To recline my seat on an overnight flight?

[stargirl27]

I recently had a long-haul overnight flight from the US (10 hours approx.)

Once we had eaten/had drinks, I reclined my seat and put something on the TV. The man behind me immediately began tapping me on the shoulder and when I turned, he asked if I could put my seat into the upright position as he had a drink on his tray table. I agreed to this.

Around 30 min later, I was ready to sleep so I told him I was going to recline my seat. He asked me not to, as he said he was very tall so needed the extra legroom... I thought it was unfair to expect me to sit upright the whole time, and he could have booked an extra legroom seat (which, incidentally, I had). Also, he could have just reclined his own seat to give him the same amount of space.

In the end, after some back and forth, I agreed to recline it a bit but not the full way, but it wasn't as comfortable as it would have been if I'd reclined properly. Also, I thought he was a bit unreasonable to expect me not to recline so I could sleep, basically to sacrifice my comfort for his, but I wasn't prepared to spend the whole flight arguing so wanted to compromise.

WIBU?

YABU - you should not have reclined your seat
YANBU - you were perfectly fine to recline

I purposely chose the back row on my recent long haul. They specified which seats didn’t recline but these did so no worries about upsetting the person behind, no issue if the person in front reclined as I could do the same and no annoying child/adult kicking my seat or putting the tray up and down for the whole flight. Also space behind for hoodies blankets etc that you aren’t using. Will definitely choose these seats again!

Very difficult. Airlines are evil and selfish and essentially give no shits about tall people. My DS and DH are over 6 foot 6 and I think that airlines ought to give them more space for no extra charge. We always have to pay extra for DH, but DS is very skinny so sometimes on a short flight, he is ok to just fold himself.

Call me woke but calling airlines evil on the basis of seats which recline seems a tad extreme

Another case of a woman having to reduce her enjoyment of something to appease a man.

You were NOT being unreasonable.

Ridiculous. Have you never been on a long haul overnight flight? Practically everyone reclines.

After reading bonkers threads like this I’ve made a point of checking and on “day” flights (which might actually be night flights to some passengers) at least 50% recline, but probably most not the full way. At night about 90% fully recline, and some of the non-reclined seats are either empty or occupied by toddlers.

If you want to make yourself uncomfortable by not using the seat as it’s intended that’s fine, but don’t act like you’re all superior when you’re out of step with the norm.

Long haul flights also have a seat choice included normally (or did the last time I flew to australia myself anyway about 6 years ago) so if he wanted nobody to recline in front of him he should have chosen a different seat.

Just going to point out too that some people need to recline the seats a bit for back issues. Upright seats can be very painful for some people with back problems.

I would have put my seat back up while he still had a drink but after that - no way. I need to sleep on that transatlantic flight!

But this is why I fork out for Business- or Premium Economy at the least!

I'm in the recline camp. If I was watching TV I wouldn't. If I was planning on sleeping I would. I would expect the person infront of me to recline too. I don't ever need to recline to sleep as I can put my head on the table 🤣

I do wish people would take a quick peek behind them before reclining their seat.

To check if the person behind is still eating/ drinking, or is reaching down under the seat and you're about to smash them in the face.

It does though. My poor husband had the seat in front of him squashing his knees for the majority of our 11 hour flight to Tokyo. He’s 6’5”. He also couldn’t watch the tv as the recline of the seat made it impossible to see. And we were in premium economy so you’d think there'd be enough room 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always recline, except meal times and landing/ take off, of course.

I'm short and fat, can I sit behind you and have all that extra room please?

Why the back seats aren't slightly away from the wall will never stop annoying me. It messes with the whole logic of you lose space in front of you but gain it behind by reclining.

I think you were fair to want to recline when the service has finished and it’s a night flight. I try not to recline as I know it’s uncomfortable for the person behind, but if person in front of me does, then I do too once service is done. I agree he could have got an extra leg room seat yes, and was rude to expect you not to recline at all. I do think the recline should go in economy as some people do it for the whole of the flight and during the day and must cause so much hassle for flight crew dealing with arguments

It was thoughtful of you to agree not to recline when he had a drink on the tray. 30 mins about right. But he was rude after that, particularly on a night flight.

Premium seats on some aircraft can be terrible for this. It's because they recline so much but they don't allow enough space.
I prefer the exit row seats. Nobody in front to recline into me. I recline if I want to sleep depending on if I'm by the window or not - because then I like to put a pillow on the window/wall and lean on that instead.

I’m calling them evil for not allowing exceptionally tall people to sit in seats that they fit in, without paying a load more. DH at 6 foot 8 cannot afford to have someone recline onto him, so has to pay for the seats with nobody in front. That’s theft IMO

Well I guess you know next time to book seats that are more able to accommodate his height ! You can book the exit row or Premium or Business.

Outside of meal and drinks service, seats can recline and people need to sleep.

😆 😂 😆 I now think thats the hidden message when they say 'we are going to dim the lights' or whatever it is they say when they put the lights out.

I would have accommodated his first request, then reclined the max out of that seat for the rest of the journey.

If he doesn't want other passengers to use the seats in the way they're designed, he needs to take account of that when booking his own seat.

Overnight flight, YANBU.

Daytime flight, YWBU

HTH.

I think seats reclined when the cabin lights are dimmed for sleep overnight is fine, but shouldn't be allowed any other times.

I would have lost it at the tapping! I hate people tapping me. Airline seats recline and they are allowed to be reclined. It's just one of those things being tall 🙄. I say that as a tall woman, with a quite tall husband and 2 tall children. If he's that fussed he could have bought a seat with extra legroom

Can’t argue with any of things. Most of your points (I hope) are widely accepted, but I’m glad you mentioned limbs in the aisle, because this isn’t on either. The seat with the most leg room is, in fact, the window seat, as it has a bit of extra room, and legs shouldn’t ever be in the aisle obstructing others, including crew.