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?

🤣

Yes because that’s how women’s bodies are made - men have shorter legs as a proportion of their overall height.

Women tend towards longer femurs - so our legs can often look like they’re sticking out a long way but sloping downwards.

I know! Which is why it’s annoying that so many women are telling OP she must have been kneeing him on purpose because their tall husband is fine on flights! Solidarity to limby females in transit.

Absolutely- people just don’t get this. Probably because men have been banging on about how they need aaaallll the leg rooooom for so long that we believe it. And taking it all at women’s expense.

My dad in his prime was 5.5 inches taller than I am but still took a shorter inside leg in trousers. And I don’t have long legs at all for a woman!

All those people saying reclining on daytime flights is unnecessary/rude have obviously never flown long haul with connecting flights. You don't know what time zone someone is coming from or going to, or how long they have been travelling.

This was a four hour flight, not a straight up and down one. If I were on a gruelling schedule, I would hope to get a solid two or more hours sleep on a four hour flight and yes, I would recline my seat, although not until after the drinks/meal service if there was one. If the seats recline, it's not unreasonable to use that facility.

What is unreasonable is to be a dick about it and have a go at the person behind if you can feel their knees. The man was an arsehole; not for reclining but for how he acted afterwards.

I’m 5’9” and my kegs are the same length as my brothers, he is 6’4”. The person in front my me simply can’t recline as my legs are there and prevent it. I have tried to book extra leg room but they are always already booked or cost way too much. So tough tits, I can’t do anything about my legs being long.

@Ezekiela

“All those people saying reclining on daytime flights is unnecessary/rude have obviously never flown long haul with connecting flights. You don't know what time zone someone is coming from or going to, or how long they have been travelling”

Agreed.

Don’t know the current numbers but Pre-Covid it wasn’t unusual to have maybe 30% of passengers on a BA Longhaul flight (so perhaps 100 plus) arriving at Heathrow pre-dawn and connecting pronto on to the BA shorthaul breakfast time services, either the short domestic hops to places like Manchester or further afield such as central or Eastern Europe….

Anyone getting off a shortish red eye from somewhere like JFK would be absolutely hanging by the time they got into their seat for the short haul sector.

Even given that BA have recognized the cost benefit of lightweight seats - I believe at least some economy seating in their A320 family Neo fleet is now fixed.

You aren't allowed to recline with a child on your lap! Not on BA anyway - I did it and as soon as I did the steward came over and told me it was a safety issue and that I needed to put my seat upright if I had a child on my lap!

Yanbu!
Just out of interest, who did you fly with?

Was the seatbelt sign on?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvd4yjj8xo

Seat recling leads to people being banned (they did sound like bullies!)

Nope! The seat in front of me was reclined and they went around teeming other people with babies on their laps the same thing. So me and my husband had babies on our laps so cramped anyway with the seats in front reclined on to us making even less room.

OK thanks..

I might not have been paying attention but I’ve not heard of that happening on BA before and off the top of my head can’t think of a safety reason related reason for demanding it’s done.

Wonder if anyone who is up to speed with the current situation there will be along to provide some insight.

Yes. Economy seats are so close together it is rude to recline the seat. You can't help it if you are tall. Maybe if he wants to be comfortable and recline his seat he should buy a first class ticket.

This depends on your proportions.

I'm not particularly tall (5ft5) but have long thighs in proportion to the rest of me. My knees are always resting against the chair in front - in cars, planes, theatres etc.

Whereas someone taller than me could be all torso and not have the issue

YANBU. I loathe reclining seats in economy, using them may improve your comfort but always at the expenses of someone else's comfort!

Only idiots think reclining a seat that is designed specifically to recline is a dick move.

Not meal times or short flights obviously but its a dick move itself if you object to reclining during the night on long haul.

@Longma

Dd all had one seat which wouldn't sit totally upright and was partially reclined the whole time.

Allowing a seat that won’t lock upright to be occupied, especially for take off and landing is pretty much a universal “no no” for very sound safety reasons.

^ To avoid confusion that comment is directed at the airline/crew, not you @Longma

As long as not reclined for food service, and actually waiting until all trays are collected, I'll always be team recline. It bugs me how people don't now have the common decency of not reclining for food service and you have to ask them to do this, then the chair gets flung back in your face as soon as they have finished eating.

I'm that person who will recline my chair as soon as we are at cruising altitude. I take my seat up for meal times.If I couldn't cope with a person reclining a seat then I would be booking a seat in a better class. Seats recline for a reason.

We can all get picky about flights - the noise of babies and children, the people who walk their toddlers up and down the aisle, the ones who are loud and shouting across at others the whole flight, the smelly ones. That's flying 🤷‍♀️

I think he was expecting her to whip out some shrinking powder so that she became about 2 inches tall for the duration of the flight 😜 Or better, disappear. Either way, he sounds like a twit.

People vary. My husband is 6’3 but has a very short body. I think he has the longest femurs in the world. He was nearly kneecapped when someone reclined very quickly without warning. We always try to buy the exit row seats as there is more leg room.
We have just come home on a 4 hour flight with easyJet. Their planes do not recline and it saves a whole load of agro.

YANBU
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should 🤔 I have been on several 10 hour flights and have never reclined my seat. I think it’s so inconsiderate to infringe on someone’s space when it’s already so tiny. And as for ‘then you should book first class’, if we could we would 😆