FA Prohibits Recline
Jul 22, 2012, 9:21 am
#46
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: MCO
Programs: DL DM/MM, Marriott Plat Premier, HH Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 4,081
Jul 22, 2012, 9:24 am
#47
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Atlanta & San Francisco
Programs: DL 2MM DM & My Wife is a DL 3MM DM
Posts: 2,784
I usually am traveling in FC and, to be honest, the pitch on some DL aircraft isn't really that luxurious--better than Y--but less so than on some others (Air Tran--while they still exist-- and Alaska come to mind).
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Last edited by atl runner; Jul 22, 2012 at 9:30 am
Jul 22, 2012, 11:54 am
#48
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CT
Programs: DL DM 2MM, MR LTT, Hilton D, Hertz PC. National Emerald Exec, UA Silver(thanks to Marriott)
Posts: 2,026
I usually am traveling in FC and, to be honest, the pitch on some DL aircraft isn't really that luxurious--better than Y--but less so than on some others (Air Tran--while they still exist-- and Alaska come to mind).
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Jul 22, 2012, 12:05 pm
#49
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shanghai
Programs: BAEC (Gold), PC (Plat), HH (Gold), MR (Gold)
Posts: 2,729
I usually am traveling in FC and, to be honest, the pitch on some DL aircraft isn't really that luxurious--better than Y--but less so than on some others (Air Tran--while they still exist-- and Alaska come to mind).
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Regardless, I think there is a happy medium here. Although someone technically has the right to recline as much as they want to, that is a separate issue from whether or not that is being very considerate of the person sitting behind you.
I don't actually mind sitting upright, but when I do recline, I do it very modestly. Think about others as well as yourself--a good strategy to employ beyond just on airplanes.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:03 pm
#50
Join Date: Apr 2007
Programs: AA, DAL, blah, blah, blah...The usual.
Posts: 646
Yet another reason to GET RID OF RECLINING SEATS.
Almost no appreciable gain in comfort for the person who does recline, while being a major decrease in comfort the whomever gets reclined into.
Reclining seats are a leftover from another time, when coach seat pitch resembled today's first class seat pitch.
Seat pitch is too tight on today's airplanes.
Be done with it.
Almost no appreciable gain in comfort for the person who does recline, while being a major decrease in comfort the whomever gets reclined into.
Reclining seats are a leftover from another time, when coach seat pitch resembled today's first class seat pitch.
Seat pitch is too tight on today's airplanes.
Be done with it.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:12 pm
#51
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,502
I don't there's any "right to recline" but there's no excuse accommodating one passenger's comfort level at your expense on pain of sanction.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:19 pm
#52
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: BDU
Programs: DL:MM, Marriott:LTT
Posts: 8,779
When the seats recline, tray tables don;t move. I remember days when a passenger reclining their seat in economy did not cause a problem for the passenger behind them during meal service. Two things have changed since then. Seat pitch and passenger size.
Now that I have lost quite a bit of the extra weight I have gained, I find that it's less inconvenient for me when the passenger in front of me reclines.
Now that I have lost quite a bit of the extra weight I have gained, I find that it's less inconvenient for me when the passenger in front of me reclines.
Personally, to avoid this, I put my laptop on my lap.
OP, the FA was wrong. The seats recline, and you are entitled to use the seats as intended. The passenger behind you knew the seats recline and had no right to ask that you be kept from using the seats as intended. Hopefully you got the FAs name and will let DL know. FAs who make up rules need to know that it causes issues and should not be on flights: it should be first offense warning, second offense suspension and a third offense termination.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:36 pm
#53
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: DL PM, Hyatt Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 1,082
Remember ashtrays in the armrests? They were rather vestigial after smoking was banned. I hope that recline buttons will suffer the same fate. A reclined seat is incongruous with high load factors and contemporary seat pitch.
Please don't get me wrong. I don't ask anyone to give up their "right" to recline. In almost all cases, if I can't get a seat in the exit row then I don't book the flight. It's not really the leg room in the exit row that I'm after, it's the fact that the recline button is inoperable in the seat in front of me.
Please don't get me wrong. I don't ask anyone to give up their "right" to recline. In almost all cases, if I can't get a seat in the exit row then I don't book the flight. It's not really the leg room in the exit row that I'm after, it's the fact that the recline button is inoperable in the seat in front of me.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:47 pm
#54
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,165
Pax must follow *valid* crew member instructions. IMO, this was not a valid instruction and I would have told the FA such, that I would be opening a complaint file against her and that the only options were either to let me recline my seat or find someone in F who would swap seats and not recline voluntarily.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
Jul 22, 2012, 1:49 pm
#55
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,502
Pax must follow *valid* crew member instructions. IMO, this was not a valid instruction and I would have told the FA such, that I would be opening a complaint file against her and that the only options were either to let me recline my seat or find someone in F who would swap seats and not recline voluntarily.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
+1
Jul 22, 2012, 2:04 pm
#56
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: Non-Affiliated
Posts: 7,429
Yet another reason to GET RID OF RECLINING SEATS.
Almost no appreciable gain in comfort for the person who does recline, while being a major decrease in comfort the whomever gets reclined into.
Reclining seats are a leftover from another time, when coach seat pitch resembled today's first class seat pitch.
Seat pitch is too tight on today's airplanes.
Be done with it.
Almost no appreciable gain in comfort for the person who does recline, while being a major decrease in comfort the whomever gets reclined into.
Reclining seats are a leftover from another time, when coach seat pitch resembled today's first class seat pitch.
Seat pitch is too tight on today's airplanes.
Be done with it.
The "right" to recline is rediculous. People claim they "paid" for that space, but didn't I pay for the space into which you now are occupying?
On my last LAS-DTW flight, the passenger in front of me reclined as soon as he got on the plane. The FA didn't make him move it for takeoff or landing, but politely did ask him to move up so that I could use my tray for breakfast. (I didn't ask, she saw it wouldn't open with his recline.) He turned around, gave me a dirty look, and then made a rude comment to his companion about me. Once my tray opened, he reclined right back down.
This was a 738, which I believe is one of the worst F cabins in the whole DL fleet. When the passenger is so close you can see the dandruff on their scalp, its too close.
Jul 22, 2012, 2:07 pm
#57
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Atlanta & San Francisco
Programs: DL 2MM DM & My Wife is a DL 3MM DM
Posts: 2,784
There are lots of problems in the world, and lots of minor inconveniences here and there. This is not something worth getting all bent out of shape over or wasting time "taking it to the next level." Sitting in a FC seat for a domestic flight--with or without reclining--is hardly something that falls in the category of a grueling experience.
The whole issue probably could have been avoided if the woman behind the OP had just asked him nicely if he could bring his seat up "a little bit"--rather than complaining to the FA.
It happened--forget it, and move on with more important things.
Jul 22, 2012, 2:10 pm
#58
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: DL FO, UA, AA, AsiaMiles, SPG, HHonors
Posts: 7,982
Pax must follow *valid* crew member instructions. IMO, this was not a valid instruction and I would have told the FA such, that I would be opening a complaint file against her and that the only options were either to let me recline my seat or find someone in F who would swap seats and not recline voluntarily.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
+1
Jul 22, 2012, 2:17 pm
#59
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: Whatever's Cheapest, Accruing Miles, Redeeming for Premium Cabins, Not Chasing Status Unnecessarily
Posts: 2,264
Pax must follow *valid* crew member instructions. IMO, this was not a valid instruction and I would have told the FA such, that I would be opening a complaint file against her and that the only options were either to let me recline my seat or find someone in F who would swap seats and not recline voluntarily.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
I sincerely hope you open a complaint file with Delta HQ in the US (not those form letter drones in India) - to me, compensation would be secondary to having this employee reprimanded officially.
If she threatened to call for authorities or management to meet me on the ground, I would have happily called her bluff and responded on the ground that this was not a valid crew member instruction just as ordering me to stand on my head in the corner, stop watching Modern Family on my laptop, or not eat my dessert are also not valid instructions.
Some issues are not worth taking to the next level - this is on example of something that is.
I think the FA could create all kinds of lies like you 'were disruptive' or 'uncooperative' or 'a safety risk'. I don't need the hassle of giving statements and having my stuff confiscated as evidence. Now if I had been touched...that's another matter.
I would give a token argument, try to get her name, tell the other person off that they are wrong, OBEY, and then write a hard letter certified mail and email about it.
Jul 22, 2012, 2:20 pm
#60
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: DL Diamond, HHonors Diamond, National Executive Elite
Posts: 2,360
No, you paid for the space into which your own seat reclines. Use as much of that space as you see fit.