Originally Posted by
spin88
Aand the airlines (at least some of them) actually publish the recline figures. For example, on the sUA 763 E+ has 5" of recline, E- has 4" of recline.
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...R/default.aspx. The new "polarized" version has 4" recline in both E+ and E-
in turn the 737-900ER/737Max9 has 3" of recline in E+ and 2" in E-
Those are all presumably measured at the top of the seatback. Seatguru lists the recline angles for UA E-/E+ as 4 and 5 degrees on the 3-class 763, and . If you take the pivot as being at the seat pan and assume knees are about 6" up, you lose about a half-inch or less if the seat in front of you reclines. If you're in one of the newer seats that slides the seat pan forward, you lose more than that from your own space. They don't list the angles for all the 739s, but it looks like 3 and 5 degrees for E-/E+ for at least some of them.
And I've heard of this social contract a few times, but it's hardly universally agreed to. I recline my seat and I don't complain when others do as well. If you're tall and I'm going to crunch your knees I'll refrain.