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 would never “slam” my seat back. Like most considerate people I would take a look behind me to ensure that there was no food or drink on the person’s tray table and move it back gently.

If people are concerned about a lack of space why don’t they just recline their own seats? After all, the person reclining is often doing it because the person in front of them has reclined theirs.

yes that’s it . Once one person reclines the whole line ends up having to do it really.

Thai airways I know don’t have them if you get an older plane
Emirates aswell I’ve flown on and they didn’t. That was also an older plane though

So I’m guessing not all airlines have upgraded all their older stock

Except for the last person in the line of course

Yep, TBH my question/comment was slightly rhetorical..I worked on a lot of Long Haul.flights and what you describe was absolutely standard, where I worked and AFAIK is still across the industry...

I see there's still some resistance in.some quarterd to the idea of seats reclining at all. I can only assume that's mostly coming from those who have not done a significant amount of Long Haul flying, or from those just wanting to be provocative.

Tbh if the seat reclines then that's the users prerogative to use it. If you happen to be behind said person well that's nothing more than unfortunate. I wouldn't be swearing at the person (especially in front of a child). Stop reclining seats and people would complain about that too. No win situation.

If a seat reclines and someone is asleep in that chair, recline it. That's the whole reason it's there.
If the stewards ask you not to, you obey.

I wondered at first if it was because he thought if he sat him up, DS would wake up and start screaming which of course the couple behind would not have been happy about either! But it seems it made no difference and he still reclined it again

@notimagain 100% . I can only imagine that those who see seat recliners in any circumstances as the anti christ don’t actually do much long haul flying. I have always found cabin staff very reasonable on the issue.

Nearly all my flying is long haul
Guernsey the exception…Aurigney airlines …no idea if seats recline. V short flight no one’s ever done it to me as mostly business people working
We travel Long haul to Mostly Asia

I use reclining when the lights go out
Ive never had an issue with anyone reclining in front of me other than when the lights go out. ( I should add There’s rarely many kids on our flights as we don’t travel in the ht of school holidays )
Thai airways
Qatar
Emirates
Sri lankan
??? can’t recall others

All long haul with recliners

So I doubt it’s people without experience of long haul because they will appreciate the concept of ‘when the lights go out’…even for those with stop overs you still have that.

I think it’s just peoples different characteristics and attitudes to life

Especially as a 4 year old doesn’t need the extra leg room. The sooner reclining on planes isn’t a thing the better. More of a hinderance than not.

We flew Emirates to Australia. Possibly an older model of plane. My daughter couldn’t use her screen once the child in front was reclined. The tilting function didn’t work. She ended up having to use her IPad to watch things we had luckily saved for her. It was incredibly frustrating. Luckily it was just one of the 6 planes we caught for that holiday.

Must say - may have done upthread - I’d struggle to be upright for a long haul to Australia. Glad we picked the back row seats which still reclined to the ‘wall’. Trade off was being near the toilets. Worked well for us. I think it’s just the way some people go about reclining that’s rude. Literally banging on their child’s seat. I can see why. Child isn’t strong enough to recline it themself and parent from another angle also doesn’t have the strength. But not whilst person behind is eating. And usually an apology wouldn’t go a miss. The parent on our flight wasn’t doing it for the sleeping child though. Their child was the opposite of asleep and couldn’t sit still, lots of jumping about. Daughter’s iPad kept falling over. And a drink was spilled down her at one point.

@celticprincess how long ago was that? I regularly fly Emirates to Oz and haven’t encountered this but perhaps I’ve been lucky.

I agree that the last row before the lavs is a good choice. Your seat still reclines but you don’t have to worry about inconveniencing anyone behind you nor about seat kickers. Also agree that people should exercise common courtesy when reclining, look first and do it slowly.

Emirates haven’t upgraded all their old stock
Ive had no tilt screens

During mealtimes she has every right to have access to her table. Any other time is free rein to recline the seat. But mealtimes and access to drinks etc are non negotiable and he seems like a selfish twat

Yup, all on your DH. Sorry. The sort of passenger that makes flying a misery.

Last summer when we flew emirates.

Exactly! I have done a 5 hour flight in a non reclining budget airline seat and it got very uncomfortable towards the end. Ironocally no issue with meal service or IFE since they're also non existent wiht budget airlibes. I avoid them for anything above 4 hours, that's my limit for non recline.

I think conflict while flying should always be avoided by adults when possible.
Fist fights on planes are terrifying.
Both adults were rude. DH continued the stress like a child.

Yes or tell passengers not to recline until lights are out, after they’ve given the safety talk. It would make it a lot easier for cabin crew to enforce if they’re officially been told not to do it

Your husband waa in the wrong . Not worth reclining the seat for child, kids will sleep regardless. But I just dont get the point of reclining seats on airplanes anyway they just cause problems and dont recline thst much to make difference to your comfort just annoy the person behind

People who want to sleep!

it's annoying if you're sitting behind them & don't want to recline your own seat & sleep, but the seats recline & it's your right to recline them.

the woman didn't need the DH's seat up for a drink. It's more tricky at meal times but honestly it's do able.

he had a sleeping child in him as well. She was the test here. Not him!!

I haven’t flown for years but don’t understand why they have reclining seats at all if there is not enough room to recline them without making it uncomfortable for the person behind?

You should be able to recline the seat to sleep if you want, or if a child needs to, but equally you don’t want the seat in front banging into your knees or restricting your space even more (and space is tight enough as it is).

So this is on the airline, not the husband or the couple behind.

Firstly, it appears to be flight policy that the seats be upright doing upright since the cabin crew backed her up. And that’s always been the rule on all my flights.

And secondly who are you to decide if she didn’t need the seat up and could manage? It’s up to her to decide if she requires the seats to be upright.

Why do you think it’s acceptable she should just make do if it’s “tricky”? You don’t get to decide you and your families convenience trumps a stranger who does not owe you anything.

As others have said they could also have had their kid lying across them, instead of reclining and there’s no evidence their child was unable to sleep as a result of making the chair upright during meal times.

I agree it’s on the airlines as well who have created this situation, it’s all about cramming people in and maximising profits. It’s very poorly designed on some planes.

However in this specific case it’s also on the husband, because the rule is to put your seat upright during meal times. So he should have just complied. Simple.

I think Op said something about he was worried his son would get a sore neck if he slept upright but that’s nonsense. His son wasn’t going to get a sore neck for not having the seat reclined for 100% of the time, so he was being disingenuous and using that as an excuse . But even if that were true it still doesn’t negate the fact that the policy is to have your seat upright during mealtimes. Let your child sleep on your lap for a while if you’re that worried.

I don’t like people reclining at all for an entire journey, but I accept it’s their right to do it as per airlines policy. So I wouldn’t object to it unless it was during mealtimes, because it’s my right not to put up with that during mealtimes - again, as per airlines policy.