The seats do indeed "slouch" and not really recline. The seat portion (which you sit on) slides forward a few inches and the back portion slides down a bit. You can achieve pretty much the same effect on a regular seat with a pillow in your lower back and bad posture, but I don't find the seats entirely uncomfortable. My biggest complaint has been that when you put the seat in the recline/slouch position, you lose legroom. At 6'1" it's tight to begin with, I can contort a bit to get comfortable, but it's hard to stay comfy in those positions on a 15+hour flight.