Plane Rant

[LucyDontLockIt]

Why do "special diet" people get all their food about an hour earlier than everyone ekse??

Why don't people think to put their chairs back upright at meal times??

Why do people wait until the passengers finally get moving off the plane before they start getting their shit together in the fucking aisle so nobody can get passed??

Does flying bring out the megabitch in anyone else? I spend hours boiling over with fury on a flight, surely I can't be the only one

Cabin Crew generally tell people to put their seats upright when they distribute meals.

If they don’t most of us are capable of both making and accepting a polite reasonable request.

The newer seats move forwards, thereby removing the impact on the leg space behind. Though they do lean into your ‘lap space’.

And yes, there is a big difference in spending an 11 hour overnight flight reclined to bolt upright.

"I like the newer planes where the seats slide forward so the only person who is affected is the "recliner""

I didn't know about this. What a good idea.

The last few flights I have been on have been on budget airline with non reclining seats so it isn't an issue for me. We flew Virgin Atlantic to and from Orlando though, but paid for extra legroom seats, so again, reclining wasn't an issue for us.

If I did want to recline a seat I wouldn't do it during a mealtime, because that is just so monumentally selfish. I would also ask the passenger behind me if they minded.

I am a bit of a people pleaser though and hate to piss other people off.

Puzzledandpissedoff yeah probably. But they don’t let people board the plane in a free for all scrum, so I can’t see why they can’t exercise more control over the disembarkation process, it would make it quicker for everyone if they did.

As a special diet person, I always get served food at least half an hour before everyone else, which means I end up eating on my lap as the recliner in front never wants to sit upright if they are not eating themselves.

A flight I was on recently (think it might have been Jet 2) made everyone sit down again before they would open the doors

I've done the late night Singapore-LHR flight - 25 minutes after landing on a delayed flight from Sydney. By that time, I had no concept of what the time was - anywhere in the world - all I knew was that I was absolutely starving and I would have eaten a scabby horse at that point. If someone in front of me had chosen not to have their meal and just recline straightaway, I may have had words (notwithstanding my usual zen approach referred to earlier). I would also have begged for their meal

I wonder if some people who get up despite a medical emergency didn't understand the request. On a recent flight 2 women unbuckled and stood up while we were still taxiing (tbf taxiing in Frankfurt can feel as long as the entire flight) and weren't reacting to the flight attendant's request to sit down in English or German. Someone shouted at them in a language I didn't recognize from a few rows away and they immediately sat down again.

I find that the PA system the flight attendants use is pretty loud and claer, but I can never hear what the pilot is saying. Unfortunately I tend to find the pilots comments more interesting, especially when he/she is talking about where we are, the weather ETA etc.

Wow, lots of entitled people around.
I'm not tall and agree with a poster upthread. I don't want anyone else in my personal space, space which I have paid for.
It's not my problem if you are tall/fat/have back issues or whatever.
I don't want you encroaching my already limited space.
Neither do I want to entertain your kids so im not going to keep up a 3 hour conversation so as to allow you to chill.

Both you, and the person in front of you, and the person behind you, have paid for a reclining seat. And I don't have a "back issue" I have permanent nerve damage from sciatica, need a walking aid on a good day, and if bolt upright across the Atlantic would need to be carried off. Stop being disablist. The only reasonable adjustments I need to survive the flight are somewhere to put my walking aid (it folds, so easy), and for the usual already paid for function of reclining the seat to be operational.

The funny thing, @Belindabauer is that you don't see that it's you whose attitude is 'entitled' and very self obsessed. As @nocoolnamesleft points out, all the passengers have paid for a reclining seat, not for the 'personal space'. After all, you put your luggage under the seat in front.

When I park my car I also pay for the entire spot.
Does that mean I can park right up to the line, even if it infringes on your comfort?
It's the same thing.
Just sit in your seat, not leaning either sideways, backwards, forwards, or what ever.
Why is it so dufficult?
If you need extra space, then pay for it!
Don't take mine.

Out of sheer curiosity - people who have to recline for long journeys, how do you manage on trains?

The reclining seat is included in the space the person has paid for

Not the other directions, but yes to the recline

Usually people are asked to wait until after the meal long haul which is also fine

People who take their shoes off and cross their legs. One man seated on the other side of an aisle and one seat ahead did this and it wasn't pleasant.

“Out of sheer curiosity - people who have to recline for long journeys, how do you manage on trains?”

There is more space on trains, easier to walk about, and I can’t think of an 11 hour overnight non-stop train journey within this country.

Hands up to being a knee jammer. Am 6'3-4 and don't mind if about 1 hour and half flight but actually had the experience of a recliner do it as soon as they got on an 8 hour flight, my legs were jammed anyway so made sure they were uncomfortable too.

They complained to the staff who said they needed to recline, i pointed out what was i supposed to do "chop my legs off?"....that was the end of it. They gave up in the end.

I don't tend to fly if i can help it as extra leg room seats are usually difficult to get (always try) and i can do without the drama.

I always recline on long haul and I always will.
I had a very agressive man punch the pack of my seat very hard when I reclined it once, telling me to put it up or he would do it for me. I just reported him to the cabin crew and he was moved to a different seat and threatened with the police when we landed.

I think it's selfish to purposely go out of your way to cause someone discomfort. I recline on any and all flights and will not cause myself even more back pain because someone thinks it's 'frowned upon

But you'll happily crush me as like a previous poster I have very long thigh bones!

Thank you

Do any knee jammers recline?

Or do you stop the person in front of you and never recline?

Oh dear - so much anger.

DH flies every week for work and he's got pretty good at it. He's 6'3 and he seems to survive all the seat recliners, people pushing into aisles, not getting meals, not making connections, massive queues for security...

I can't count how many times he's called me while sprinting across the airport shouting 'I've no idea which flight I'll be on next, I'm just running to gate 14 to see if I'll make that flight, if not then there's one from gate 8 that I might manage to make, which connects in Philadelphia, then I might be able to get a rental car at Manchester and get home by 1am...'

His technique is to board the plane, drink one G&T, answer some emails, then fall asleep. He always eats in the airport, and rarely eats the meal they offer on the plane because a) it's usually rubbish and b) you then have a lapful of tray/rubbish to deal with.

Sleepy antihistamines are your friend.

Attitude is everything.

If you can upgrade at a reasonable price it's worth it.

As previous posters have said I have paid for a seat that reclines, on a long haul flight I would expect some kind on compensation if a couldn't use some basic functionality of my seat. I am struggling to imagine how uncomfortable a long haul flight bolt upright would be. I am not taking anyone else's space I am using the space provisioned for my seat. Your seat has the same space provided for it behind you. No amount of aggression passive or otherwise would persuade me differently, it would probably just make me feel stroppier about the whole thing I suspect.
Thinking about trains, I don't really use them but when I do I find they have more space and it is easier to stand up and move around. I have never taken one overnight anywhere.

I don't see why people have to have "special meals". And I say that as someone who can't eat them. Just bring a packet of biscuits (or whatever you are able to eat) - you're not going to die by missing a meal.

Agree about the cabin luggage. Some airlines are strict, but just did a Delta flight and some people were really taking the piss. Rather coincidentally the worst offenders always turn up at the last minute when presumably it's too late to put their luggage in the hold.

Also the people who keep getting up and going in the overhead lockers. FGS get what you need at the start of the flight and then SIDDOWN !!!! Except for visiting the toilet there is no need to be moving around faffing about with stuff .

Also on most recent flight someone asked me to swap seats, which I did, even though I had to move away from dh and the dcs. They didn't even say thank you! And then the people next to me placed their screaming child next to me instead of between the mother and father. I gave them an Extreme Paddington Stare and the child was swiftly moved...

I don't go out of my way to get my knees in the recliners back, just sitting in a normal position does that anyway. I would need to adjust to make it possible for the recliner to not have my knees in their back (at least on the particularly bad flight i was on). So why should i make myself even more uncomfortable just so the recliner can be more comfy?

From that perspective isn't the recliner being passive aggressive as they are attempting to force their will on me?

Elphame

I have long thigh bones too. I'm 5ft9" and about 70% legs. I agree with pastaandpestoagain and would need to be compensated if I was not able to use the functions I had paid for. Absolutely find it bizzare that people don't want to recline.

If the meal is included in the price, then surely the airline should provide special meals where necessary, @IrmaFayeLear? I’d be a bit pissed off if I’d paid for a meal and had to bring biscuits because the airline couldn’t be bothered to provide a gluten free/vegetarian/whatever meal.