FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Seat recline rules?
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Old Dec 29, 2003 | 12:23 am
  #28  
ermdjdsj
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: san jose, CA
Posts: 2,998
I have an annoying back problem and if I don't recline, it will hurt for several days after a flight (e.g., the nightmare of the back row of coach, which I work hard never to experience again). It's bad enough just doing take-off/landing in the upright position. What this means is:

1. I do not fly charter anymore as the seats don't recline enough
2. I make extra effort to get into seats that recline (preferably in F with upgrades or miles) -- but try to recline as little and as courteously as possible because I know the guy behind me might be 6'5"
3. I land up paying more money to fly around, given my restrictions. This means I am choosing to spend money on more comfortable seats, rather than on other things in life. Of course, I could change how I spend my work/life, and not fly at all.

Many people have one restriction or another, be it wanting to recline, or not wanting others to recline, or needing more legroom, or not wanting to listen to a toddler screaming for 3 hours on a 4 hour flight (today), or to use their computer in-flight, or whatever. The more restrictions you have (or think you have) the more expensive it will be to fly comfortably.

If you're really tall and uncomfortable in charter, you may want to revisit the necessity of flying at all, much less charter (which is usually a leisure trip, a choice).

At this point I would only fly charter if my or someone else's life depended on it, but that's not the case. Flying is an option, a choice, though many now think of it as a requirement (e.g., to visit family, to continue in a certain career, to go to Disney World, etc.). But it really isn't a necessity of life -- people can do things to earn a living, or amuse themselves on vacation, that don't involve flying. For centuries people did not fly and somehow managed to survive and live productive lives.

Certainly I'm all for airlines coming up with creative options to better accomodate the diverse needs for different passenger groups, if it can be profitable for them -- the long-legged, the morbidly obese, the disabled, the bad back people like me, the families traveling with unruly children and those who want to avoid them, etc. I just don't want mandates from government on any of this -- if it's profitable, airlines will make special efforts do it. But as most of us know, the vast majority of customers just want cheap, cheap, cheap fares and will suffer -- that's why they put up with tiny seat pitch, or choose to fly charter. We can all still try and be as courteous as possible, given the limitations, but there will inevitably be conflicts if we just keep focussing on getting cheaper and cheaper fares and have a sense of entitlement to still be comfortable.

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