What a load of old cobblers! This is one the worst examples of a fact I have ever seen. Why would they make the seats with a recline function if it was never to be used? Why would we be asked to please raise our seat-backs if they should not have been down in the first place?

I do consider the person behind me however - I generally will wait until I see several others putting their seats back, and then I will slowly put mine back to some degree. If I am on a domestic flight that degree will likely be a lot lower than if I am on an international flight. This I do only because I am a decent person though, and not because I feel that I could not use the built-in function of the seat to its full extent if I so wished.

I also have my limits however. If I am on a 14 hour flight to Sydney or Johannesburg etc, you can be bloody sure that I will not be sitting ram-rod straight for the duration of the flight. Any passenger behind me (and their laptops or games or kids) can go straight to hell for all I care at that stage.