Originally Posted by LapLap
What not one person has said here is at what moment is the actual cut off point. When is a plane not taking off any more?
And when isn't it landing?
Sorry, but without a dispositive answer, e.g. from an FA or pilot, it's just opinion and speculation on our part. If you want to keep your seat up until the seatbelt light is extinguished, that's fine, but it's hardly a "rule."
As the ruling is also that passengers must also have seatbelts fastened during take off and landing - why would the timeframe for this be any different?
Because different safety concerns are addressed by each. Pilots keep on seatbelt signs until they think it is safe for passengers to get up and walk around. At minimum, things like steep climb to altitude, traffic avoidance and, of course, turbulence (including wake turbulence on occassion) mandate that the light be on, but have nothing to do with whether seats need to be upright (or, more, accurately, "
in their upright and locked position").
However, again, this is only opinion and speculation and, obviously, doesn't have the force of a FAR, much less a mandate of courtesy.