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.

Hmmm its a tricky one i do think its polite to ask and compromise whether night or day on long haul. Not everyone sleeps for the entire journey and it is nice to have that space even if its small after four or five hours being cooped up. Short haul flights i think the recline option should be stopped even during the evening! x

If the person in front reclines their seat, you don't get any less room really, do you? Just the perception of it, because the back of their seat is closer to your eyes

I do get less room, because I have very long thighs & (depending on the seat configuration) my knees are often touching the one in front even when it's upright. If it reclines I'm trapped - great for potential DVT ( I always pay the few pounds for extra legroom on shorthaul trips but i think that's massively more expensive on longhaul?)

Also, on daytime longhaul, what about the TV screen? If that's in your lap it's not much use.

Afaik shorthaul seats don't recline as far (if at all?) Maybe they could introduce a more limited recline on longhaul?

If the person in front reclines their seat, you don't get any less room really, do you? Just the perception of it, because the back of their seat is closer to your eyes

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The back of the seat is closer to your eyes, therefore it is closer to your head. This has to then mean you have less room - the chair back is in the space which was "your" space before.

I only recline on a night flight, when the lights are dimmed OR if the person in front of me has reclined their seat right back leaving me less room. I prefer to be able to sit up and lean forward slightly over my table to do puzzle books, etc. This is far more difficult if someone has reclined.

It is generally, ime, not the done thing to recline over a meal time and on some airlines the air stewards will ask people to sit their chairs up when meals/snacks are served.

I'd be really uncomfortable if I had to fly long haul and wasn't able to recline my seat. Some people like my DH are comfortable with the seat upright but I'm not.

I would, however, be more than happy to have reclining seats banned on all flights. I can't sleep full stop on a plane anyway and the amount an economy seat reclines isn't worth the hassle it can cause generally.
mng friends nd family, I find that those who can sleep on planes can do so with and without reclining anyway.

On most, if not all, budget airlines you can't recline at all on short haul flights - so much better.

As I said - I tend to only recline if someone in front of my reclines. I almost always choose not to if the person in front of me stays upright.

I don't think it does cause much hassle in the real world. This seems to be one of those problems that only exists on mumsnet.

"But I guess we have some quite inexperienced budget airline or package trip travelers complaining about reclining."

Well, I have only travelled economy class that is true. However, I have do long and short haul to a range of countries and with a range of airlines, and for varying distances.

But no, not all my flights are budget - some have been, why pay more if I don't need to when doing a short flight?

And I wouldn't say I was an inexperienced flier particularly. Oly do flights for holidays but go at least 2 or 3 times away on a flight. So not loads but not rarely either.

Oh - and no, not all package holidays either. Infact very few packages - less than one a year, if that.

So - a silly, judgemental generalisation there!

But PtolemysNeedle - there is cabin crew on this thread who says they wish they were banned as it does cause hassle in the real world.

I never do. I think it's very rude without asking

I live in a country where I don't speak the local language. I frequently travel around the area, but I never recline because I don't know how to ask in the local language yet. Once my language skills improve, I may do.

If I were on a long haul night flight I would recline, other than for the meal bit.

But I would happily sacrifice all reclining if all the under fives could be banned from long haul flights or there could be adults only long haul flights.

It's public transport. Amother. Never gonna happen!

Just seen this and it reminded me of this thread

Damn it

The real issue is that there just isn't enough space in economy. My family and I are all taller than average with longer than average legs but can't always guarantee an extra leg room seat. Reclining a seat genuinely crushes my knees as even if I reclined where the seat reclines from doesn't increase my knee room. So I do pray that the person in front doesn't recline but if they do I suck it up because they've paid for their seat like I have and if the seat reclines they have every right to use that function. Reclining into a person with a toddler on their lap or pregnant (travelled as both) does make things even more difficult but I just can't see how I have any right to complain. I could ask them not to but then they may have their own reasons for reclining it (bad back, needing to sleep before work, plane anxiety) and I would be putting them in an awkward position, and expecting my comfort to trump theirs. Ultimately airlines could really do with giving people more personal space on flights. I flew long haul 23 weeks pregnant and it was terrible. I wished I'd been able to afford to upgrade, or had the guts to ask for a free one. But that was my choice to go on holiday. I just wish I could pay a fair price for fair leg room.

Actually I do wonder whether the recliner/non-recliner thing is relatively recent or has recently got more acute because more and more airlines have been surreptitiously increasing the number of seats and reducing the amount of space per seat in economy over the past few years. I swear the seats on the airline I flew with this time have got smaller and closer together and more uncomfortable than when I first flew with them.

Maybe we should ALL be blaming the airlines!

Pirate - yep, BA for one has reduced seat pitch.

FreeWee, I don't think the £ for legroom inches equation can be easily solved by "a little bit more" of each. Do pick your airline and even jet type as carefully as you can though ( jet type can be substituted at last minute, unfortunately)

The only times I've flown long haul heavily pregnant have been for work, so sadly not my choice at all.

In fairness, the squashing-by-recliner incident happened on a short haul flight when I wasn't expecting it. :) Long haul if I was booked in economy while pregnant I always asked for either an upgrade or a seat with nobody in front of me - only once got the former but always got the latter (including once an entire row to my preggo self).

Also definitely think seats are getting closer together...

I cannot sleep on planes, either Sparkling - if I do Something Bad WILL happen (irrational, I know!). But, I can't sleep in cars or on coaches either. I once did a coach trip to Italy, was about 30 something hours in total. Didn't sleep at all.

The human body can put up with a fairly long time without sleep - or at least mine can.

I don't recline, I don't feel the need, and I've been fortunate to never have someone recline in front of me.

The people who annoy me on planes are the ones who, when even the cabin crew have been told to be seated during turbulence, think seatbelt signs don't apply to them You're risking injury to yourself and others you selfish fools!

I have tried Lollipop, when they turn all the lights out and everyone goes to sleep I am sat there like a lemon. Unsure what I can and can't do in case I disturb anyone.

What about if your sleeping when the meals are served?

Wonder if anyone has experienced this or if any cc have seen this. Quite often I seem to end up behind a seat that can recline more than any other seat on that row - is this usually possible (other than my most recent flight).

Fyi, my last flight from Orlando I sussed how this particular person managed it which involved how he sat down and used his bulk to his advantage. This combined with the fact the aisle seat I was in I couldn't raise the aisle side armrest meant I only just had enough room between the seat back and armrest to get out and even then had to stand at an angle. Couldn't turn around on getting up so had to haul myself up on his seat back-no option. He cursed each time but wish he had seen the gymnastics needed to exit the row behind him!

If you are sleeping when the meals are served the cabin crew tend to wake you and ask you to raise your seat up. They are quite authoritative without being rude, which is a skill!

I really don't care if people recline. I'm not short (34" inseam) and on my own time, fly very frequently in cattle class in multi-sector long haul. There's clearly delineated times for sleeping - as soon as meals are done, the lights go down. It's madness if you don't expect others to try to sleep comfortably during this period.

I have never felt trapped in by someone reclining & except for the time I was flying on a newly reconstructed knee and couldn't hover upright with bent knees, don't see the need to haul myself up aggressively on others headrests. Equally, I don't actually care if people use my headrest to get themselves up. I wish I could say the same about flying near inattentive parents and people who choose window seats yet feel they need to pee on an hourly basis.

I tell people who are flying long haul to accept it's uncomfortable and that everyone around them feels the same way. Somehow if I go on board with low expectations, it's such a non-event, even if it is 30 hours door to door. Flying is relatively cheap these days and I think people lose sight that it's not going to be a luxury experience at the price.

Re squashing pregnant women...

I thought the airlines didn't allow travel beyond 28 weeks. Has this changed? If you're squashed by the chair in front before 28 weeks you really should be worried.

Have to agree with Ptolemysneedle on the matter of pregnancy.

I expect to recline on a long haul flight (not bothered for a quick hop).

You can't have it both ways - "pregnancy isn't an illness I want to fly" but I expect special treatment from other passengers.

You can be pissed off but don't expect other people to arrive at their destination unrested, uncomfortable, exhausted for their meeting.