Originally Posted by
winnipegrev
Get a smaller laptop for travel if you can't open it when the seat in front is reclined. Or book bulkheads, or PY, or J. Or another airline which meets your requirements.
I don't give a damn if you think the person in front of you has legitimate reason to recline or not. Just because it is 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm doesn't mean ****. Who's to say they haven't been flying all night from Europe, South America, Asia, Australia or a redeye from the coast and they are on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th flight of their day and extremely tired. If you don't remove anything blocking recline when asked, there would be a major problem onboard. And guess who crew will be siding with 100% of the time.
When the seat in front of me isn't fully reclined, I anticipate that they may do the jerk move and jam it back in a blink. Plan where your expensive devices are accordingly. It's that simple.
I thought that if you were required to do work on a plane and needed the extra room for laptop, you should be booking business class.
I feel like the opening a full size laptop in Y is like asking people on the bus to not sit next to you so you don't have to put your bag on the floor because it contains fragile stuff.
But regardless, this issue will never be settled. It comes down to "your freedom stops where someone else's starts".