Angry woman on plane, Was we BU?

What if you don't want to recline? It's more uncomfortable for me to sit in a reclined seat for hours. It's also really, really awkward and painful for me to get out of my seat if the seat in front is reclined due to a hip/back injury.

So telling everyone to just recline doesn't work for everyone.

I would never ask anyone not to recline outside of the meal service but I do still silently curse the man who reclined for 14 hours on a flight and caused me weeks of pain as I injured myself trying to get out of my seat without pulling on his headrest.

For godness sake if everyone reclines their seat there is no issue. I always recline my seat and i do not care.

once, a man behind pushed the back of my seat very violently, a steward happened to pass when he did so he got a telling off which made me very happy indeed.

but i try not to fly easyjet or ryanair, it s full
of twats: no headphones, loud, drinking and complaining. I hate it

It’s not helping anyone out though is it? Not really.

It’s just making it awkward for you and those around you.

It does.

Sometimes people's needs have been greater than my need to use a seat tray, so I'm happy to accommodate that. If I needed the tray then I'd ask for them to put their seat up.

it's not rocket science '& I don't define my self worth by allowing someone to recline their seat 🤣🤣 nothing wrong with my 'boundaries' FFS

As I said, you need to look up the definition of martyr.

Calll me ridiculous all you like. You're some rude random online.

i didn't expect or ask anyone to help, they offered.

it is not ridiculous to help other people out when you can. I don't mind doing so, if that makes me ridiculous in your eyes, I really don't care.

It really doesn't.

You need to seriously re-address your boundaries if you think that trumps your own Comfort.

What you are describing is martyr like behaviour.
I mean, you do you and all that but you are displaying martyr like behaviour and come across as a tad ridiculous.
If you were sat next to me and were expecting me to help you with your meals because the person in front was reclining during a meal service I'd be asking the cabin crew to ask the person in front of you to put their set in an upright position so that we could all eat and drink using the tray as intended.

To allow the seat pan to slide forward you'd probably have to increase seat pitch (thigh length) and you'd be adding weight to the seat> increases fuel consumption.

Adds to costs,.which is why where you do see sliding seats it's usually in the premium cabins.

A martyr. I think you might need to look up the definition of that 🤣

I'm happy to let people sleep or have their seat reclined for other reasons if they need to. I didn't mind holding the tray in one hand & eating with the other.

people next to me are not at risk of wearing my meal & have sometimes opened containers for me etc

I don't know if they just hadn't noticed or deemed me competent enough to manage?

Those seats sound like a great way to deal with the problem

Lets all email the airlines mumsnetters 😁

I love some Spanish trains I travel on. If you recline your seat, it´s your own legroom that is impacted, as the seat moves forward. I think that is very fair. You don´t see people reclining fully, strange isn´t it?

OP. I´m with the lady behind. A little consideration goes a long way.

The flight attendant allowed that ? It’s a risk with hot drinks/ meals surely ? At a minimum they could fall on the passenger next to you ?

That’s makes you a bit of a martyr tbh.
Your comfort is just as important as the person in front of you. As a minimum you should be able use your tray to eat your meal.

That's just ridiculous.

Haha, true.
Now we need to tackle man spreading on planes - my pet peeve!

Your comment says more about you than me.

As I said, I've been on plenty of flights where the person in front has fully reclined for the whole flight, their need to sleep (hold babies etc) is greater than my need to use my tray or whatever. I've eaten meals with one hand while holding the tray in the other precisely because I'm not a twat.

Tell us you are a twat without telling us you are a twat springs to mind……..

Apparently he would get a “stiff neck” 🙄

@Gossipisgood

You can buy seat extension hammock like things for children to sleep on which hangs over your table & back to the seat so the child can lie down & their legs are laying across the hammock in the foot space with their head on the actual seat.

Those and quite a few similar devices are not permitted by quite a few airlines..

It's worth checking any prospective airline's policy before spending money on one.

Sorry OP but your DH was being a Twat. There's very little room on a lot of planes & to have the seat in front reclined right back invades what little space you have already & can make it hard to eat or drink or use your own table. You can buy seat extension hammock like things for children to sleep on which hangs over your table & back to the seat so the child can lie down & their legs are laying across the hammock in the foot space with their head on the actual seat. No need for the seat to be reclined & the child is laying down.

Drinks/snacks start coming around. Woman tells DH to put the seat back up. DH put the seat back up half way so to not wake DS. She tells him to put it fully up. He tells her DS is sleeping. Her OH then tells her to speak to steward which she does. Steward asks DH to put the seat back up - he tells her DS is sleeping. I tell him to just put it back up, he again says DS is sleeping. Air Steward starts getting pissed off, I snap at DH to put the bloody seat up. He does so reluctantly and DS does not wake

So it was drink AND snacks (ie. Food) being served not just drinks as a pp said.

The child was still sleeping when he put the seat upright. All the 4 year olds I know would sleep through that so it’s no surprise, even if they did wake they’d easily get back to sleep in most cases.

There are exceptions of course but OP’s child was not one of them since she herself confirmed their child didn’t wake up. And I’m sure they both knew that would be the case.

It was obvious their husband was engaging in a power struggle with this woman so once again their husband and people here using “the sleeping kid” to excuse his selfish and antagonistic behaviour is a nonsense.

And if he was so concerned about his child waking up on a plane 🙄 maybe arguing with multiple people or running the risk of the woman accidentally banging the back of the reclined seat while trying to eat wasn’t that wise.

Those pesky seats that have been fully reclined have a habit of being knocked, pulled or lent on as passengers move around as normal because they have so much less room. Imagine those passengers your DH was pissing off acting in a similar manner towards your husband and waking your child up.

Would have been so much more civilised with

"Do you mind if we recline the seat just so child can get to sleep. As soon as he is asleep we will put it back up"

"Yeah, no problem, if you could have it up when drinks and food are served that would be great"

"Aye, no problem, i will try to adjust it as we go so its back up asap"

Exactly.

And the fact some people are calling the woman who had to put up with a reclined seat for almost the whole journey - and not the man who didn’t want to put it back up around meal times - the selfish one is a joke.

I had a guy in front of me like that and it was frustrating. Instead of him being grateful he got to recline the majority of the 7/8 hour flight, he tried to kick up up a fuss about having to be upright during mealtimes which were obviously a fraction of the flight time.

The screen was right up in my face while he was fully reclined, I didn’t like it but of course I tolerated it since it was airline policy and that is course the risk you take in economy.

But yet he didn’t want to follow the rules when it came to mealtimes. Thankfully the cabin crew wasn’t having it and he was reminded to put his seat up every single time the food or drinks came out .

No the selfish twat is the one who thinks it’s ok not to briefly stop reclining during mealtimes and yes of course it goes without saying I’m talking about drinks too. People use the table whether it’s drink or food coming out hence you’re not meant to recline.

If someone behind you doesn’t mind you reclining during mealtime that’s up to them but this woman did mind.

As I’ve said, using the child is a crappy excuse. A child can still sleep with the chair upright and even if not they could also have had the child sleeping on their lap when they had to put a brief pause to reclining the seat.

There were options which didn’t require ignoring the women’s request and arguing with the cabin crew.