haul.

If only planes allowed enough space for everyone to recline it wouldn't be a problem.

If the person in front reclines then I will, otherwise not. Long haul flights do have more space between the seats to do this IME, still not ideal. Xxz

Recently flew long haul with virgin- plane was slightly newer on the way out and there wasn’t an option to recline seat. It did feel like there was also more leg room? Way back was a different story- older plane, seats reclined