It's a Plane Etiquette one!! Was I AIBU?

[Belladonna90]

Night flight back from the US.
Cabin crew do meal service at around 4am (UK time) around 11pm (US). I'm hoping not to go to bed when I land (so can beat the jet lag and not stay in US time!). In economy class and have the blanket over my head so I can sleep (need the 'room' to be as dark as possible'). I had my seat reclined in the belief that chicken or beef would not be served at this time. How wrong I was! Cabin Crew passes me with meal trolley (happily doesn't disturb me to ask whether I want a meal...at that time absolutely not!). However, when she is asking the passenger behind me she reclines my seat back up which startled the life out of me as I was jostled back up!! I was so annoyed as I was fast asleep. I can understand for a safety related issue if she needed to do that for example for landing but for a service related issue it seemed completely rude of her. Was I wrong to challenge her and ask why she did that?? She told me for service all seats must be in the upright position....

I’ve just come back from India with emirates. Cabin crew asked seats to be upright for meals and made sure they were

Do you not travel much? If not then that explains your lack of understanding of plane etiquette.

Sounds like you need to buy a business class seat next time OP. That way you can sleep properly and be ready to go to work when you land. Thats a different 'league'. In economy, the majority rule, and seats cannot be reclined during meal service for obvious reasons.

YABU

i’m presuming you don’t fly very often.
A hot meal (sometimes 2) is always served on long haul flights.
It’s common knowledge that seats are put back into the upright position during the meal
service. It’s common courtesy.
Most airlines either make an announcement or post a message on your TV screen if it’s a later flight.

Long haul we've only used Virgin or Qatar. Not had this either. I've had to eat with the seat in front of my reclined but do wish they had the BA policy.

The appropriate punishment for economy passengers who recline their seats during meal service, thereby making it impossible for the poor bugger sitting behind them to eat, should be waterboarding followed by kneecapping then a bullet in the back of the head. It is appallingly rude, selfish, inconsiderate behaviour.

I think it's the fact the woman moved the chair without waking the OP first that's the issue, isn't it?

It’s completely standard for chairs on planes not to be reclined when food is served. On all the long haul flights I have done this is what happens. How was the person behind you supposed to eat? YABU

You can't easily eat your meal on your table if the seat is fully reclined in a lot of economy seats.

Seat Recliner Alert! You don't recline your seat when you know full well there's going to be a service.

What's worse is people assuming because they've finished their meal everyone has and just flinging their chair back without checking what's happening behind them. I've had food and drinks tipped over me more than once with someone doing that. So I always look behind me and see what stage the person eating is and if it looks like they've finished but still have their tray there I let them know that I'm about to recline the seat.

Emirates would do exactly this and if you’d flown so much I’d have thought you’d know seats have to be upright for food. If you wanted to sleep knowing a meal would be served you should have kept your seat upright. It’s perfectly possible to sleep like this, i slept ten hours on my last flight undisturbed in economy as i kept my seat upright

I’ve never been on a flight which hasn’t announced food is being served and can everyone ensure their chair is not reclined. Selfish behaviour to recline before the meal, knowing that you wanted to get a good sleep in!! Then to confront the air hostess - you should have apologised!!

Yabu. She can't eat if your head is in her lap. I hope you apologized for your antisocial behaviour. Planes tell you when food served and everyone puts their chairs upright. It's vvvvv rude to not.

How were the people behind you supposed to eat their meals if you didn't want to put your seat up? Seriously.

YABU

How did you think the person behind you was going to eat when your seat was down? Or did you just not consider the other passenger at all?

If you want to sleep undisturbed during the meal service, book a better class of ticket. If you're not willing to do that, suck it up and stop being so inconsiderate towards other passengers.

The UK time is irrelevant. They serve the meals at the start ad end of the flight and you can sleep in the middle bit. They tell you thebpla when you get on so I'd you wanted to sleep before the meal service just sleep with your seat up.

You were being extremely unreasonable, both in having your seat reclined during mealtime and expecting the passenger behind you to not be able to eat in comfort and for "challenging" the cabin cree over it. I'd have been embarrassed and have apologised to the cabin crew and passenger for not having the seat reclined myself.

Of course your seat needed to be up if people were eating, what would the person behind do if you were reclined

Jeez Louise the entitlement! Of course your seat should be upright to let the person behind you eat comfortably.

Also have you thought about a decent eye mask rather than putting the blanket over your head?

If you fly economy you have to be mindful of the other people around you. If you want your own space when flying you need to pay for business or upper class. Your choice.

There's kind of no point trying to sleep on an east coast red eye - it's only 6.5 hours. I just try andpower through.

@Belladonna90 not true on Emirates. Had to have seats upright thus year for meals.

Just a few things to clarify!!
We departed at 2000 (local time) and food was served three hours later. Unlike many whom have assumed I have not travelled much...the usual standard service on flights that depart at this time is a light bite like a hand held pizza and a drink from the bar and then a hot breakfast is served about 1.5hr before landing. Hence why I reclined my seat as I was not expecting a meal so late after take off in particular a hot dinner at that time.
If this was a day flight I of course would not of dreamed of reclining my seat. However, for a night flight I think it is entirely reasonable to expect that people will want to sleep. Be it US or UK time zone I think it is unusual for anyone to have beef and mashed potatoes at 11pm/4am and the natural thing to do is to sleep and not eat. Be it a Boeing or Airbus aircraft, engineers design the seats with it in mind that tray tables can still be used even if seats are reclined otherwise . Also for those who have said Emirates, Singapore have the same policy....
In both these airlines for night flights you get the option to put a 'DND' or 'wake me for food sticker'. Perhaps you have only travelled with these airlines on day flights.