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

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


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oz_mark said:
miss watters said:
this has got to be one of the funniest topics on any forum i have been on in my life!!!!!
reclining.....what a topic!!!

We're not afraid to tackle the big important and controversial issues here at AFF.

lol, its nice to be welcomed. hehe thankyou
 
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the ironic thing for me is that a few months back i was on a DJ flight from MKY to BNE and was in a seat that was broken and kept on reclining when ever i leaned backwards.

needless to say each time it went all the way back i had to turn my airvent on myself fullblast and then negotiate to get my seat back upright and the vent turned down ... i discovered that i am a good negotiator 8)
 
That is really funny bigjobs.

Seriously something has to be done about reclining in economy at least.
I know we have done this topic to death but something should be done. Just like a passenger is entitled to recline I should also be able to sit upright without my space being invaded. I do not feel comfortable if I am not sitted uprighted and hardly ever recline unless I am forced into it. I also struggle to get out of my seat when the seat in front is fully reclined.

I am on a Swiss Air A340 yesterday, not my choice, and I am sitting in 30G which is centre aisle directly behind bulkhead. Swiss couple sitting in front of me and 2 Singaporean women and man sitting next to me. We get on plane early and the lady in front of me reclines while we are still at the gate. Please have some respect! I shake the seat in front so hard that she quickly put seat back upright.

Anyway we are now taxying and about to takeoff when both of them decide to recline fully again. This time I did not say anything but they got a mouthful from the FA. As soon as the seatbelt sign was off they reclined again and during meal service FA had troubles getting them to put seat back to upright. These sort of people do not deserve to be seated in bulkhead. Very irresponsible. By the way the Singaporean man next to me was not very happy either and we had a conversationabout people and their manners.

I spoke to the flight attendant that this is ridiculous but nothing she can do as the whole flight is full, because of cancelled AY097, in fact they had to turn some people away.

How do you handle this situation? The airvents on an A340 are different to most aircraft. You cannot change position. Also the Swiss Air A340 configuration is probably the smallest seats I have ever travelled in, which makes the recline feel even worse. When I am upright and the seat in front reclines fully then my face is right up against the seat in front.

Clearly these 2 in front of me were ignorant morons. I spoke to them sarcastically but I do not think their command of the English language was adequate. What do I do? Be childish was the only option. I pushed my knee as hard as I could forward a number of times and then let go very quickly so that the seat in front would jolt. She wasn't very happy but not game to do anything about it. I felt there was no compromise in this situation.
 
JohnK said:
...I pushed my knee as hard as I could forward a number of times and then let go very quickly so that the seat in front would jolt. ...


And this is very good manners on your behalf!
 
one9 said:
JohnK said:
...I pushed my knee as hard as I could forward a number of times and then let go very quickly so that the seat in front would jolt. ...


And this is very good manners on your behalf!
No it was not and I am not proud of it.

I asked a question of how to deal with these people when clearly reason is not the option.
 
JohnK said:
Clearly these 2 in front of me were ignorant morons. I spoke to them sarcastically but I do not think their command of the English language was adequate. What do I do? Be childish was the only option. I pushed my knee as hard as I could forward a number of times and then let go very quickly so that the seat in front would jolt. She wasn't very happy but not game to do anything about it. I felt there was no compromise in this situation.
Yep, there is nothing much you can do about it, which sucks. I think that economy seats should be bolted upright, no reclining at all. I flew SIN-KUL in Y yesterday (JL721 which is operated by a 767-300) and there simply is no room for reclining. My knees touch the seat in front when it is fully upright.

I'd like to here the FA's include something in their annoucement about not reclining during meal services.
 
Yada Yada said:
Yep, there is nothing much you can do about it, which sucks. I think that economy seats should be bolted upright, no reclining at all. I flew SIN-KUL in Y yesterday (JL721 which is operated by a 767-300) and there simply is no room for reclining. My knees touch the seat in front when it is fully upright.

I'd like to here the FA's include something in their annoucement about not reclining during meal services.
Peter, I am nowhere near as tall as you and my knees touch the seat in front when fully upright. When the person in front reclines i have to twist my legs at weird angles to accomodate the reduction in room and also I am chubbier than most which does not help at all. I know it sounds silly but I am not comfortable unless I am sitting upright so when the person in front reclines it leaves a lot less room for me.

If I want to continue flying I will just have to grin and bear it. Business class long haul is not an option as it is way too expensive but I may have to seriously consider using points to upgrade. But there is a limit on the points I have available which can only cover some flights.

Also I have lost some weight in the last couple of months which means that I can fit back into 23B on A330 and 34C on 747 so I will make sure that I keep these seats when I am assigned them again in future.
 
One thing to keep in mind (if you don’t already) is that it may be that people in the front of economy are less likely to recline than people at the back.

I believe generally the people at the front are often more frequent flyers (or people with status) and also people who specifically request to be at the front, whereas often families are put at the back. And often families or infrequent flyers put their seats back. (but so do frequent flyers - but to a lesser extent).

But I am of the belief that the seat space purchased by a passenger includes the reclining space. The passenger behind can use their reclining space, so as such no one misses out. Only during meal service should people have to sit upright.

I believe people who really don't like having a person recline in front of them have to be proactive. For example
1. Arriving early to request exit row seats
2. If two or more people then being prepared for one of the party to sit in front of the other. i.e. they don't sit together
3. Taking note of empty seats and swapping seats
4. Carefully selecting seats in the first place... If you know the plane is not full and where the seats are in blocks of three, then if on a row, the window and aisle seats are taken, then it is likely that the middle seat between these two people won't be taken. So you then request the middle seat behind this seat.
5. Flying airlines that have slightly more room than others when the seats are reclined.

Developing strategies to lessen the chance of having a reclining passenger in front of you (even when they involve some disadvantage to you) is a much better way than arguing with a passenger over this controversial issue. Especially when it seems there is no right answer.
 
one9 said:
Developing strategies to lessen the chance of having a reclining passenger in front of you (even when they involve some disadvantage to you) is a much better way than arguing with a passenger over this controversial issue. Especially when it seems there is no right answer.
Thanks. That is a very well balanced post and some of the ideas are quite good.

Don't know how many people it happens to but it seems to happen to me quite regularly and I sit at the front of economy almost always. So whether these are first time travellers or frequent flyers it still happens. Sometimes if I see that a row is empty I ask FA and try to grab it before aircraft takes off. I did this one time and had a lady and her 3 children seated in front of me. As soon as plane took of she reclined fully. OK so I move to the next seat leaving the aisle sesat free. Her children all went to sleep so she then proceeded to recline all their seats for them while they were asleep. Rude cow. What do you do? These are 8-9 year olds and they don't need seat reclined once they have gone to sleep. Again, diplomatically, without any fuss I managed to unrecline one of the seats.

I think the best solution is to get a seat where they can't recline on you and that is the first seat in economy or exit row. Generally as I book early enough I normally have been allocated the first seat in economy (not bulkhead as I like to leave these for people who need them) but I have had weight issues recently and have been changing this seating allocation. Now that I have lost the weight again I will be aiming for 23B on A330 and 34C on 747. I will have to work out the rows for other aircraft types and other airlines configurations.
 
one9 said:
I believe people who really don't like having a person recline in front of them have to be proactive. For example
1. Arriving early to request exit row seats
2. If two or more people then being prepared for one of the party to sit in front of the other. i.e. they don't sit together
3. Taking note of empty seats and swapping seats
4. Carefully selecting seats in the first place... If you know the plane is not full and where the seats are in blocks of three, then if on a row, the window and aisle seats are taken, then it is likely that the middle seat between these two people won't be taken. So you then request the middle seat behind this seat.
5. Flying airlines that have slightly more room than others when the seats are reclined.

Developing strategies to lessen the chance of having a reclining passenger in front of you (even when they involve some disadvantage to you) is a much better way than arguing with a passenger over this controversial issue. Especially when it seems there is no right answer.

Agreed however things don't always go as planned. From your points above:

1. Recently checked in in HK about 23hrs prior to our SYD - MEL flight (Seq #1.2&3) and eneded up in the middle of a crowded cabin. ---a/c had been changed and original seat allocation would have been a bulkhead BUT didn't happen.
2. Didn't bother as seats appeared to be good.
3. There weren't any.
4. Per No 1 above.
5. Flying QF on a 767.

Interesting that my daughter had a case of cronic knees in the back and person behind was not responsive when asked politely. She used the recline the seatback policy to advantage and quickly trained this person to stop :!:
 
straitman said:
Interesting that my daughter had a case of cronic knees in the back and person behind was not responsive when asked politely. She used the recline the seatback policy to advantage and quickly trained this person to stop :!:
Poor bloke was probably in agony and shock as his knees and hips were bruised from the person in front reclining.
 
From the article mentioned in another thread about "standing up seating" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/b...=1146024000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print )

Comes this innovation in Economy:

"the latest economy-class seat from B/E Aerospace, called the ICON, allows the seat bottom to move forward when the seat is reclined, so that it does not steal legroom from the passenger behind it."

Would be interesting if any of the major carriers installed it, and would perhaps solve some of the issues with reclining [Note, I said *some*! ]
 
JohnK said:
straitman said:
Interesting that my daughter had a case of cronic knees in the back and person behind was not responsive when asked politely. She used the recline the seatback policy to advantage and quickly trained this person to stop :!:
Poor bloke was probably in agony and shock as his knees and hips were bruised from the person in front reclining.

Her excuse is that she's pregnant and couldn't get comfortable. 8) :D :) ......and really tired after being forced to endure a business class upgrade all the way from Hong Kong :!:
 
straitman said:
Her excuse is that she's pregnant and couldn't get comfortable. 8) :D :) ......and really tired after being forced to endure a business class upgrade all the way from Hong Kong :!:
OK. A wise guy. :roll:
 
JohnK said:
straitman said:
Her excuse is that she's pregnant and couldn't get comfortable. 8) :D :) ......and really tired after being forced to endure a business class upgrade all the way from Hong Kong :!:
OK. A wise guy. :roll:

In fact ALL 3 of us were forced to endure an upgrade :!: :oops: :oops: :D :D
 
straitman said:
In fact ALL 3 of us were forced to endure an upgrade :!: :oops: :oops: :D :D
I deeply feel sorry for the 3 of you. I wouldn't wish anyone to endure an upgrade in business class all the way from HKG-MEL. So painful. :shock:
 
JohnK said:
straitman said:
In fact ALL 3 of us were forced to endure an upgrade :!: :oops: :oops: :D :D
I deeply feel sorry for the 3 of you. I wouldn't wish anyone to endure an upgrade in business class all the way from HKG-MEL. So painful. :shock:


We really appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks. :D :D :D :D
 
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