Can't remember the last time either I or the person in front reclined their seat

this is opening a can of worms

i never seem to be able to sleep properly when i recline my seat, so tend not to bother, but when the person in front reclines you seem to have little option but to recline yourself.
on short haul flights i tend to use ryanair, where you cant recline, and i dont have a problem. i can doze away quite happily for the couple of hours it takes to get to my destination.
i don't do long haul flights, and cant see any way i would want to unless i was travelling in first class. some hope

i have done coach holidays to spain many times, and on these they tell you not to recline your seat until after midnight, but although everyone else seems to be able to sleep with their seats reclinesd i end up putting my seat back up and trying to doze the night away.

so, to answer the question, i think the annoyance that they cause because some people do not seem to have learnt any manners at all, and have no consideration for others, definitely favours a fixed seat on short haul journeys.
long haul is different as i feel the reclining option is essential for comfort, but i think that they could introduce different seat options akin to the smoking/no smoking seats where you could have one side of the plane with full recline allowed at any time, and the other side where recline was only allowed at "sleeping" time. they could then have reduced seating prices for the limited reclining seats ***

*** this really means that the airlines would just charge more for the full reclining option, but the theory sounds good.

Here we go again! The thing that really interests me is that whenever this topic rears its ugly head so often it is the people who exercise their right to recline their seat who come in for the most criticism or are characterised as having no manners or consideration for others, much less so those who object and discuss the tactics they indulge in to try and prevent the person in front doing so. Both want to impose their preference on their neighbours so are not both equally lacking in due consideration for others?

OK, so I do have a biased perspective - my mother has severe arthritis as well as advanced osteoporosis of the spine which means that sitting bolt up right in a fixed position causes her pain after a relatively sort while. Being able to alternate between an upright and reclined seat position helps because it changes which part of her spine is under stress. We do always request and fair does to the airlines, apart from one exception, we do get allocated a medical seat for her. This is great for her, it usually means a seat close to the entrance on to the plane and more room for her to manouevre into the seat etc but it doesn't give the person sat behind her any more room so that she can recline the seat without inconveniencing them.

The treatment that she has received on occasions from the person behind has made her reluctant to do this which means that any journey over an hour can turn into an excruciating nightmare. By this I mean that when I explain why she needs to recline the seat most people aren't necessarily happy with it but they put up with it with good grace but not always. And those who don't, always 'win' because they can and, at times, do make her life a misery by slamming the table up and down, allowing their children to kick the back of the seat or on one notable occassion physically shaking and shoving the back of the seat forwards on a regular basis! The result then is that she ends the journey in tears either from the pain or the humiliation or a combination of both and the shine is taken off the whole trip from the beginning.

In the past we booked 'premium' whenever we could, not just for her comfort but because the extra room for the person behind her reduced the likelihood of harassament from them. But her longhaul days are now well and truly over and most shorthaul charter flights don't offer a premium option and the extra cost for First Class on a scheduled flight usually puts it out of her reach. For me the real problem is that airlines increasingly treat their passengers as cargo not human beings but we have contributed to this by basing our on choices mainly on price not quality of service.

SM

Sorry your mum has had problems SM and she is perfectly entitled to recline her seat as the space behind is hers, I am sure if prior to reclining she spoke to the person behind and explained the reason most people me included would be sympathetic, its just so annoying when the seats descends with no warning.

Such a difficult one this.... my own belief is that common sense 'should' prevail and people should show a bit of courtesy to their fellow passengers, however this never seems to be quite how it happens

I definately don't agree with the argument that you've paid for the seat and therefore have the 'right' to recline because the space behind is as much the person behinds as yours but I don't think that the people behind have the right to start kicking the seat or having a go verbally just because the person in front is in considerate.

If it's a night flight then fair enough, I think reclining is a reasonable behaviour and I would expect other passengers to accept this, I still would check that the people behind aren't eating, doing crosswords etc and if need be I'd ask if they mind themselves whilist i move my seat back.
If it's daytime and a short flight then I would expect the majority to stay upright. (if someone has a special need to recline then a polite request and reasonable acceptance seems sensible)

I can't sleep in flight and I am fairly tall so I really don't like recliners as the back of the seat ends up about 8 inchs from my face but I won't generally kick off about it even though it annoys me.
The only times I have ever said anything to the person in front were:
1. when the lady in front reclined as soon as the seatbelt sign went out coming back from San Francisco and then promptly sat leaning forwards on the front edge of her seat looking out of the window - In this case a polite request was all that it took
2. Woman who finished her meal, pressed the call bell and made the stewardess take her tray back straight away and then reclined. I caught most of my meal but ended up with some spillage. - In this case I was very angry (and much younger) and my language was fairly direct and to the point .

On our flight out this year we were allocated seats backing on to an exit and therefor they did not recline. The person in front had reclined there seat to an extent that I could not put my seat back tray down.
During the flight I and another passenger in the same row got up and stood behind our seats to stretch our legs. The stewardess promptly informed us that we were encroaching on the extra legroom that the people behind us had payed for and we would have to move. The people behind us had not complained.

I was always of the belief that if someone is eating/drinking with their drinks tray down the person in front had to sit upright? I know it's happened on a flight I've been on, the stewardess has requested that the reclined seat be upright due to safety regulations

I sympathise with those who say that they have good reasons to recline their seat( eg SMa)....................but unfortunately if you are 6' 4" like me,travelling with 29/30" pitch on a European flight, it is not physically possible for the seat in front to recline without dislocating both my kneecaps! I always try to get extra legroom seats ...but on some flights these are not available to book.
On that note,here goes with one that will no doubt wind up a few people!!The thing that really gets up my nose is being jammed in a 29" seat whilst a row of extra legroom seats is filled by "short a**es" ! Why do they need extra legroom??

I think on any short haul flight under 5 hrs seats should be fixed, the seat pitch on these flights are to restrictive for reclining seats imho.

brewerdave said

The thing that really gets up my nose is being jammed in a 29" seat whilst a row of extra legroom seats is filled by "short a**es" ! Why do they need extra legroom??

I have found that for extra legroom seats you have to pay for them. I do book extra legroom seats where possible and pay for that too. and I am a 'shortie' too , but that's my choice to have a big extra room and not feel as though I am packed in like cattle. Off topic slightly, I was on a short haul flight earlier this year and was in an extra seat and there was a free seat next to me. In the row directly in front either side of the aisle was a young couple and the man turned back and said was anyone sitting next to me, I said no so he said would I mind swapping seats with him so he and g/friend could be seated together. I politely said no as I had paid extra for the seat, to which he was very annoyed because I wouldn't move

I don't recline for the reasons already mentioned on here, but can sympathise with those that need to - I think it comes down to manners and communication, from the person who is about to recline. A simple 'would you mind if I reclined' to the person behind would be wonderful, but in reality not sure that happens.

Sorry Miss Pink, I respectfully disagree with your viewpoint - don't think Extra leg room seats should be pre bookable - think they should be held back for genuine in need customers at check in on a "first come, first served basis" - and that should be for those in excess of 6 ft tall!! If you think you would be "packed in like cattle" try being 6 ft 4" tall and 18 stone!! Then you would know what extreme travelling discomfort is all about.!!

don't think Extra leg room seats should be pre bookable - think they should be held back for genuine in need customers at check in on a "first come, first served basis" - and that should be for those in excess of 6 ft tall!!

I think that's a good idea if it would work but I suppose it's one of those things that sounds good in theory but not really practical. The one stumbling block would be with setting the minimum height requirement- even if a heigth was plucked out of the air, let's say 6 foot, it would then mean people that are just under 6 foot arguing that they are 6 foot. Check-in would have to have a measuring chart and would they then stick to the rule or would there be some leeway for people that were not quite reaching the 6 foot marker

I agree that it would be very difficult to police but something needs to be done if they are going to continue to pack people on to planes for 5 hour (and occasionally longer ) flights - I've even seen a family seated in the front ELR seats on one flight with small kids (not the exit row) - a perfect recipe for air rage!!!

I was on a 7 hour daytime flight recently at a window seat and the seat behind me was empty, so after the meal I decided to recline and have a bit of shut-eye. I don't normally recline unless on a night flight and if the person behind me is also reclined.
The woman in the middle seat in the row behind leaned over and told me she was going to move into the window seat and I would need to put my seat up.
I said no to her, partly because I didn't like the way she asked/told me and partly because it wan't her allocated seat. She spent the rest of the flight kicking my seat.
I ignored her as I could tell from her attitude there was no way she was going to back off. I also had 2 empty seats beside me so stretched out across the three seats with my back to the window so the kicks didn't bother me. Kept my seat reclined though.

There is no way they will ever stop selling extra leg room seats and just allocating them free of charge to people of 6ft plus. That's just cloud cuckoo land stuff these days. I'm suprised they don't have slots on the toilets for us to put 50p in if we want to use them.

I try never to recline if at all possible as I fell it is invading the space of the person behind. However if the person infont of me reclines it can feel so claustrophobic I have to recline a little, but normally check first, apologise & say that I have had to do it because there is a 'recliner' in front of me. The moment someone in front puts their seat back straight so do I.

I have a vision of 6 people at the front of the plane being the only ones who want to recline and the other 330 doing it only to regain personal space, like some kind of bizzare chain reaction. I agree with the post that says they should not have recliners on short haul flights under 5 hours at all, long haul and night flight are different.

doepsmc -wasn't suggesting they should be free - happy to pay for them at check in - if they were available! But on a holiday I'm due to take shortly, there was no availability for ELR seats nearly 5 months before - even tho' I've just checked and there is plenty of standard availability still.

Sorry Dave thought you mean't free lol and was just thinking that with the current state of affairs it was very unlikely anything would go back to being complimentary, and even if things do ease up a bit moneywise once they start charging for things they never seem to stop.

Dont suppose they will put in extra ELR either as it will mean less of the standard LR.

Think I was on an emptyish Airtours flight some years back where they walked through the plane trying to sell them for 50 quid a seat, but got no takers, but that obvioulsy doesn't happen at peak times.

Doe

Have been on a return flight from DR when they were trying to flog ELR seats at check in - obviously didn't as 2 of us had a row of 4 to ourselves!!! But for some reason all the ELR seats were snapped up early on our flight to Kenya in 10 days time. Maybe a wedding party as there are two or three happening at our hotel whilst we are out there.

I do understand that being tall brewerdave must make it very uncomfortable for you to travel, but you have the right to purchase extra leg room seats the same as everyone else. No I am not 6ft 4 nor 18 stone but I choose to pay extra for my seat that's my choice isn't it