Originally Posted by
benitovacation
I think change of seat or compensation request is reasonable. UA (airline in general) sold transportation service with specific detail of accommodation, not only limited to class of cabin. Airline takes every opportunity to upsell included the width, reclining angle, location, boarding or assignment priority of the seat or lack of. These means the differences and value, so UA wording of merely transporting point A to point B is weak, though pax was compensated in miles.
I have not seen United use their Economy standard recline as a selling point. Nor, for that matter, have I seen any US airline use the recline or lack of it as a selling point (except in targeted ads against Spirit etc who do not recline at all). The bottom line is that seat reservations are not guaranteed, you are not guaranteed a particular seat, and you accept that you may be assigned a seat that has limited/no-recline when you purchase the ticket. The only obligation of UA is to refund any Economy+ purchase if you are reassigned unwillingly. They are not obligated to further compensate you for lack of recline on any given ticket.
If you can find a ticket that has a fare rule that says the ticket must be given a reclining seat in Economy, I would be shocked. I conjecture that there is not a single fare nor ticket that one can buy that guarantees them recline in the Economy cabin.