AIBU to recline my seat on a night flight?

[CoastalMummy]

Just as the title states... Is it now considered unreasonable and inconsiderate to recline your seat on an overnight flight?

I was on a long haul flight, departing at 0130am, and was solo with two children.

After we departed, I reclined my seat as I had a small sleeping across my lap and tried to get some sleep. Next thing, I'm woken up with what I can only describe as violent shaking. The woman behind me was shaking, kicking, kneeing my chair and shouting how inconsiderate it is to recline a seat. This went on for an hour until I called cabin crew to intervene (I had naively thought she'd give up so I wouldn't have to get into a confrontation).

When the cabin crew told her to recline her seat too, she screamed that she would never be so inconsiderate!

AIBU here?!

She's is unhinged. Of course it is absolutely fine to recline your seat. The space on the long-haul flight should be sufficient for passengers to do that without landing on someone's lap.

Not sure id give it any more headspace. If course she was being unreasonable to be kicking and shaking your seat. Your position was also confirmed by flight attendant.

Not every seat reclines. We were put in the backrow once & our seats didn't recline. The arseholes in front proceeded to recline straight back into our space.

Also if you are tall, the angle of reclined seats can be really uncomfortable against your knees - modern aircraft seating is much more cramped than it used to be despite the fact that we are taller.

I don’t think it is inconsiderate on a long haul overnight flight at all, though I would wait until after food/drink service so people had some space for that.

Reclinable seats are on planes to be used, otherwise what's the point? She was wrong

You're absolutely right. It just really shook me if I'm honest. I travel a lot and that is the first time I've ever encountered such hostility and I just wanted to confirm I wasn't in the wrong.

She is ott but I do think people have gotten so irrational and inconsiderate about everything now they flying is turning into an almost nerve inducing thing

How are they arseholes? If the person in front of them is reclined too they won't have space either.

I often book the back row on purpose as I like it, have flown back from the US on a night flight like that, doesn't bother me as I don't sleep on planes anyway and don't ever recline my seat as I don't find it relaxing.

@CoastalMummy if the person was actually shouting for an hour surely the cabin crew would have intervened sooner. But yes she was behaving like a prat for being so rude.

Please tell me these airlines and planes where the “recline” is any more than 2 inches? Two inches which?? Makes the TV screen closer? The recline on Air Canada flights has very little impact.

I boarded an emirates flight once where the bloke in front of me fully reclined his seat before we even took off and plonked a “Do not disturb” sign on the headrest and started snoring. I could not even put my seat tray down when dinner arrived. The stewardess had the unenviable task of having to wake him to tell him to move his seat upright. He was livid!

night flights put the blinds down and dim the lights precisely so people will go to sleep, reclining is part of that. The woman behind you was being unhinged. But. Didn't you have a seat for the child? That would be really uncomfortable for a whole night (or was it a tiny baby?)

Pretty much this. They are to make sleeping easier on a night flight. And when they make the last row non-reclining - that's not okay. There should be a gap between the wall and the headrest. Otherwise you are saying that the penultimate row can't recline because the last row can't recline. And then the antepenultimate row can't recline because the penultimate row can't recline etc etc. So no one can recline.

Should there be reclining and non reclining hours on planes? Because it is one of those things that works better when everyone does the same.

You werent

If a meal is being served, I think it’s bad form recline until after the meal service as finished. If you have to recline earlier I would always ask. Otherwise it’s normal

I never ever used to recline my seat. I used to feel absolutely awful about it. And yet I’d sit bolt upright for hours even if the person in front of me had reclined. I can’t and don’t sleep on planes and as uncomfortable as it was, I just couldn’t recline that seat. It’s only been in the last few years I’ve managed to get over it as I’ve traveled a lot more and gone much much further. It’s is awful if you’re at the back and yours doesn’t recline, but recently I’ve been on newer planes at the back and they’ve left room for them to recline. Tbh as soon as the person at the front of your section does it, you kinda all have to do it! I do put mine up eat as courtesy and as much as I hate confrontation, the only time I’ve ever asked anyone about the seat, was to ask the young girl in front of me once to do the same so I could eat.

I wouldn’t give your situation another thought. For everyone who is fine about it, there’s someone who isn’t. And at the end of the day, they do recline , so it’s kinda there to be used. Planes and space on planes seem to be getting smaller every time I go on one…but really if you’re in economy, you can’t really be annoyed….its just economy life! If a person is going to be that upset about it, they need to be saving for the bigger seats!!!

You'll probably get mentions of various etiquettes, unwritten rules and perhaps Google says 😉 but if the seat had a recline function = you are entitled to use it, with care.

That only changes if something (e.g airline T&Cs or a notice onboard) or somebody in authority (i.e. crew) asks or says no.

I often think this when I read these excitable posts about reclining - it makes so little difference unless you are using our tray table I couldn't care less.

Of course its normal on an overnight flight

Why does everyone make such a fuss? You can still see your screen, you can still use your tray.

Flying Economy is cramped and uncomfortable , it's the price we pay for ,ore affordable air travel

I was on a dirt cheap flight (not Ryanair or whatever) for a long international night flight and the woman in front of me reclined alllll the way back. She just about crack my knee caps doing so. I had to sit with my legs so far apart one was in the aisle. And fyi I'm at most 5'7". I politely asked her to not recline so much. I basically got back a "tough shit". So yes I was that deluded person who shook her seat for the next 15 minutes until she caved and moved her seat forward a bit.

Personally - I try to clock what the person behind me is doing and then recline a bit of the way. That rarely causes a problem. And frankly sleeping on a night flight isn't an option in my opinion. I can't roll on to my side so it just doesn't work for me.

I hate people reclining their seats, I think it's extremely inconsiderate but I accept that on a night flight it's going to happen. So while I would have been annoyed, I wouldn't have said anything. I can't wait until the day when planes are designed so people can't do this.

Only had this conversation with a family member over the weekend. They were appalled that someone had the nerve to recline the seat in front during their recent long haul flight. I didn't realise people felt so strongly about this. I thought everyone reclined on long hauls, especially overnight. The only time I cant deal with it is during meal service. Any other time is more than fair IMO.

@2026Y the most noticeable impact is at the headrest, by the tray table the recline has almost zero impact.

Neither of these points means the person in front shouldn’t recline their seat

Sure, but if you have a laptop or something on the table the angle changes and it's harder to use, in my experience.

yanbu, the only U thing you did was wait an hour to call the cabin crew over, that was ridiculous waiting that long