Angry woman on plane, Was we BU?

[Raynaud]

7 hour flight with DH and DS(4). As soon as seatbelt lights went off DH fully reclined exhausted DSs seat so he could sleep. The woman behind snapped at DH to put the seat back up as drinks would be coming around soon. DH said no as drinks currently not being served. She called him a selfish twat to her OH.
Drinks/snacks start coming around. Woman tells DH to put the seat back up. DH put the seat back up half way so to not wake DS. She tells him to put it fully up. He tells her DS is sleeping. Her OH then tells her to speak to steward which she does. Steward asks DH to put the seat back up - he tells her DS is sleeping. I tell him to just put it back up, he again says DS is sleeping. Air Steward starts getting pissed off, I snap at DH to put the bloody seat up. He does so reluctantly and DS does not wake.

Once everything is cleared away he puts the seat fully back again. The woman complains that he’s doing that out of badness because “the kid” is still asleep. Her OH confirms that yes, DH is a twat.

My take on it is that both were being unreasonable at different times. My sister however says this was all on DH.

I hate it when someone reclines their seat in front. I don't agree there is much room on an economy flight- you are wedged in. If you drop something on the floor, you can barely retrieve it. I'm size 10 too so don't take up a lot of room.

I think reserving reclining for night journeys is sensible. For shorter flights, there's no need for reclining a seat.

It was in the last few weeks

It would be interesting to see if those notices are now company wide or restricted to certain fleets or bases.

What airlines do you fly with where the table trays are 'rammed' into you? That said, I think on a long haul flights waiting for the dinner service to complete before reclining is a perfect compromise.

What if you are flying west long haul and 'chasing the sun' in which case you are in daylight for the majority of the flight?

The problem here really is the airlines basically selling the same space twice. The recline area to one customer, and the breathing space, leg room and tray usage to the person behind.

They need to design seats that move forward to recline instead of backwards. Or have a way of centrally disabling the recline function at certain times

Yep...

it's a bit route and seasonal dependent but morning (local time) departure, westbound, you can easily go 14 -16 hours plus plus plus in continuous daylight...

I'm very much of the view that seats which have a recline function can be reclined. However, it is standard etiquette not to recline when food is being served, so your DH was being unreasonable to ignore this. And very unreasonable to argue with the flight attendant when asked to put it back to upright.

Both are not at fault only your very selfish moron husband. Couldn’t stand being married to someone so inconsiderate, but it’s all about him so you’re probably used to it and don’t see it.

Pretty much agree, and there's scope for people on both sides of this debate getting themselves in the brown stuff...

There's no standard worldwide rule on this, the airlines may have their own policy..and that's down to the crew to monitor/enforce, not a random Mumsnetter in 23 whatever...

It's TBH also pretty outrageous to think,.as some here seem to, that people should only recline and sleep according to some universal schedule, or only when it's dark....not everyone hops on board a daylight flight having had a night in an airport hotel or commuted in from half an hour up the road from the airport.

Totally reasonable to recline your seat on a long haul flight but obviously not when meals and drinks are being served.

DH displaying male entitlement all the way. No consideration for other passengers, ignored the steward and just a ME outlook. Kids can sleep anywhere - they do not need much room.

If it had been a man behind the child seat would be have done it?

Except the flight attendant asked him clearly to straighten the seat. So no they can’t.

Surely the correct response to some twat reclining the seat for a toddler is not to passive aggressively talk about them, it is to tactically bump the seat until the child wakes up.

I bet if was a male flight attendant they wouldn't have argued. Classic misogynist.

I agree.

Maybe she could have swapped with your husband so he could have been behind the fully reclined seat for the best part of 7 hours and see how he liked it!

Amused by the various 'typical male entitlement' comments. In my experience crap entitled behaviour on flights is certainly not limited to one sex. Virtually every time for instance I have been asked to move out of my chosen paid for seat so a couple can sit together its been a woman asking.

Christ! Your DH is an absolute arsewipe! Horrible behaviour!

Yep all your DH by the sound of it

Absolutely! Or if one is feeling particularly miffed, take off your shoes and stick your feet through the gap!

Your dh is being a twat but i dont know why airlines still have seats that fully recline back. Its shit being behind it but if the airline staff are asking him to put it up he should have complied. He was being petty for sure

If its immediately after takeoff I would agree it's fairly annoying.

However I've not slept on a flight that took off at midnight before but by the time I'm on my connection at say 9am I'm cream crackered! Day/night becomes a blur if you're travelling over 12 hours across time zones

Agreed...and it's not uncommon on flights into/out of the major airports to have short haul flights where > 20-30 passengers have or will be connecting, on Long Haul it can quite typically be >100 per flight...

Regardless of day or night on the major routes peoples sleep can be all over the place..it's slightly more homogenous on the holiday flights and routes but even then there are no guarantees.