To recline my seat on a long haul flight?

[PiratePanda]

Just thought I'd check I was not BU.

Long haul flight in economy, 9 hours, overnight. I had my seat up for take off and landing and for meals but for the rest of the flight I wanted and needed to sleep (travelling for work) so reclined my seat.

The woman sitting behind me made an enormous fuss about me reclining my seat at all, complaining rudely to me when I reclined it, tutting and sighing loudly whenever she got up to go to the loo, kneeing me in the back apparently with intent, and hitting me quite hard and insistently on the head and shaking the chair to make me wake up in the morning well before the breakfast came round.

IWNBU was I? You are entitled to recline your seat except for take off and landing and meals, no? Otherwise why provide a recline button?

God she was rude.

Reclining to sleep is a red herring. What makes the difference between sleeping and waking is whether the seat has those "ears" that fold in and encase your head. A lot of people don't make use of them-they are flat when you get on and you need to fold them in. It's the same principle as wing-backed chairs for the elderly in care homes. I can sleep better on an upright seat with wings than on a reclined seat without. Not all aircraft have them though and I have never found those blow up horseshoe things to be a good substitute as it's your head, not your neck, tht needs the support.

That said, OP YWNBU in the slightest, perfect etiquette on your part. The woman behind you should have been reported to the cabin crew for assault.

Do those berating the airlines for cramming the seats in have any idea how much more expensive their tickets would be if they didn't?

They do JapaneseMargaret

Norwegian

If a person travels with a child on thier lap then that is there own problem, i wont not recline just for them.

I just came back on an overnight flight from Canada and I reclined after the meal when the lights were dimmed, just as everybody else around me did. If it is done with consideration I simply can't see the problem. I wouldn't have done if there would have been a baby/toddler behind me though. It's the people who suddenly jerk backwards while you still have your food in front of you who are annoying but if that happens I ask them politely to wait until my tray has been removed.

I think we have established that veteran long haulers are generally recliners :)

The solution to this is pretty simple. When you book a seat you can tick "reclining" or "non reclining". Fill reclining up from the back, fill non reclining from the front.

All problems solved! Recliners all recline on top of each other, non recliners sit up straight behind each other and I convince dh that whichever one he wants thatI want the opposite but that the children need the same as him!

Perfect!

Nope, am veteran long hauler and tend not to recline. Agree about the "ears".

(I have, however, never asked anyone not to recline or kicked them or anything, other than on a short haul flight when I was seven months pregnant and someone reclined so much that I was actually trapped in my seat.)

Reclining makes a big difference to how my neck feels afterwards, I'm 1.80 m tall, maybe this is why.
Yes, veteran regular long hauler here.

I'm a veteran long hauler (well, 30 years) and do not recline - I find the easiest way to counter jet lag is if you don't sleep on the plane.

I sit bolt upright reading a book - leaning it on the handily placed "tray" of the recliners seat top - and then when the recliner in front of me wakens in the night it usually gives them the biggest fright ever to see my eyes peering over the top of their seat....

Last longhaul I was on a recliner regretted reclining without checking as they re-broke someone's arm which was in a split cast, so they spent all night groaning in pain right beside the recliner's ears.

Also had a comedy situation once where a recliner failed to notice I had bent down to get something out of my bag and reclined - I was stuck!!! and shouting and pushing had NO effect until my DH tapped her on the shoulder and told her to move for a bit - she thought I was just a "recline and whine complainer" - she was within her rights to recline and was not going to move!!!!!

A recliner once complained to the cabin crew about DP's long legs impeding his recline because (and I quote) "they shouldn't put people like that seated behind normal people".

How can you realistically not sleep if you're flying for 24-30 hours, though?

I personally don't fly for longer than 18 hours - that is my own limit. London to New Zealand is much better done as 2 x 12 hour flights with a stop over in LA for instance rather than a long slog...

(and if you come back the other way - a stop in Singapore, there is much less jet lag)

A skyscanner survey in 2013 found 9 out of 10 people want recliners banned or there should at least be set times when they are allowed.

Psychologists have suggested there are two types of traveller: ‘Altruistic Soul’ and the ‘Selfish Ego’.

The skyscanner article is fascinating reading.

Both Monarch and Ryanair have banned/are phasing out. But I see more airlines doing it because of the conflict it creates. Delta had to divert 3 flights in the space of a week in September due to inflight fights breaking out over them.

Am I the only one who turns round to see what the person in the seat behind is doing, then says "I'm just about to recline, have you done yours yet?"

Big smile, no ill feeling. I'm not asking, just giving a polite warning.

I think you may be onto something there Mum. I would quite happily sit in the non reclining section with all the other wide awake people.

I don't recline my seat unless it's a nightflight, all the meals are done and the lights are off.

I'm quite tall - pushing 6ft - and on one (daytime) flight the woman in front of me reclined all the way, angling my TV screen such that I couldn't actually watch it; you know how with plane TVs they get that funny oil-slicky colour if you watch them at even the slightest angle... I spent most of my 9 hour flight of scrunching down in my seat with my neck at a stupidly uncomfortable angle just so I could watch the damn films (I had my TV schedule planned almost down to the minute ). I'd only carried one book onto the flight, which I'd done with in two hours, and there's only so long one can do sudoku for before you start craving How To Train Your Dragon remastered for the hallucinating in shades of psychedelic blue and pink.

I don't recline my seat during the day as I find with the weird plastic-leather seats I slide forward and my knees inevitably end up getting crushed against the seat in front. At night when I do recline I sort of fold my legs up and wedge them into the seat so I don't move (it's hard to explain, I've got the technique down to a tee after many long-haul flights!), but it means I'm facing sideways, so it's not a position condusive to watching the telly.

Reclining should really not be allowed during daytime flights. At night, have at it by all means.

but your daytime could be someone else's night time, or someone could be on leg 3 of a 5 leg journey etc...

I bet the airlines wish they had never started off with reclining seats.

but your daytime could be someone else's night time, or someone could be on leg 3 of a 5 leg journey etc...

Airlines almost universally operate in the same way. If you fly transatlantic night flights are all based on whether you are flying east to west. And even if you are flying on leg 3 of a leg journey the east to west/ west to east thing still works. Precisely so you don't get this problem.

sorry whether you are flying east to west and your time of departure/arrival.

I might simply be sleepy though, if I have a 6AM flight. Even if it's technically morning and I'm in my own time zone.

If I was getting on a train at 6am at London Euston for a 4hour journey to Glasgow would we have the same conversation or expectations about sleepy passengers? Seriously just get an early night.

If you are travelling long haul then you will be travelling through time zones in most cases so tiredness is part of the course regardless and the universal night/day flight system is supposed to be the best for tackling jet lag.

God, I started a thread several years ago about recliners on short haul flights - I think it is rude especially when person behind has a baby on their lap.

But was told by some 'they'd paid for their seat so they'd do what they wanted'.

I generally think travelling by plane brings out the very worst in people.

But to return to the OP - I think on night time long haul flights then it is perfectly sensible and expected to recline.

However on daytime short haul flights then it is more polite not to.

On most international flights there is a clear demarkation of the 'rest' time. Its normally after the main meal is served. On a night flight the lights are dimmed until any wake up meal is served. To recline a seat whilst any sort of service is taking is place, drinks, meal, etc is very inconvenient.
Modern airplanes have a far better recline position that scoops the chair rather than just moves the back. As long as you both recline you are okay!