AIBU to recline my seat on a night flight?

Agree on this. As someone who once had a hot drink flung on my lap by a reclining person. I also had someone come so close to smashing the tray into my childs head as he was on my lap ( to young for his own seat) I had the tray down as I was just done feeding him and had the bib muslin etc on the tray and the person infront just flew his chair back. I've also been sleeping on the tray and had someone move their seat back, that was fun.

I have to agree, there's etiquette. I'm not saying ask permission, but just check its safe. If someone asked I'd of course never say no (I dont have that right) but I would ask they give me two seconds to move my crap of the tray. People just need to be a bit more mindful of when they do it.

@LAX12

Wish I could give a double agree to that post 'cos I very much do.

I’ve been a flight attendant for over a decade, you are not being unreasonable. During meal times it’s encouraged that you don’t recline (at least not all the way) until the lights go down/the crew clear in. However - we can only advise, all passengers are more than welcome to recline their own seat in response. Shaking your seat and kicking would come with a warning and potentially intervention from security/police on arrival. Violence of any sort shouldn’t be tolerated… perhaps she should have booked a business class seat if she were that bothered 😂

Doesn't matter about the small children, that doesn't give you extra rights.

You were fine to recline once meals were served.

wow - this has not been my experience of reclining seats. I'm obviously on the wrong planes 😂

On a BA flight a couple of years back, man in front of me reclined fully. Made it so I had to contort myself to get out to go to the loo.

My night flight 2 weeks ago, as part of their welcome on board announcements, they advised that seats must not be reclined until after they finished clearing the meal service but it is fine to recline them after that.

Think this is a good idea as then everyone knows whats acceptable and no arguments.

I personally find it inconsiderate to recline. However, you are entitled to do it. I won't shake and kick the chair in front but I won't be overly careful either. Her doing it was unhinged.

yanbu, the only U thing you did was wait an hour to call the cabin crew over, that was ridiculous waiting that long

Sure, but if you have a laptop or something on the table the angle changes and it's harder to use, in my experience.

Neither of these points means the person in front shouldn’t recline their seat

@2026Y the most noticeable impact is at the headrest, by the tray table the recline has almost zero impact.

Only had this conversation with a family member over the weekend. They were appalled that someone had the nerve to recline the seat in front during their recent long haul flight. I didn't realise people felt so strongly about this. I thought everyone reclined on long hauls, especially overnight. The only time I cant deal with it is during meal service. Any other time is more than fair IMO.

I hate people reclining their seats, I think it's extremely inconsiderate but I accept that on a night flight it's going to happen. So while I would have been annoyed, I wouldn't have said anything. I can't wait until the day when planes are designed so people can't do this.

I was on a dirt cheap flight (not Ryanair or whatever) for a long international night flight and the woman in front of me reclined alllll the way back. She just about crack my knee caps doing so. I had to sit with my legs so far apart one was in the aisle. And fyi I'm at most 5'7". I politely asked her to not recline so much. I basically got back a "tough shit". So yes I was that deluded person who shook her seat for the next 15 minutes until she caved and moved her seat forward a bit.

Personally - I try to clock what the person behind me is doing and then recline a bit of the way. That rarely causes a problem. And frankly sleeping on a night flight isn't an option in my opinion. I can't roll on to my side so it just doesn't work for me.

Of course its normal on an overnight flight

Why does everyone make such a fuss? You can still see your screen, you can still use your tray.

Flying Economy is cramped and uncomfortable , it's the price we pay for ,ore affordable air travel

I often think this when I read these excitable posts about reclining - it makes so little difference unless you are using our tray table I couldn't care less.

You'll probably get mentions of various etiquettes, unwritten rules and perhaps Google says 😉 but if the seat had a recline function = you are entitled to use it, with care.

That only changes if something (e.g airline T&Cs or a notice onboard) or somebody in authority (i.e. crew) asks or says no.

I never ever used to recline my seat. I used to feel absolutely awful about it. And yet I’d sit bolt upright for hours even if the person in front of me had reclined. I can’t and don’t sleep on planes and as uncomfortable as it was, I just couldn’t recline that seat. It’s only been in the last few years I’ve managed to get over it as I’ve traveled a lot more and gone much much further. It’s is awful if you’re at the back and yours doesn’t recline, but recently I’ve been on newer planes at the back and they’ve left room for them to recline. Tbh as soon as the person at the front of your section does it, you kinda all have to do it! I do put mine up eat as courtesy and as much as I hate confrontation, the only time I’ve ever asked anyone about the seat, was to ask the young girl in front of me once to do the same so I could eat.

I wouldn’t give your situation another thought. For everyone who is fine about it, there’s someone who isn’t. And at the end of the day, they do recline , so it’s kinda there to be used. Planes and space on planes seem to be getting smaller every time I go on one…but really if you’re in economy, you can’t really be annoyed….its just economy life! If a person is going to be that upset about it, they need to be saving for the bigger seats!!!

If a meal is being served, I think it’s bad form recline until after the meal service as finished. If you have to recline earlier I would always ask. Otherwise it’s normal

You werent

Pretty much this. They are to make sleeping easier on a night flight. And when they make the last row non-reclining - that's not okay. There should be a gap between the wall and the headrest. Otherwise you are saying that the penultimate row can't recline because the last row can't recline. And then the antepenultimate row can't recline because the penultimate row can't recline etc etc. So no one can recline.

Should there be reclining and non reclining hours on planes? Because it is one of those things that works better when everyone does the same.

night flights put the blinds down and dim the lights precisely so people will go to sleep, reclining is part of that. The woman behind you was being unhinged. But. Didn't you have a seat for the child? That would be really uncomfortable for a whole night (or was it a tiny baby?)

I boarded an emirates flight once where the bloke in front of me fully reclined his seat before we even took off and plonked a “Do not disturb” sign on the headrest and started snoring. I could not even put my seat tray down when dinner arrived. The stewardess had the unenviable task of having to wake him to tell him to move his seat upright. He was livid!