Earlier this week, Jeffsetter shared an article written by Geraldine on the Everywhereist about seat on a recent longhaul flight.  The whole post is worth reading but the short recap is that she was trying to recline her seat and the guy behind her would not allow it.  He threatened to just shake her seat and then continued to bully her, even once the flight crew got involved.
Eventually she ended up getting upgraded to business class by the flight crew, though I’m still not clear why the jerk in question didn’t get booted off the plane and/or detained when they landed.
So…. who owns the seat reclining?
Let’s get it started by saying yes, it is not always super comfortable when the person in front of you reclines their seat.
But I think it’s generally accepted that the person whose seat it is gets to control whether they recline the seat or not. Â If the person in front of you reclines their seat, then them’s just the breaks, as far as I am concerned. Â If you don’t like that, then I believe there are some airlines that feature seats that do not recline; go fly one of those! Â (Or use the “Knee Defender” :-D)
(SEE ALSO: Is the Knee Defender the worst airplane product out there?)
I should say that I personally do not recline my seat, though that is my personal choice. Â Though if I was on a longhaul flight and trying to sleep, I probably would recline. Â Generally I’ve found, at least on shorter flights, with a window seat I’m okay sleeping on the plane without any “extra” recline (it’s not like they recline very much!)
(SEE ALSO: 4 tips to survive a red eye flight in economy)
I’m okay if you recline the seat in front of me, though I do appreciate some warning or a slow recline – I almost cracked my laptop screen once because I had the tray table out and my laptop on it when the person in front of me reclined the seat it got caught on the lever that holds the tray table in the upright position – I was barely able to extricate it before the seat came crashing back.
So…. what’s your take on who controls the recline of an airline seat? Â What would you have done had you been in Geraldine’s situation?
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The other thing about Geraldine’s situation is it was a Premium Economy seat on a 10 hour flight.
And the offender was reclined himself.
No excuse for not allowing someone to recline in that situation.
I was once had the person behind me grab my arm as I was tiring to recline on a flight, NY – LHR, and told me I cannot recline because he needs the leg room. I told home he should have paid for a better seat and I’m going to recline if he liked it or not. He ended switching seats with someone in front of me and he promptly reclined the seat. I’m on 5’1 so didn’t bother me.
Common sense and courtesy must prevail. A few years ago, my wife and I flew KLM B774 (steerage class) to Asia. Not long after take-off, the guy in the seat in front of me reclined his seat – I could not adjust the video screen enough to see an unblurred picture.
When the meal service began I expected the guy to sit upright but he was asleep.
I asked the Flight Attendant to ask him to at least have the courtesy to move his seat backrest to allow me to eat my meal.
She said that he was asleep and she could not disturb him. I asked her again only to get the same response.
As I wanted to eat my meal, I shook his seat until he moved.
I then told the F/A that he was now awake and would she now ask him to move his seat back.
It worked.
As a matter of interest (or not) we have only recently escaped from AF/KLM. Over three years we have had flights delayed or cancelled and used EU rule 261/2004 to get compensation vouchers. Sadly, we used them on KLM/AF flights until we finally had a flight depart and arrive on-time.
We can now get back to flying Middle Eastern and Asian airlines.
how do use EU rule 261/2004 — mention it to the gate/ticketing agent, email the airline later, …?
Here is a primer on EU261 / 2004 – I used it to get $1300 from Aer Lingus
thanks … last december my YUL-ZRH flight was 6 hours late (causing me to sprint for my connection rather than have a leisurely lunch in town) and i foolishly accepted $75 in compensation. it’s great to know about EU261/2004!
When you are flying to Europe, it only works if you are on a European airline. It applies to basically all airlines from Europe to elsewhere
maybe you’re the one that should have paid for a better seat. you’re entitled to whine and he’s entitled to recline his seat.
Probably not exaggerate and have a panic attack about a non-issue. Wonder why he didn’t get punished? B/c it very likely didn’t happen that way…
There’s a reason why the reclining button is within my reach and not within the reach of the person behind me. The space I paid for goes from the maximum recline of the seat in front of me to the maximum recline of my seat.
So if you buy a small little car and have a person sitting in the backseat with no leg room would you recline into them? You paid good money for the car.
Yeah, but you invited that passenger into your car; presumably they are your friend or at least your guest. You likely want them to be comfortable even at your expense. On a plane, you are not the host of the person behind you.
More recline and less whine! If you want space buy a seat with it. There are options and since 2008 the airlines have made it clear that as long as they get you there safely they’ve done their job and if you want anything more you pay for it. People complaining and blaming the person in front of them or next to them need to point the finger at themselves and either open their wallet or shut their mouths until the plane lands.
This is a topic that I have strong opinions on. I am 6’6″ tall and there are not ANY seats beyond first/business class that allow enough leg room for me to be comfortable. I am a big guy and you can’t miss me, so I fell that it is extremely inconsiderate and rude to shoot your seat back and put your head in my lap on a flight. Ok, maybe you didn’t notice that the guy behind you had really long legs but once you feel that big cluck on his knees when you shoot your seat back, it would be great if you at least pushed your seat up a little bit.
On the rare occasion that I recline my seat, I always check behind me to see if it will be an inconvenience to the other person. I feel like it is just common courtesy.
One might say well because of your size, buy business/fist class seats and we know that is not always feasible or economical.
I say all of this to say don’t be an asshole, just be reasonable and aware of your surroundings.
Yeah I get it. But on a longhaul flight where the person in front of you is super tired and wants to try and sleep, do they have to suffer because you have long legs? In a situation like that, one of you is going to be uncomfortable. So what’s the “right” decision on who has to suffer? To me, it’s what some of the other commenters have said – the person who has the button that makes the seat recline gets to choose
I am not saying don’t recline at all, you can recline some, don’t put you head in my lap. Just be conscious and considerate. I was recently on a flight in 1st class and the exact thing happened, the guy in front of me reclined all the way back even before take. What happened was he got poked in the back every time i needed to move my knees. He eventually “got the point” and lifted up a bit and everything was fine.