Reclining seat on a plane

[darksideofthemooncup]

I don't think I was being unreasonable but wanted to get others' take on it. BA economy flight, middle seat, man in front of me reclined his seat then had a go at me because he could feel my knees through the back of his seat. I explained that a 5,10'', short of amputation there wasn't a lot I could do about it and perhaps the problem was more about him reclining his seat onto my knees. At which point he then doubled down and said I should book first class. I'm afraid I didn't cover myself in glory and told him in no uncertain terms where to go. So, my position is that on economy flights where space is limited, just because you can recline your seat, it doesn't mean you should, AIBU?

I'm over 6" and if someone infront of my reclines, my knees are most certainly shoved against their chair in economy!

He's able to recline on any length of flight he wants to (dick move or not!).

Him getting angry he can feel your knees through his now reclined seat, total dick move.

Where is she supposed to put her knees?

im only 5’6”, but i am all leg. My knees are touching the seat in front even before anyone tries to recline.

most of the flights out of our small airport don’t have the option to upgrade seats. Only the exit and front rows are slightly bigger and you can’t sit in either of those if you are prone to medical issues.

Well said. There is no need to do it in the day time and it severely reduces the space for the person behind. Anyone who reclines the seat in front of me gets my knees in their back several times .

Why are people not reading the OP? She wasn't the one with an issue

This is why I never recline, even on night flights.

Did they insist on raising the armrests, Ilove?

There will be a special place in hell for people who recline seats on planes. It’s such a dick move and always makes me assume things about the passenger - like the likely fact that they’re entitled and walk through life not caring about anyone else.

Absolutely agree with this. I often have a red eye long haul flight first, where I often cannot sleep well and need to be able to sleep a bit for a few hours on the connecting short haul flight. As such, reclining outside mealtimes should be fine, as long as you gently recline.

Reclining seats after take off and outside of mealtimes is absolutely fine.

Also 5 foot 10, also had this problem many times

Simple solution... reclining should be a paid upgrade on short haul. (At the back, so they don't recline into people.)

I’ve had this too. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off they were trying to put the armrests up, I ended up calling cabin crew and they moved me to a spare seat. They were together and they’d booked the aisle seat and window seat obviously thinking they would have a spare seat between them.

I don’t mind if people recline in front of me. If my knees are in their back it’s not my problem, there’s not much I can do about it at 5’10” but I do try to shuffle as far back in my seat to give my legs more room.

But it doesn’t automatically inflict misery on the person behind. Plenty of us don’t mind at all if others recline.

I hate reclining seats, should be banned on short haul. I'm 5ft 8 and my legs hit the seat in front as well.

If the seat has a recline function then recline.
I always pull it forward again for meal service though.

Most don't recline on shorter flights out of respect. The fault however is with the airlines, they cram too many in, just enough to sit as an average ish sized person.

If you don’t you get told to anyway.

Clearly not many people do connecting or overnight flights!

just be cause it’s short haul/daytime doesn’t mean that the person is in that time zone or exhausted from a long flight and just hoping home.

I regularly swap onto a 1hr flight from Heathrow but I’ve just come off a 13hr one, chances are I need a doze!

Er because I’ve flown with several taller people and none of their knees have touched the seat.

YABU: as long as the recline feature exists, passengers can recline when they want. You could recline your seat too.

He is BU: you can’t help your height, he could also book a first class seat if he needs more space.

Seats are getting smaller, as is the space between rows. It's pretty easy to imagine how the OP's legs were getting squashed. I was once next to a very tall lady on a plane and the poor woman's knees were pressed right up against the seat in front, even though the seat in front wasn't reclined and she was pressed back into her own seat as far as possible. She must have been very uncomfortable but was totally mortified about causing discomfort to the person in front of her.

I love Ryanair for many reasons, cheap, on time, rules if obeyed work well, and best of all their seats do NOT RECLINE.

But that's for European destinations mostly. Was your flight a longer one OP? If so, reclining outside meal service time is ok by me.

I'm 6ft 2 and have had people complain of the same, or that the seat won't recline properly. I get people want to recline and that is fine, but I can't do anything about my legs. They should stop trying to cram more and more seats in.

Reclining on a 4 hour day flight is taking the piss. Maybe HE should have booked business class