to think its rude to recline seat on long-haul flight

[needabreak5]

....for the entire flight (except during meals), unless its a night flight and everyone is reclined? I had a 9 hour (day-time) flight yesterday and the family in front of us were fully reclined for the majority of the flight. Most others (including those behind us) remained upright so we also remained upright for the entire flight with less room due to the seats in front being reclined. DS (3) was asleep across our laps which didn't help with space, but i did feel it was 'unfair' that they were able to recline, whilst I felt it would have been rude for us to do the same to those behind - 3 tallish men. AIBU?

[bert3400]

I hate flying economy, mainly due to reclining seats and kids kicking my seat. I would rather pay a lot more money and make those 8-10 hours more pleasurable and less stressful. Once you've flown business I don't think you can go back to economy....its bloody awful

[ChildsFan]

I'm Cabin Crew.

The childlike behaviour I've witnessed over reclining seats is embarrassing.

I politely refuse to get involved in squabbling adults huffing and puffing about who is reclining seats. It's the truth that a grown adult will summon a cabin crew member to ask the person in front not to recline their seat.

[Salome61]

I had a man recline as far as he could on our long haul flight. When the food arrived I politely asked him to 'de recline' and he refused as he 'wasn't eating'. I shook the seat as I sat back and the next thing I know his wife is screaming in my face I'd made him spill his red wine all over himself. So very funny, when we got off and went to the meeting point for our trip, they were there, we had to spend two weeks with them.

[FarFromHome2]

@IHearIt

To call a whole cabin class 'aresholes' is unprofessional for an airsteward. And I've met far more entitled dickheads in business than in economy.

You need to try first then, it’s lovely.

[notimagain]

I also think people who recline are dicks. It’s fucking inconsiderate and downright rude to encroach on others space.

Oh dear...

FWIW in the wider world Long Haul flights leaving the likes of Heathrow for the Eastern Seaboard in the AM used to, probably still do, carry a lot of passengers who had flown into LHR overnight from places like the Far East or Africa..two or three hour connection for them then onwards...are they "dicks" or just people who have been travelling umpteen hours already and who need some more sleep?

[ChildsFan]

@Salome61

I had a man recline as far as he could on our long haul flight. When the food arrived I politely asked him to 'de recline' and he refused as he 'wasn't eating'. I shook the seat as I sat back and the next thing I know his wife is screaming in my face I'd made him spill his red wine all over himself. So very funny, when we got off and went to the meeting point for our trip, they were there, we had to spend two weeks with them.

I rest my case.

[QueSyrahSyrah]

@PileofLogs

I'd only recline at night. It's allowed obviously but it's definitely a dick move the rest of the time.

Same here.

[Crazykatie]

Economy isn’t great if you don’t like it don’t fly, reclining seat after meal is OK but not everyone is that considerate.

[Breakfastisjustporridge]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Not even convinced it makes much difference to the recliner, main function seems to be pissing off off the person behind you.

[MintyGreenDreams]

We witnessed a woman recline her seat straight away on a long haul daytime flight.The woman behind asked her to put it back up but she refused do she constantly kicked the back of her seat for hours.

[ReneBumsWombats]

@Christmasiscominghohoho

I also think people who recline are dicks. It’s fucking inconsiderate and downright rude to encroach on others space.

however if the person in front of me does it then I do it and I tell the person behind me why…. Because the person in front of me is a selfish prick.

The person behind you is unlikely to give a fuck. We all know that seats recline and people are likely to use the function. Just ons of the things we accept when we fly cattle class.

However, if you were not so "fucking inconsiderate and downright rude" yourself, you would just accept the loss of space because that's what it is to recline your seat for comfort, according to you...

If you reclined your seat in front of me, I'd think nothing of it because that's how the seats are used. If you turned around and gave me a speech about how it's all the fault of the person in front of you, I'd think you both weird and hypocritical.

[Cas112]

The recline is there for a reason
YABU

[ReneBumsWombats]

@MintyGreenDreams

We witnessed a woman recline her seat straight away on a long haul daytime flight.The woman behind asked her to put it back up but she refused do she constantly kicked the back of her seat for hours.

Woman in front should have farted through the seat...

[calmlakes]

The seats are meant to recline.
It is the oddest thing to get upset because people use a basic function of an item.
Everyone knows that the seat is built to recline, it isn't a surprise.

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

Well. This is always a tricky one.

What I would say though, is that you would have been quite in your rights to recline too, especially as you had the child on your laps. The fact the people behind you were tallish men is neither here nor there - if one person can recline, everyone can. If one person’s space can be reduced, everyone’s can. There’s definitely no special pleading for the oh so special “tall men”

[W0tnow]

I’m not sitting bolt upright fur 8 hours, day or night.

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

We witnessed a woman recline her seat straight away on a long haul daytime flight.The woman behind asked her to put it back up but she refused do she constantly kicked the back of her seat for hours.

The person who kicked the back here was very out of order. There’s no excuse of this.

Had I been the woman in front I’d have caused merry hell. No way would I put up with being kicked. You don’t know the circumstances of the person in front - they may have come from another flight that made this nighttime for them, they may have a bad back that is eased by the slight recline.

[wackamole]

Of course people have a "right" to recline as far as the seat goes, except during takeoff, landing, and scheduled meal service. The theory is that if each person reclines, the amount of space for each seat stays the same although the shape of the space changes. This made much more sense when long haul flights were very planned and regimented: most often scheduled to run overnight, with set times for meals, a movie, and going to sleep. Now that flights have more diverse scheduling and food and entertainment is often completely at the discretion of each passenger, it works less well. Even if the passenger behind is not uncomfortable reclining, the space available with all seats fully reclined is as inconvenient for, say, holding a baby or working on a laptop as it is for eating a meal. (And of course, slamming the seat all the way back with no warning is not just rude but alarming to the person behind in some situations.)

Totally normal to recline and much better for anyone with back pain or similar issues. Typically more comfortable to recline for people prone to lower back pain; more comfortable to keep the seat upright or recline no more than an inch or two for people prone to upper back or neck pain. Anyway, its just a couple of centimeters at best! There's a huge variation depending on the airline, model of the plane, and route it's designed to fly. Some planes that only do short-haul flights recline slightly or not at all, but (for example) planes on transpacific routes commonly recline 7-8 inches.

Clearly it's pretty common to dislike the idea of everyone reclining all flight and to find it uncomfortable, hence the market for anti-reclining devices and the business decisions of airlines like RyanAir to remove the reclining feature completely. And clearly a lot of other people like to recline, or like to have the option to recline even if some people are inconsiderate in exercising their options. As far as the idea that people should pay money for more seat room if they dislike being reclined upon: I don't think it's frequent flyers saying this; it's increasingly common to be rerouted or placed on standby and have no option over the seat even if you're willing to pay. And that includes some seats (e.g., very last row in economy on many airlines) which don't recline at all even although the seats directly in front recline fully.

I guess it's a hangover from the 50s when maybe people had a degree of respect for their fellow passengers, clearly that's not the case now. I think the fear (much more common and even "normal" now) of confronting a possibly belligerent stranger who may retaliate and make a long flight even more miserable is also a factor that prevents even many reasonable passengers from discussing such matters and having enough information to be considerate/compromise (e.g., warning the person behind that you're putting the seat back, asking the person in front to wait ten minutes as you're feeding your baby, etc.)

[Suzi888]

@PileofLogs

I'd only recline at night. It's allowed obviously but it's definitely a dick move the rest of the time.

Yep! and people leave them down for meals as they’re sleeping. It’s a pain in the ass. I kept mine upright at 4am with 6 year old DD lying on me! It was horrendous!

[Cigarettesaftersex1]

I recently flew to Australia via Doha, I didn't recline to Doha but I certainly bloody did to Australia, I was knackered and I was getting some much needed sleep. Always put the seat up for meals though

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

Seats should obviously be put upright during meals. But absolutely no reason to shake or kick the seat. You call the air steward(ess)

[ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave]

I make a game of it by "accidentally" knocking the back of their seat every time they seem to be drifting off. You're guaranteed not to get a wink of sleep if you recline in front of me.

[KosherDill]

I've been on hundreds of flights in all classes of service and honestly, seats just don't recline all that much. It's a mystery to me as to how a seat recliner really inconveniences the person behind them. A matter of a couple of inches.

If it's that much of a problem, pay for bulkhead or emergency row seats, or move up a class. But really the actual mechanisms of the seats don't allow for much of an angle these days anyway.

[ReneBumsWombats]

@ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave

I make a game of it by "accidentally" knocking the back of their seat every time they seem to be drifting off. You're guaranteed not to get a wink of sleep if you recline in front of me.

Ooh, you rebel, you.

But how on earth can you tell if they're falling asleep? And what if they turn around and ask you to stop it?

[KosherDill]

@ChildsFan

I'm Cabin Crew.

The childlike behaviour I've witnessed over reclining seats is embarrassing.

I politely refuse to get involved in squabbling adults huffing and puffing about who is reclining seats. It's the truth that a grown adult will summon a cabin crew member to ask the person in front not to recline their seat.

So, ChildsFan, what is your thought about the etiquette? May we use the full functionality of our seats or should we refrain?