If someone reclines fully, it becomes impossible for the person behind them to “use the seat as designed.”

Even in UA domestic first, the seat recline takes up a gigantic portion of the usable space of the next passenger. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had my laptop, or even my iPad, contacted by the next seat in such a way that I have to move it forward to ensure that it doesn’t get damaged.

Obnoxious passengers are bad enough; it’s a greater frustration when FAs lack the will to enforce the rules. There should be no reclining at all until takeoff, and none during or after the landing. If FAs are there “primarily for my safety,” they’re not doing a great job of actually ensuring that safety when they let some buffoon recline into my emergency exit path. And, of course, I know that if I say anything to the miscreant, I’ll be spending the remainder of the flight smelling hair gel.

And to preemptively answer the usual question “why does the seat have a recline button if I’m not supposed to use it?” Use it all you want if the seat behind you is empty or that passenger is also reclined. (Or, sure, if that person keeps kicking your seat or sticking their water bottle into the small of your back. .

And this is why I select row 20 or 21 — because the passenger in front of me can’t recline and I won’t recline.