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.

The airline I work for will fly you up to 34 weeks with a Drs note.

'hitting me quite hard and insistently on the head and shaking the chair'

Whatever else you think about reclining, this behaviour is NOT acceptable and I'd have told her in no uncertain terms to stop fucking hitting me.

In long-haul economy, everyone's a bit uncomfortable so, within reason, I think everyone just needs to put up with it.

Coco, 'I complain like crazy if someone reclines their seat in front of me. I've had some smashing rows with total bellends about it on both long and short haul flights.' You sound like the ballooned here, to be honest.

bellend! Effing spellcheck ...

So are squashed bumps a problem you deal with a lot scoop?

'Squashed bumps' are thankfully not a common occurrence on my flights.

small mercies...

If like to see the function removed from airline seats. It causes more angst than anything else on board. Add in alcohol and you have a recipe for kicking off.

Worst one was when I had almost 2yo DS on my lap (he had his own seat, but had to be on my lap for take off) and the twit in front of me threw her chair back without warning (seatbelt light was still on), DS had been leaning forward touching the screen and he got hit very hard in the head. He screamed (understandably!) and she turned around and said "shut that fucking kid up or I'll shove him in the overhead locker". She then flicked her waist length hair over the back of the seat, covering the screen. I flicked it back on her side, and she snarled at me and said "touch my fucking hair and I'll break your nose". I told her to keep it on her side of the chair and it wouldn't be a problem. More swearing. The seatbelt light went off, so I moved to my spare seat and left DS in the seat behind her. The hair comes back over, covering the screen again. I spoke to a steward and she was warned about her behaviour. Didn't stop the hair from being flicked back over, but then I wasn't too careful about stopping DS from adding a few decorations in the form of half masticated jelly babies either.

I only fly business now. Life's too short to have to sit that closly to other people.

Yes, I think a lot of airlines will let you fly up to 34 weeks with a doctor's note. Though actually the time I was squashed I think I was only around 27 weeks. It's really quite easy for the seat in front to hit you in the bump if there isn't much legroom/big recline and you're carrying high.

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

I'm not saying pregnancy is an illness but it does add some physical limitations in the later stages due to the fact that, unlike most non-pregnant people, you are shaped like a weeble with a really weird centre of gravity and possibly very odd effects on your blood pressure/innards/pelvis - and actually on several occasions I didn't particularly want to fly but I was travelling for work and I was the person who had to go to important meetings. You might as well say that people with various physical disabilities shouldn't have any accomodation made for them because "hey, you're not sick, you wanted to fly, you have to be treated exactly the same as everyone else or it's not FAIR". I presume you also think nobody should ever stand up on a bus to give a heavily pregnant woman a seat because "pregnant women shouldn't expect any special treatment"? Or they shouldn't get any exemptions from heavy lifting in workplaces? Or that when I asked for special treatment on long haul when 7 months gone (ie not having a person seated in front of me) they should have just refused me "to be fair"?

Also, as I said above, my ideal situation when travelling long haul preggo is just to arrange in advance to not have someone seated in front of me so the issue doesn't come up and I don't inconvenience anyone. The squashing incident happened on a day time short haul flight when I wasn't expecting it.

MidniteScribbler that woman's behaviour was disgusting. I hope you told her why your DS screamed, i.e. that she had hit him in the head when she threw her seat back.suddenly reclined her seat.

What a vile woman, MidniteScribbler, and your poor DS. I think I'd have asked to be moved to another seat.

Only time I've ever seen people nearly come to fisticuffs on a plane was over reclining, now that I think of it. Parties had to be moved to opposite ends of the plane by cabin crew.

You might as well say that people with various physical disabilities shouldn't have any accomodation made for them because "hey, you're not sick, you wanted to fly, you have to be treated exactly the same as everyone else or it's not FAIR

Pregnancy is not a disability. The airlines quite rightly accommodate people with disabilities.

And you may not be the only person with 'important meetings' to attend.

I agree recline on short haul really isn't necessary.

And I'd hope that the airlines would do what they could, if they could to make it easier for you. But I don't think this should come at a heavy price for another passenger.

Yes I told her, but she didn't care. The thing was, if she had waited five minutes until the seatbelt sign was off, then DS would have been in his own seat, and it wouldn't have been an issue. Even the flight attendant told her off because it was bad enough for him to need an ice pack and had a bad bruise on his head. She didn't care less, and it was only an 1 1/2 hour flight and she spent the whole time playing games on a tablet, so no real necessity to recline anyway. She caused lots of hassles, refused to turn the tablet off for landing, abused the FA for not having her preferred flavor of Pringles, and huffed and puffed that people didn't dive to their feet the second the plane stopped.

I don't like people reclining at the best of times, but there's a special place in hell for those that don't check behind them before flinging themselves backwards.

"Pregnancy is not a disability"

In some cases it might as well be - what would you consider yourself to be if you suddenly lost the ability to bend over without actually toppling over, or couldn't easily get out of your chair?

Don't get me wrong, I was a very active pregnant lady both times round, I didn't mind travelling, I actually played music gigs nearly up to my due date, but I HAD DIFFERENT PHYSICAL NEEDS TO PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT PREGNANT ON THE BASIS THAT I HAD SEVERAL KILOS OF BABY/WOMB/AMNIOTIC FLUID PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO THE FRONT OF MY TORSO. I needed to sit down more than when I wasn't pregnant. I was more prone to backache/pelvic pain than when I wasn't pregnant. My blood pressure was different to when I wasn't pregnant. My balance was shot to shit. I was a REALLY WEIRD FUCKING SHAPE and I TOOK UP A LOT OF SPACE and I COULDN'T ACTUALLY TAKE MY PREGNANT BELLY OFF SO THE OTHER PASSENGER DIDN'T HAVE TO "PAY A HEAVY PRICE". I'm not sure why this is so difficult to understand. It wasn't like "oh, I won't be able to sleep", if I was going to facilitate the other passenger having a nice nap for the duration of the flight and not being inconvenienced in any way I would have been in a huge level of possibly medically dangerous discomfort BECAUSE SHE WAS BASICALLY SITTING ON MY BUMP. FFS.

I mean, what would you expect me to do if she hadn't agreed to unrecline a bit? Just lie there with her on top of me?

I totally understand that you feel MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE FLIGHT.

Do you understand that others may feel the same and may have their own needs (maybe not visible and certainly not through choice) and expectations during the flight?

And as I said already, I don't see the need for recline on short haul.

I don't think it's a matter of feeling more important than anyone else, it's a matter of having (at the time) special needs that meant I was physically not able to sit behind someone reclining, much like the person or persons upthread who absolutely needed to recline because of back problems. Are they also "special little snowflakes" who just think they're more important than the person behind them?

If the person in front of me had actually said "I'm sorry, I need to recline because [x,y]" or even just "I need to recline" I'd have called for cabin crew and asked for a seat change or a swap. It actually wouldn't have been possible for me to just get over myself and spend the flight behind a fully reclined seat - I think especially because it was short haul there really was feck-all room.

Again, as mentioned upthread, it's really just a matter of courtesy.

I have to sack all my temp staff at two pm. A lovely bunch of girls who work hard and don't deserve this. I feel so tired and hormonal I'm going to cry. Need to suppress this and remember this isn't about me! Not a good job for a pregnant lady though...

Oh my god wrong thread!!!

Oh I don't know Bean, at least you weren't demanding a lie down on someone else's lap - although it sounds like you need it most!!

:)

bring back smoking on planes, nobody complained and everyone was more chilled
I am only small but have tall dc who are grown up now.
It doesn't bother me but it bothers them as they have such little room.
I think they should remove the function to recline and think its selfish to do so tbh.

I am 6'2'' and I never recline my seat unless it's an overnight flight and even then I always ask the person behind me if they would mind.

I like the recline, its easier to rest.

Recliners are meant to be used that is why they are there!
But I always wonderd why planes don't have the same sytem than in some trains where it is the seat is advanced to create the angle, like that you don't disturb the person behind and you are the one with the inconveniance of less leg space...