To recline my seat in the airplane tonight ?

[Redeyeflight]

We are flying from Boston and Dh told me I’m not allowed to recline my seat on our night flight ? We are on economy and flying with BA. I don’t fly often so not sure about the etiquette. I mean if it was a day flight I wouldn’t recline but a night one ? Everyone would want to ?

@Bellie710

The problem with people saying you shouldn't recline on a day flight is that some people have been travelling long haul and their connecting flights are hours after they originally started travelling so they are exhausted.

Yep, the whole "shouldn't recline on a day flight" is nonsense..you're absolutely right about connecting passengers, on some airlines it's possible 30% of the load is people who have connected and are on time zones far removed from the locals...

And as for long haul and not reclining in day time, what rules would apply to the late PM west bounds (e.g. LAX) out of the UK who are in daylight for maybe another 12-14 hours after departure ...or the late evening east bounds ex-UK (e.g. SIN, BKK) where sunrise can happen maybe four of five hours after departure?

People on this thread sound mad - it’s fine to recline on a day or night flight once they have cleared the meal service - this has never been a problem on any flight I’ve been on. On long haul flights - day or night - people want to sleep. The seat so designed to recline so recline it - no need to ask anyone’s permission. If you can’t comfortably get out of a seat when the one in front of you is reclined you have a problem.

If you can’t comfortably get out of a seat when the one in front of you is reclined you have a problem.

How would suggest I solve that problem?

*would you

You can often recline half way and as long as it’s not meal time fair enough. We had a 14 hour flight from Australia and then an 8 hour flight it was made really uncomfortable by the people in front who reclined most of the day flight as well as the night! At least sit up when others are eating please .

There’s a special place in hell for recliners.

Even on a long haul night flight?

Do you stay upright and not recline

Yes, I find it horrendous when the person in front reclines (very tall) and I just can’t bring myself to inflict the same

Well one reason is if someone has a baby on their lap you wack the seat onto their head!

They recline for a reason. As long as you are reasonable about it that's fine. Check your DH attitude!!

My last flight someone literally slammed their seat back and my hot chocolate spilt all over me and my kindle.

I hate that seats recline. But what can I do?it is what it is

But surely they can recline their seat ?

But surely they can recline their seat ?

As @amylou8 has said, none reclining seats are a customer (i.e. the airline) option on many of the newer short haul aircraft types.

FWIW it's not been done to pacify the anti-recline activists, it's all down to reducing seat weight (=> Fuel savings => cost savings) and also reduce seat maintenance costs.

Of course you can, it’s polite to say so before you do, to avoid the person behind you getting their dinner on their lap, if they are eating for example, but anything less than 4 hour flight I think is unnecessary.

This is grimly selfish behaviour during the. Day - it’s really uncomfortable to be behind someone reclining.

On a night flight - fine.

The vast majority of people don’t want to and/or may be working

It’s just a few selfish twats (in the day I mean/night is fine)

So when I flew back from the US recently, via a connecting flight, I was up from 03.30, not going to be home until 11.30pm and had been at a work meeting until 10pm the night before. Technically, the long flight was day time. Did I recline? Absobloodylutely! If you think I am staying bolt upright on 5 hours of clock watching broken sleep when I have to drive at the end of it, you are much mistaken. Getting some extra sleep so I could drive safely far outweighed the person behind me being slightly inconvenienced.

but anything less than 4 hour flight I think is unnecessary.

Well you might do but you might think very differently if you're flying short haul having just worked a night shift (which I often did), or perhaps connected to short haul from from a red-eye Long Haul (e.g. US>UK) and the short haul sector is your chance to catch up on some sleep.

I certainly get the impression too many people here are only thinking of the topic in terms of their experiences when flying on holiday.

It's one thing having a full nights sleep and then rocking up at a UK regional airport to fly a couple of hours to somewhere like the Med....it's completely different for a lot of people, especially out of the major airports like Heathrow, where a short haul flight is often part of a larger/longer itinerary.

He needs to get a grip. They recline for a reason.

Recline when the cabin lights go down, put seat up when they’re in again an and ‘breakfast is being served.
As soon as food is done we recline our seats and the people behind generally so the same.

I have not seen anyone mention that it depends if you are seated in front of the very last sear in the compartment. In economy the back row seats often do not recline. I am now old and always travel business class because flights I make are just over 8 hours. I need to recline my seat without upsetting the person behind. I am very careful about where I sit. Close to the front on the aisle so I can get out to the toilet easily. It pays to choose your seat carefully and use one of those internet programmes which show the best and worst seats.

Doesn't everyone recline on night flights? They dim the lights for people to sleep. Also the people behind you can recline so they aren't losing any space.

I remember the days when everyone used to recline on long haul flights, it wasn’t a problem and we all flew in harmony, and I’m not even that old. I don’t know when it became such a thing.

I took it to mean he was telling her the airline wouldn't allow it, rather than him not allowing it. Not everything has to make a man out to be a dickhead.

The pro-recliners (on a day flight at least) are either not very tall so have no idea of the very real and agonising PAIN that having a seat recline into your knees for 8 hours or more can cause, or are aware of this and just plain don't care about inflicting pain on others. If you're short or average height then chances are that you've never experienced this and don't see the problem. On a night flight, I grant you, there is little alternative if you want to attempt some sort of sleep, although I usually wait until the person behind me has reclined first out of consideration.
This is the main reason I won't fly long haul any more unless I'm in at least Premium Economy.