To recline or not to recline... that is the question

Full plane, in economy... do you recline your seat fully?


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jasonja3 said:
One9 Is it not arrogant and selfish of you to expect people to pay for business class seats, when not every one has the means or opportunity to purchase business??

I am 6'4", and travel mainly on smaller aircraft (Dash 8 & 737) and I can tell you without the seat reclined my knees are arleady touching the seat in front. Just because the function is there, it does not mean it can be used at the detriment to other PAX.

My expectation is that if the person in front wishes to recline, simply turn around to check, who is behind, and how will it impose on them. Common courtesy really.

And maybe by your way of thinking, elderly people should "just accept" there are no more seats on the bus or trains, while YOU remain seated.

I accept that everyone is entitled to recline (and an opinion). Everyone traveling in econ are squeazed in, it is simply about couresty and not selfishly adding discomfort to other PAX for the sake of your own comfort.

I agree with Oz_mark, the seats should recline, but not so far.

JJ

Bus and trains have sections for the elderly and disabled. People in these seats are oblidged to give up their seat for the elderly or disabled. People in other seats generally would also for courtersy, but they have the right not to.

When you purchase an economy ticket, you know what you are buying. You know there is limited space if the person reclines their seat. If you do not accept this, then you should buy something else (eg. business class).

You should not expect other people to be charitable to you because of your circumstances. If you are after charity you should go to a charity organisation.

If you rent a tiny flat because you have little money, then you should not expect to be able to use the hallway etc. to store your furniture.
 
bigjobs said:
i have had this conversation a number of times with people who do not seem to get it ...

"if you recline your seat that is your business. please also appreciate that where i point my air con vent and how fast i have it on is my business.

just as having your seat reclined is your choice, having my vent on full blast and pointing forward is my choice. if you do not like that then we can discuss our options."

"understand that you can have your seat where ever you like and i can have my vent anywhere I like.


needless to say i have had mixed reactions :twisted:

If I had an idiot like this behind me, then I would simply quickly move by seat back and forward many many times during the flight.
 
I sometimes recline part-way, if inclined (pun not intended)! But not during meal service. And often I'm not inclined to recline at all.

I don't have a problem with people in front of me reclining fully as long as it is not during meal service.

It's a little like shooting the messenger; the seats are equipped with recline, so why blame the passenger (except during meal service, and at this time they may require a gentle reminder) for reclining? If you consider the angle of recline excessive then speak to the airline.

Obviously a contentious issue!

Cheers
 
I don't particularly like people reclining especially on relatively short flights, but I guess it's there right. What really ticks me off though is the way it's done. When people just slam it back it's just plain rude. Surely it's not too hard to look around first and gently push the seat back?

Oh - it IS really annoying when trying to work on a laptop, moreso on 737's than other aircraft types. As my travel budget does not extend to J class domestically (nor does the travel policy), I try and get exit rows in these circumstances. But again this is made worse when people slam their seats back without warning - a little bit of courtesy makes it better.
 
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one9 said:
JohnK said:
I will only ever recline if the person in front of me forces me into it. Wish this feature was totally taken off all cattle class sections. Business and first class is fine as there is plenty of room.

I hate it when people recline when they are not forced into it. Show some consideration for fellow passengers is my motto. Just two very recent examples. Some people.... oh...

SIN-BKK on Finnair Dec 26, lucky only 2 hour flight, 2 ladies (term used very loosely) and 2 children seated in bulkhead row with me in the row behind. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off I could see that lady wanted to recline seat. It took her over 10 minutes to get seat reclined as I had my knee on her seat with as much force as possible. She couldn't work out problem and almost gave up but I got tired of the game and let her recline. She kept the seat reclined throughout the flight and virtually had to sit upright, with no back support, for meal service. Why would you recline when seated in bulkhead row is beyond me?

SIN-BNE on QF Jan 4, yesterday, again lady (can think of other names) in front of me with 3 children next to her but lucky no one seated next to me. The person in front of her did not recline seat for the entire duration of the flight yet this lady reclined her seat fully throughout the flight. She also reclined fully the seats of her children while they were sleeping. These people have no consideration for anyone around them. Selfish. I moved to the next seat and managed to move seat forward with my knees to give me a little more room. There was 2 people behind me and I could see that they were awake for the whole flight, watching movies and playing games and I did not want to spoil it for them.


I find your thinking arrogant and selfish. when someone flys in economy, they are entitled to recline their seat if they wish. i believe it is courtesy to put your seat upright during meals.

If you purchase an economy ticket, you fully understand that there is a very small amount of space. You understand that if the passenger in front of you reclines their seat, there is even less space. if this is something you are not willing to accept, then you should not fly economy class. Simple.

Elderly people, fat people, people using laptops etc. should either accept the lack of space or they should fly business class. It really is simple.

Personally, if i have to fly economy class, I usualy only recline a few inches as I find it uncomfortable when fully reclined on the angle in economy.

If its a long haul flight, i always recline apart from meal times. If you want to use a laptop buy a business class ticket.
 
one9 said:
bigjobs said:
i have had this conversation a number of times with people who do not seem to get it ...

"if you recline your seat that is your business. please also appreciate that where i point my air con vent and how fast i have it on is my business.

just as having your seat reclined is your choice, having my vent on full blast and pointing forward is my choice. if you do not like that then we can discuss our options."

"understand that you can have your seat where ever you like and i can have my vent anywhere I like.


needless to say i have had mixed reactions :twisted:

If I had an idiot like this behind me, then I would simply quickly move by seat back and forward many many times during the flight.

That's ok you can do that - once again, what you do with your reclining seat is your choice. That's my point. You can do what you like with it. Just please afford me the same courtesy regarding how i choose to use what i have paid for on the plane.
 
bigjobs said:
That's ok you can do that - once again, what you do with your reclining seat is your choice. That's my point. You can do what you like with it. Just please afford me the same courtesy regarding how i choose to use what i have paid for on the plane.
Totally agree with you. Will try that next time but what if the air conditioning does not bother them? When the people in front recline my knees start to rock against the reclining seat as I get very jittery. It is a medical condition and I can get a doctor's certificate if you don't believe me. The medical condition does not occur when the seat in front is not reclined. Occassionally I have been successful in returning reclining seat to a partially reclined position by pushing my knees hard against the seat in front for long periods of time.

I genuinely have problems getting out of my seat when the seat in front is upright, almost impossible if the seat is fully reclined. My elderly parents have the same problems, does this mean that they should not fly economy or that they should not get out of their seat for the entire flight? Or even better don't get on a plane get there by ship.

If you want to recline your seat fully then buy a business class seat and you can play with the controls all you like without annoying anyone. Better still lets do away with economy and just have business class/first class seats only. How many people would travel then?

Just because it is there does not mean you need/have to use it. Use common sense, common courtesy. Ask the person behind if they mind the seat reclined, if given the OK go for it and if there is no one behind you then recline all you like. I have as much right to my space as you have to yours so I should be able to use a laptop, watch movies, play cards and write things in an upright position without purhasing a business class seat.

There is a life jacket under your seat to be used only in an emergency. Do you have a right to use this during normal conditions? There are also oxygen masks to be used only in an emergency. Do you have a right to use this during normal conditioons? I am sure there are flare guns somewhere on the aircraft, does this mean that we can fire these whenever we want.

To all you airline reclining addicts out there, you have nothing to gain by reclining, the seat only reclines about 5-6 inches anyway. BIG DEAL. Leave the bloody thing alone and everyone walks off the flight a winner. I know some of you have trouble sleeping but this is only a very small percentage of people that fly. I am sure that a compromise can be worked out there.
 
JohnK said:
Better still lets do away with economy and just have business class/first class seats only.

Now theres a good idea - back to the old days.

Hey! Lets start up a domestic airline like that. Now what shall we call it?? Hmmm..... hows Ozjet for a name :D :D :D
 
JohnK said:
bigjobs said:
That's ok you can do that - once again, what you do with your reclining seat is your choice. That's my point. You can do what you like with it. Just please afford me the same courtesy regarding how i choose to use what i have paid for on the plane.
Totally agree with you. Will try that next time but what if the air conditioning does not bother them? When the people in front recline my knees start to rock against the reclining seat as I get very jittery. It is a medical condition and I can get a doctor's certificate if you don't believe me. The medical condition does not occur when the seat in front is not reclined. Occassionally I have been successful in returning reclining seat to a partially reclined position by pushing my knees hard against the seat in front for long periods of time.

[...]

Just because it is there does not mean you need/have to use it. Use common sense, common courtesy. Ask the person behind if they mind the seat reclined, if given the OK go for it and if there is no one behind you then recline all you like. I have as much right to my space as you have to yours so I should be able to use a laptop, watch movies, play cards and write things in an upright position without purhasing a business class seat.

There is a life jacket under your seat to be used only in an emergency. Do you have a right to use this during normal conditions? There are also oxygen masks to be used only in an emergency. Do you have a right to use this during normal conditioons? I am sure there are flare guns somewhere on the aircraft, does this mean that we can fire these whenever we want.

To all you airline reclining addicts out there, you have nothing to gain by reclining, the seat only reclines about 5-6 inches anyway. BIG DEAL. Leave the bloody thing alone and everyone walks off the flight a winner. I know some of you have trouble sleeping but this is only a very small percentage of people that fly. I am sure that a compromise can be worked out there.

To be fair, he did say what he had paid for on the plane.

Yes, the person reclining in front of me annoys me, but I don't think it annoys me to the extent it annoys other people around here. Yes, it is hard to use a laptop when the person in front reclines, but I just put the laptop away and tell my boss if he wants me to do work, put me in business class.
 
Recline into me and you might get more than you bargained for.

:)
 
oz_mark said:
To be fair, he did say what he had paid for on the plane.

Yes, the person reclining in front of me annoys me, but I don't think it annoys me to the extent it annoys other people around here. Yes, it is hard to use a laptop when the person in front reclines, but I just put the laptop away and tell my boss if he wants me to do work, put me in business class.
I hope there was no misunderstanding. I totally agree with bigjobs, just fed up with all these people who think they have a right to do what they like with no consideration for fellow passengers.

I don't care what they think they paid for. Just be considerate to others around you is all most people ask. Generally speaking though people that travel quite a lot in cattle class know how hard it is and are mostly very considerate.
 
ahhh...the never ending battle.....

good to know half of you don't have any balls ... more enjoying flight for me ;)
 
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All economy class seats should be bolted fully upright. I hate having to smell someone else's shampoo or watch their dandruff fall on my lap. Urgghhhh.
 
JohnK said:
I hope there was no misunderstanding. I totally agree with bigjobs, just fed up with all these people who think they have a right to do what they like with no consideration for fellow passengers.

Should the passenger beside you turn their headset volume down too? Maybe ask them not to fill in the immigration form on the plane... and be sure to make sure they don't chew anything... it must annoy you!

JohnK said:
I don't care what they think they paid for. Just be considerate to others around you is all most people ask. Generally speaking though people that travel quite a lot in cattle class know how hard it is and are mostly very considerate.

I think there's a happy medium between pissing people off and using what you entitled to use in your paid seat.

At the end of the day, everyone in Y needs to accept that theres a chance of having almost no legroom, and the type of people around you are not always well behaved.

If you don't want to put up with any BS from other passengers, get your own damn jet. END OF STORY.
 
d00t said:
Should the passenger beside you turn their headset volume down too? Maybe ask them not to fill in the immigration form on the plane... and be sure to make sure they don't chew anything... it must annoy you!
Doesn't bother me. Not an issue.

d00t said:
I think there's a happy medium between pissing people off and using what you entitled to use in your paid seat.

At the end of the day, everyone in Y needs to accept that theres a chance of having almost no legroom, and the type of people around you are not always well behaved.

If you don't want to put up with any BS from other passengers, get your own damn jet. END OF STORY.
Not END OF STORY. I paid for exactly what anyone else in cattle class paid for. If my comfort (or lack of) is compromised by some imbecile then I will pay them back anyway possible. After all fair is fair. I will constantly bang my knees against the seat in front, constantly get out my seat making sure that the seat in front moves or jolts everytime, I will turn the airconditioning on full blast facing them. Anyone can play this game.
 
JohnK said:
d00t said:
Should the passenger beside you turn their headset volume down too? Maybe ask them not to fill in the immigration form on the plane... and be sure to make sure they don't chew anything... it must annoy you!
Doesn't bother me. Not an issue.

d00t said:
I think there's a happy medium between pissing people off and using what you entitled to use in your paid seat.

At the end of the day, everyone in Y needs to accept that theres a chance of having almost no legroom, and the type of people around you are not always well behaved.

If you don't want to put up with any BS from other passengers, get your own damn jet. END OF STORY.
Not END OF STORY. I paid for exactly what anyone else in cattle class paid for. If my comfort (or lack of) is compromised by some imbecile then I will pay them back anyway possible. After all fair is fair. I will constantly bang my knees against the seat in front, constantly get out my seat making sure that the seat in front moves or jolts everytime, I will turn the airconditioning on full blast facing them. Anyone can play this game.

JohnK,
Have you ever tried talking to them and explaining the problem :?: I have and it's worked each time and we have both been OK with the result, and nobody's blood pressure got raised. :D :D :D
 
straitman said:
JohnK,
Have you ever tried talking to them and explaining the problem :?: I have and it's worked each time and we have both been OK with the result, and nobody's blood pressure got raised. :D :D :D
Yes and sometimes they are not so polite which is why this issue irritates me slightly. But note that the majority of the time people are quite good and respect your space as much as theirs.

And then there are others who will push that seat back as far as possible as soon as the seat belt sign has gone off sometimes even before. This is just plain rude. It may also just be just plain arrogance or ignorance because they have to be told repeatedly to have their seats upright during descent. What annoys me the most is people in bulkheads that recline and also when the person in front of them has not reclined. These people already have their fair share of room why push for more?

Most of the time it is OK because I am sitting in bulkhead anyway but the last few times I have been uncomfortable there and changed seats right into the eye of the storm.
 
Antisocial behaviour

It's like being at the football ..... just as the winger crosses into the box towards the waiting centre-forward (insert your own sporting equivalent), coughnuckle #1 in the first row jumps up to get a better look, followed a tenth of a second later by coughnuckle #2 in the second row, etc, etc ....

Planes are the same ..... as soon as the seatbelt sign goes off the coughnuckle in the first row unclicks their belt and punches the recline button so that they can maximise their space, the passenger behind them rubs their bruised knees and then does the same, etc. , etc.

I have no problem with people reclining seats when trying to get sleep on long-haul flights (though I choose not to do so), but otherwise it is simple disregard for fellow passengers. What disappoints me most is when they are not asked by staff to raise their seats for meals and I have to personally insist upon actually seeing my meal as I'm trying to eat it. Of course they give me a look that screams "arrogant cough!" which is a bit of a laugh, really.

I'd be quite happy if they only had fixed seats in economy.


Cheers,

AC
 
JohnK said:
Not END OF STORY. I paid for exactly what anyone else in cattle class paid for. If my comfort (or lack of) is compromised by some imbecile then I will pay them back anyway possible. After all fair is fair. I will constantly bang my knees against the seat in front, constantly get out my seat making sure that the seat in front moves or jolts everytime, I will turn the airconditioning on full blast facing them. Anyone can play this game.

Wouldn't it make more sense for you to put your own seat back to grab the lost room? If every seat was put back all of the time there would be no drama. If any pax started to annoy the hell out of me for reclining my seat I would make a point of standing up, raising my voice and making them feel like a total idiot. You'd also have fun during meal time when my seat would be shaking uncontrolably.... hope you didn't get hot coffee!

As fun as it is to play these games I have to agree that taking the cool calm approach and asking them to xx_X is probably a better solution.
 
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