G-BUSI

Personally, I would remove the ability to recline on any seat in economy. Things are getting way too cramped down the back, and will probably get tighter, the very least one should expect is not to have the seat in front in your face.
Cannot wait to see the seat pitch on the NEO's in shorthaul Y.

DavidYYC

This has been discussed so many times here and in many other forums. I am pretty sure that the reason it is so contentious is because of the discomfort brought to the person being reclined into.
I hate it when someone reclines in front of me. My opinion is that the reclining brings very little benefit to my comfort, compared to the discomfort of being reclined into.
I never recline my seat unless there is no-one behind me.

hessbo

This is clearly a question of personal preferences. In my personal opinion, Y seats are usually too straight up. That's because they have to allow people to get into their window seat despite 28-30 inch pitch.
As a result, today's "reclined" position feels fairly similar to the up-right position of most train and car seats.

So, personally, I happily pay a premium for airlines that offer reclining seats.

As for etiquette, the seat is up-right for take-off, landing and meal service. A recline should be done slowly and keeping in mind that the PAX behind could have coffee/tablet/laptop on their tray table.

Now, I understand that some people hate reclining while others love it. Business and Premium Economy aren't available for all. If I ran an airline I'd offer a separation by zones in Y: "non-recline" (e.g. ABC) and also "reclining" (e.g. DEF) – and charge a fee.

shimura

hijacking the thread, what about people hitting the seat back continuously?
What is etiquette consensus here? Personally I much prefer in Y picking last row seats, trading legs space to the hassle of being pushed during the flight.

justinwong

I never really understood why it isn't a policy for everyone just to recline after meals? Surely it makes sense - everyone gets the same amount of room as if everyone was sitting up straight except that everyone is in a more comfortable position.

snaxmuppet

I wouldn't like that. I rarely recline when awake and to be forced to recline just after my meal would not be my choice. If I do recline it is usually about 1/2 way... just to make the angle of the back of the seat more natural/comfortable. I'd only fully recline if trying to rest/sleep.

Rebelyell

It is rude to "slam" one's seat back. Beyond that, the seats are made to recline. On takeoff and landing they are in crash-landing position, tilted slightly forward. This is incredibly uncomfortable and makes it hard to breathe, and also hurts the back. So outside of meal times, all seats should be fully reclined.

windowontheAside

I couldn't agree more. I appreciate that we're all different but the difference the recline makes to me is night and day. Economy travel isn't great, but I find full recline reasonably comfortable and can relax, sleep etc. In upright mode I get backache very quickly. So for those to whom it makes no difference, please consider that we are not all built the same way.

wanderer35

That is a surprise to me.
I wish they did that during mealtime, but I have never seen that done.

snaxmuppet

If that was enforced it would mean that I would have to fly J or not at all for long-haul! Why "fully"? I find fully reclined is too much recline for normal sitting. Fine for resting.

Globaliser

I don't think it takes much intelligence to work out that if a supposed "solution" to a problem is even worse than the original problem, it's not really a solution at all. Hence its abandonment - overall it's a bad idea.

icegirl

The action of a seat recline can be rather sudden and violent, as the top of the seat is effectively being shoved into someone’s face. So perhaps it would be courteous to the passenger behind to perhaps try to conduct appropriate diligence to ensure the passenger is not eating and if so wait till they have finished as to not disturb them before performing a controlled progressive recline of the seat. This is, of course, dependent on how well the seat is maintained. In my experience BA economy seat on long haul are fine.

trains

In my ideal world at least, this is what would happen, although I appreciate that it'd be impractical for a number of reasons. I'm not usually in economy on long-haul, but when I am I never recline and so if the person does in front then I'm fast running out of space. My resolution for this is to get an exit or bulkhead seat, but it's not always possible. However, I'd always willingly pay more for a section on an aircraft where seats don't recline.

Misco60

And that would open a whole new can of worms: how long after the meal service has finished should you wait for a slow (or constant) eater before you recline?

Whether or not to recline a seat is better resolved by mutual awareness of and consideration for your fellow passengers than by rules.

cgtechuk

The three topics that appear all the time on FT:

Lounge Etiquette
Seat Reclining Etiquette
and Luggage Tag Etiquette.

lol

Anyway as mentioned above we:

Check behind to make sure the person behind is not eating or drinking then slowly recline, A little if sitting or fully if planning on sleeping / resting.

The only objection I have is when others dont follow suit and I have been wearing a drink or two in the past from previous offenders

Also Kids banging the seat too especially on one LAX flight when I heard "He normally doesn't behave like that with the nanny" said all I needed to know lol