Originally Posted by Falcon20

No complaints, just an observation.

FRA-IAH last week on 767-400 and was lucky enough to snag an upgrade into first. I rarely get the opportunity to go first on a TATL so I was looking forward to relaxing and stretching out for the 11 hour flight.

I placed all my tech gear (headphones, laptop, etc) in the seat pocket in front of me and was ready to enjoy the long ride to Houston. All was great until about an hour after liftoff when the woman in front of me in 1A decided to utilize the “Lay flat” feature on her seat and proceeded to slowly go backward as though she was preparing for a launch to Venus. Although a bit annoying, I decided I could live with it since I was happily able get up and stretch my legs at anytime and I figured she couldn’t sleep that long (could she?). Then things got a little bit dicier.

Apparently lulled by his wife’s incessant snoring, Mr. Astronaut in 1B starts to nod off and decides to hit the full recline switch to faithfully follow his partners drifting off to snooze-land. So here I am next to the window in 2A with two passengers in front of me, heads in my lap, their headphones on, eyes covered by Lone Ranger masks, and blankets drawn up to their chins. I started to get the feeling this was more than just a cat nap.

“OK”, I thought. Getting a little more annoying but I can still live with it. Even though egress from my seat is a real challenge because I now have to contort my upper and lower body like a pre-pubescent Russian gymnast, lean forward as though I’m about to kiss my neighbor in 2B, scoot sideways like a crab on the beach and finally exit to freedom into the aisle. All the while trying to avoid impaling my footprints on Mr. and Mrs. Astronauts foreheads.

“OK”, I thought once again. Not exactly what I bargained for when I went for the upgrade but thank goodness CO engineering designed enough room to get in and out no matter what the people in front of you do . That is until your next door neighbor in 2B raises his leg rest to its maximum extended position, which is just about a half a millimeter from Mr. Astronaut’s fully-reclined, sleep inducing seat back.

So here I am in 2A, trapped in my seat like a wild Raccoon in an iron cage, bounded by the seat backs of Mr. and Mrs. Astronaut in front and the fully extended legs of Mr. “I think I’ll snooze a little too” on my right. It was on the verge of being claustrophobic. Realizing there was little I could do (aside from creating major scene and causing a diversion to Greenland to throw me off the plane) I decided to just do some work until they awoke.

Remember the tech gear I stowed in the pocket in front of me prior to take off? Well, that pocket was now unreachable underneath the fully prone seat back of Mrs. Astronaut and hardly accessible by any human. Luckily, I always carry my spelunker gear in my pocket so I pulled out my nylon safety rope, lighted helmet, hiking boots and bread crumbs to mark my trail and slid slowly and cautiously under the seat back in front of me to retrieve my tech gear.

Hours later, after my neighbor’s 12 Ambien had finally worn off, they all moved their seat backs to the upright and locked position just in time to get their arrival meals. In retrospect, I guess I could have done a few things different. Maybe I could have asked nicely to limit the recline, maybe I shouldn’t worry about waking up people if I have to go the restroom, or maybe, just maybe, I’ll just stand my ground, put up a huge hissy-fit and protest at the top of my lungs that my “Seat Rights” are being violated.

Anyone know what Greenland’s like in the summer?