Regarding fully reclined seat at mealtime on a flight?

[Linguaphile]

What exactly is seat reclining etiquette on long haul flights? I was on a long haul flight last weekend (on the way home from visiting my parents for Christmas), and just as meals and drinks had been handed out, the woman in front of me abruptly fully reclined her seat and decided to sleep, nearly spilling my meal and drinks into my lap in the process. I had to sit like a pretzel during the entire meal with her chair digging into my knees and my tray shoved right up next to my body about an inch below my boobs, awkwardly trying to cut up food without elbowing the person next to me in the face. It wasn’t late at night, maybe 7pm. She stayed that way for the remainder of the flight, even after she had been told to put her seat upright for landing 7 hours later.

Now, I realise that some discomfort is to be expected in steerage class on flights, and I understand someone wanting to recline a bit to sleep once food has been cleared away and cabin lights are down (though even then I try not to recline all the way as I know how uncomfortable it is for the person behind me). But casually shoving your seat all the way down right at meal time when space is obviously already tight just felt... well... rude.

AIBU to have been irked?

I've flown regularly for ever and the cabin crew have been militant about people putting their seats up for landing. I am amazed they didn't have a go at her

@Ated
That reflects really badly on you. If you travel economy for long haul then it's something you need to accept. Seats should be up during take off, landing and meal times but you cant stop someone from reclining for the entire flight.
If you want more space then pay for it. If you dont want to pay for it, then you need to accept that you will be cramped, especially on long haul when people will be sleeping.

Get your own back. Put somethings large,pointy, awkward shaped in the seat pocket behind the offending seat! Making sure it digs into the back of the seat. Childish I know but very satisfying to make it really uncomfortable for them. Plead innocent if she complains - nothing untoward in pocket, having had a cursory check.
Cabin crew usually insist passengers put their seats upright during meal times so if she refused to put the seat upright deserves comeback.

This isn’t meal related but I was on a flight where the person in front kept trying to recline the seat but I have long legs and my knees were right in the back of the seat. Every time he tried the seat didn’t move as there wasn’t space, he kept trying all through the flight though. It was extremely annoying.

I think that it depends on where the flight originates and the time of day to some extent because you often have hundreds of people who are in transit from somewhere else long haul and are exhausted from their first flight, long transit , delayed flight etc. And then they get on a second long haul flight and are desperate for rest. And sometimes on long hauls they take their own sweet time and can take two or three hours to get the food out and then cleared up.

For example I once flew from Kathmandu with a Middle East airline and had to spend four hours in transit at Doha airport at 1-5am my body clock time, with no sleep on the previous flight.

When we got on board it transpired that lots of other people must also have had similarly exhausting transits as everyone put their seats back the moment the seatbelt signs went off...and went to sleep. This included the person in front of me, and the person in front of them. I put mine back too....the person behind me kicked me non stop for the next hour and then hit me over the head.

I do like fully reclining it if the people behind are truly annoying or CFs though...

YANBU

Cabin Crew should have been more assertive with her though.

Any time I have seen seats reclined they have always been told to put them up when food is being served and for landing.

On a recent 7 hour flight we were in the row behind a bulkhead seat. There was 3 adults and a baby in front of us. All 3 reclined their seats as soon as they could and didn’t put them back up - even for landing! I was shocked the crew didn’t make them put them up for landing!

We asked cabin crew to ask them to pit their seats up during the meal and one of them did. Just for 5 minutes then almost knocked DH’s food into his lap! So rude.

I would have complained to her and to the flight attendants and go from there. Seats should only be reclined if there is space and not at meal times.

I had this on a long haul once, jammed my knees against the seat and as she tried to recline, I feigned pain of crushing and gave her seat a massive wallop, nearly throwing her onto the floor. She didn't try it again

What a dick.

The rule is really simple - upright for takeoff, landing and meal times. The rest of the time you can recline, and you are a dick if you kick the seat or hit the person reclining.

I had this years ago on a long haul flight. Guy in front reclined his seat and refused to raise it for meal times even when asked several times by cabin crew leading me to have to eat my meals from the table of the lady (kind stranger) next to me once she had finished. It made a long haul flight incredibly uncomfortable and in the end I was so irritated that I repeatedly accidentally on purpose kicked his seat every 2 minutes for an hour

Seats upright for take off, landing and mealtimes. I've been on planes and they've actually made announcements for people to make sure their seats are up as food is being served.

If they have recline I have no issue with the person in front on me using it at all other times because let's face it, I could also recline mine to gain back the space if I'm really bothered. Kicking or hitting someone because they recline their seat during the proper times is very poor form indeed.

That said if the person behind me was very tall or very pregnant or indeed had a child on their lap I wouldn't use my recline even if the person in front of me had. It's just about using common sense.

There is a real issue with people being inconsiderate on flights these days. I was once on a flight where someone stood up during taxiing and takeoff and opened an overhead locker. The stewardess bolted out of her seat to get him sat back down and he actually stood there yelling at her and tussling over the bag. She was tiny he was huge, it was quite horrifying actually as he was very aggressive

@Lulualla :
I don't think it reflects badly on me, i've paid for my seat, sometimes £2 to £3,000 and I don't accept some idiot forcing my knees back into my body. Now that I have a lock I can rest peacefully as usually these types of passengers don't ask or check with those behind them.

Ated if you mean a knee defender, those are banned on most airlines.

Either pay out for the exit row seat/premium if your need for leg space is more than the person in fronts need to recline (all of 1 inch) or put up with it.

YABU. You should have got up and smacked her in the mouth 😁

@Linguaphile If you had the balls to say something to the FA you might have been bumped up or moved to an empty seat.

I know a couple of FA's who do long haul. Some fliers are pitas to get a bump up or a single seat. They then spend the rest of the flight moaning about the unfairness of it all, when the other person gets moved.

id of bloody told her!

This isn't a clear cut case. At Xmas we flew from Australia, so a 15 hour flight and a 7 hour flight. We were all so tired that we were not interested in food on the 2nd flight so all tried to go to sleep and didn't eat, cabin crew are well aware of this and will not wake people up to put their seat upright. It is not ideal but it isn't really that difficult to eat on a long haul flight with the seat in front reclined as you have much more room than short haul.

That reclining seat thing on planes needs to be banned. Meals or no meals. You have two inches of space and then someone takes a bit of it. Bonkers. Or just ban all aeroplanes! Hate them!

It’s amazing how much you can accidentally dig your knees in the back of someone’s seat time after time when they are reclined

@bellie710 that sounds like a shit airline. Whenever I’ve flown and people were reclining at mealtimes, crew woke them up.

Your right to sleep is not more important than my right to eat without your seat in my face.

However, I don’t have a problem with people reclining outside of mealtimes on long haul flights. For short haul it does seem overkill.

It’s amazing how much you can accidentally dig your knees in the back of someone’s seat time after time when they are reclined

That’s really childish.

You just ask a flight attendant to speak to them. Stick your light on and the attendant will come to you.

I put YANBU but then read that you didn't complain so you can't really moan after.