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 ?

Why I fly economy I sit in the very last row of any of the cabin so I can recline my seat as much as I want without complaints.

Though it might be worth mentioning (I think it was by a pp) that on at least some of those short haul aircraft types that still have reclining seats the rear row is non-reclining (often due to the position of a bulkhead/equipment stowage).

As you say worth checking on something like Seat Guru.

Even more amusing are the posters hoping seats could remain fixed for a day flight and recline for a night one - in reality, the same plane reaches destination, is cleaned in a miniscule timeframe and then flies back in the other direction with one being a day flight and the other a night!

Truly an eye opener to see the parallel universe others live in. Unfortunately for them, the reality is that if the seat has a reclining function, the user has the option to recline it at the times dictated by cabin crew - this includes day flights irrespective of their opinion. If they choose to behave aggressively to the wrong person, they will end up paying for it

@morechocolateneededtoday

Good post..

the same plane reaches destination, is cleaned in a miniscule timeframe and then flies back in the other direction with one being a day flight and the other a night!

True..and I see not a squeak of a reaction to the post I made yesterday about what the seat back position enforcers suggest is done about seat positions on very long flights westbound which can be entirely in daylight/night, or the very short day or night you can get going eastbound.

As you say "Truly an eye opener to see the parallel universe others live in".

Basically, people fall into two categories. Either those who are mindful of others and keep their seat upright or the 'me, me, me' category who centre all thoughts around themselves and recline without a thought for the person behind. Actually, three categories, the third being those who would like to recline but being mindful of the person behind, politely ask whether they would mind if they recline their seat a little.

You can do ridiculous performative moralising about plane seats, but that does not make it correct or true.

The seats can be reclined. If you don't want to accept that, buy a better seat or don't fly.

You know what?.

Some comments on this thread are so bizarre it reminds me of why some people I used to work with had fond memories of flying freight around...and why cabin crew are grossly underappreciated ....

Ah well, soon enough the planet will be so fried this won’t even be an issue 🤣

Where do your legs go at night that if its a night flight it doesn't bother you? Surely it either hurts your legs or it doesn't?
I do understand if someone is very tall it's very hard to get comfortable in plane seats. But surely its the same whether its day time or night time?

Its a UK forum

The issue I have with reclining is that if you have a baby on your lap and someone swiftly reclines their seat backwards it whacks the baby on the head. I had to get cabin crew to intervene.

Or you can argue that the people fall into two categories-: the selfish twats who are ‘me me me’ and so self absorbed they won’t allow others the comfort of reclining versus those that are mindful of the comfort of others and happily encourage those in front of them recline.

@BellaEllaWella you said in an earlier post that people who couldn't comfortably get out of their seat if the seat in front have problems.

I asked what I should do to solve that problem.....
Because I do really struggle to get out of my seat if the person in front has fully reclined and on my last flight it caused me so much pain that it took weeks to recover.

Why are you struggling so much, what specifically caused you pain, and how often are you getting out of your seat?

Sounds like you need to book early enough to secure bulkhead seats. Even then, if you can only get a normal aisle seat I can’t see how the seat in front could materially interfere with you sliding out of your own seat.

I never recline my seat for the simple reason that I don't like it when the person in front of me does it. I always treat other people as I would like to be treated.

Why are you struggling so much, what specifically caused you pain, and how often are you getting out of your seat?

Sounds like you need to book early enough to secure bulkhead seats. Even then, if you can only get a normal aisle seat I can’t see how the seat in front could materially interfere with you sliding out of your own seat.

I have a hip injury which means twisting or 'side stepping' hurts.
The nature of my job often means booking relatively last min so extra leg room isn't always available. I always try for an aisle seat.
My last flight was 14 hours and the person in front fully reclined for the whole flight and my arm rest didn't move. Getting in and out of my seat was difficult and painful.

I think people fall into two camps;

1. those who are “me me me” and think that special rules should be made for them/ their preferences. And that being aggressive with the person in front / behind ought to get them somewhere , ie “you wouldn’t be doing that if you weren’t in front of / behind me”, “I shook their seat, dug my kneees in/ slammed my seat back without asking and made damn sure to keep it there”
2. those who realise whatever the rules are they should apply equally to everyone and should be observed calmly.

Also I think airlines should make a decision on what their rule is and announce it at the start of a flight:

”On this flight everyone and anyone who chooses may recline between x and y times, no one may recline at z times”

”On this flight anyone who chooses may recline throughout except at meals”

”On this flight no one may recline their seat”

Sadly it sounds like as a result of your injury plane travel in standard Economy seating isn’t for you.

If it is an employer sending you on these trips at short notice they need to think about reasonable accommodations that can be made for you, otherwise you’re suffering weeks of pain which is directly linked to doing your job.

@Pandor it's a relatively new diagnosis so I'm still figuring out the impact.

Just because YOU are more comfortable reclined doesn't mean everyone is! It's a matter of mutual respect, so I always ask.

Well rule three has been catered for to some extent by airlines that have fixed seats.

I think a polite request for seats to be upright for meal times is maybe fair enough but I'm not sure hard and fast rules like the ones you suggest will go down well on long haul flights when you have a mix of perhaps several hundred people potentially with their bodies on different time zones and/or with different needs for sleep.

For example come out of the States eastbound over night (e.g Boston or JFK - UK, FWIW typically regarded as "short" Long Haul ) many passengers deliberately eat before boarding so they can get to sleep with the seat reclined as soon as the gear is up. They have no intention of partaking of the first meal service. Generally the crew work around them and the passengers who want to eat manage. It gets even more convoluted on proper long haul with 14 hour or even longer sectors.

I still get the impression too many people think some rule set that might work on a two or three hour hop to the Med or maybe a bit further to Tenerife would also work on a Heathrow - Singapore or the more extreme Perth-Heathrow.

I've got an old back injury. i get excruciating pain sat in a reclined position, but little to none in upright.
So i have to sit with the person in front of me sat pretty much on me the whole flight (i've only flown day time)

Recline away. Expect on short haul reclining day or night is 100% fine outside of meals. People are coming from all over so your day flight might be their night or they've been up for a long time due to connections. I've been on a 13 hour day flight, I certainly reclined.

@RedPony1 presumably you can book a seat without someone in front like other people with mobility issues?

They're not sat on you. Just like the earlier posters who claim the seat in front is by their nose or on their laps etc. It's not.

If people could reframe their thinking to what's actually correct, they'd realise that they don't actually own those few inches in the air ahead of them. The seats recline, so that space actually belongs to the person in front you, and you have the equivalent space behind you. Nobody has to use it, but it's theirs to recline into if they wish. There's a range of space that the seat can use depending on its position and none of it belongs to a person in a different seat.

If you have some sort of condition that means you literally can't cope with the seat in front of you reclined (and very few of you have - the fact you have to make one up is basically evidence that it's a reasonable situation overall), then there are some alternative seats you can buy to accommodate your needs. Yes, it's unfair that these cost more, but the planes can't be designed entirely for the few outliers. If all the seats had masses more space, all the seats would cost more and you wouldn't actually be better off.

The seat's reclining space belongs to that seat and nobody else. Once you realise that, it all gets much easier.