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.

Apparently you are allowed to recline the seat. But I never do so, as I always consider the person around me. Economy is is hard to fly, I have a soon-to-be 4 year old DS too and I know when we will be going Long Haul I will rather save for the Economy plus at least as there is enough space to put the seat down and it's only 2 in a row. Never happened to me, but I remember flying once and the person in front put the seat back so much while dinner was served that they were on the guy seating in my row in the lap. He wasn-t even able to open his tray table at all, so the guy in front was told to fully put his seat up. It's terrible I know, it is very uncomfortable, but your husband was really not nice, although he just try something good for your son. When I'm flying alone with my little one, I try to be smart and I always book us a window and aisle seat, hoping nobody will seat in the middle. so he can lay down. Sometimes it works!!! Sometimes it doesn't and then I just swap a seat with them. (But Shorthaul only, I would not do that on Longhaul, sitting in the middle.) In your case if you were sitting in one row, I would rather lay my little one down. He could have his head in your lap for sometime.

If in Economy, there’s no room at all. Your DH was being a dick.

Over night? Recline.

Short haul day time small child, stop it.

I’ve never had an issue with someone reclining in front of me! How odd that people get upset by this. If the seat reclines, people are perfectly entitled to use the function regardless of what time of day, meals service etc. tables are designed to still be upright so it’s not a issue (that I have ever experienced). And absolutely, if your son would have slept more comfortably reclined, go for it.

On a long haul flight, especially overnight, most people do recline. This thread is not representative of real life.

I’m ex cabin crew. The seats are designed to recline back for the comfort of the passengers, so your husband wasn't being unreasonable.
All we would ask is that the seat was put back up for drinks service, meal service & take off and landing. The lady behind could have also put her seat back to give herself more room.

It’s plane etiquette not to recline seats until after meal service

Stewardess here. Passengers are perfectly within their rights to recline their seats if they wish and I tell that to passengers who moan about the people in front reclining. The only exception really is during the meal not drinks service, then I always politely ask people to pop them up while everyone eats. Your DH could have handled it slightly better but he wasn’t in the wrong.

Ha! I’m totally the opposite - I recline my seat all the time. I don’t see the issue. It’s your seat to recline. I don’t mind if the person in front of me reclines either.

Urgh OP can’t stand people like your husband

Quite a few airlines are not installing reclining seats in economy anymore because of all the problems it causes
except for those planes that do long haul flights

Yes exactly - that is what I thought. I fly a lot. I just try and sleep on planes. I can’t see the issue. I put my seat up during the meal service but I try and sleep the rest of the time. The only time I have complained on a flight was when a woman was playing a game on her touch screen and was constantly punching the screen and so my back 🤣

Unless an actual meal is being served, it's unclear to me why people can't recline seats.

When flying, I expect the person In front to recline their seat. And I recline my seat if I want to sleep. I don't see the big deal and why people are so anti reclining. It makes minimal difference to the person being your seat.

That's as maybe, but a lot of posters think it's a rule, but it's not, certainly not a universal one.

All the crew can do, as a couple of pps have now mentioned, is enforce company policy.....and if company policy is silent on the issue of recline during meal service cabin crew might be on thin ice absolutely insisting someone puts their seat upright..best they might be able to do is try to get both parties to be reasonable..

,

Husband wanted the peace and quiet of an asleep kid on the flight. He didn't want any chance of his son waking up any earlier then possible. Yes he's very wrong.

DH is indeed a twat.

Hot drinks etc
it’s common courtesy and common sense not to recline if drinks ( and food ) are being served

There's no law obviously. You’re not going to be arrested but if, like OPs , you argue with the air stewardess who asks for the seat to be raised during drinks service then you are being a selfish idiot.

One airlines modus operandi does not dictate the whole industries

'Was' you BU indeed :-).

Your husband certainly was being inconsiderate..

It’s rude to recline immediately and before/during service. Did she, who had likely paid as much as you, have to not be able to access her tray, get stuck in her seat etc just for somebody else to sleep. Husband out of order to not follow the request of the staff too - if you can’t follow their rules you shouldn’t be flying

to be honest I never recline, it’s pointless, as soon as somebody needs the loo they have to wake you up anyway

ultimately if you want to lie down you should pay for the cabin with that facility

This has ruined many a flight for me. Don’t fly if you can’t be courteous and have basic manners.

Im in the minority who think you should be able to recline your seat if needed (obviously outside of food/drink service). If someone then called me a twat for doing so I wouldn’t be feeling too inclined to do them any favours, sorry 🤷‍♀️
If you get your knickers in a twist over legroom, pay for a seat with additional space.

DS takes priority over all other people apparently, for reasons unknown.

DH sounds like the type of guy who is completely indifferent about other people coming to harm, so long as DS is OK. Those are the worst kinds of people.

Imo plane seats should be electronically controlled so they can only recline at night, it’s completely unnecessary during the day.

The problem with reclined seats is that the person behind has absolutely no room to move. It’s not fair. I couldn’t see the tv screen or even get to my bag to get anything out of it because the entitled man in front reclined his sleeping child’s seat. I wish airlines would just make the spaces between seats larger but understand they are greedy for profits. We often pay for extra leg room but that’s expensive for 6 people and isn’t always available. I think really it comes down to common courtesy. You don’t really need to recline your seat and a child definitely doesn’t need to have a reclined seat.

Define “day”.

Many travellers will have already been awake for many hours at the point of boarding. Imagine someone connecting in London bound for Chicago, having left Dubai earlier in the day. Or someone from Inverness flying Edinburgh to London to San Francisco.

When it’s dark.

Or even light 🤣

edited!