I had a similar thought. It seems to me there have been a lot of posts regarding peoples "rights" to armrest, space, extra seats, etc. In essence, the questions all boil down to courtesy and/or the lack thereof. The answers to most of these questions should have been learned long ago. The only real insight that might be garnered here is how to diplomatically deal with discourteous passengers. I sincerely hope (no accusations here) people are not looking for a justification for their own rudeness.

Another comment on the use of the term "rights". In this age of self-entitlement, the term is quite often over used. Rights are not something that are owned. They are something that is loaned or given to you. A driving instructor once explained to me the seeming semantic, but major difference. Your inalienable rights were given by God, your right-of-way driving is yielded to you by other drivers (hopefully ), and the right of the government is derived from the consent of the governed.

<Stepping off moral and intellectual high horse> In practice, I seldom recline my seat because I've found it increase my back pain after the flight. If I do, I check with the person behind me. Occasionally, I do ask the person in front of me to put their seat up a little, or while I eat. If all else fails and the person insists on putting their head in my lap, "my" air vent usually goes on full blast directed at their head and I come down with a mysterious cough. Passive aggressive and petty as it may be, I at least get some sense of revenge. The only thing that really upsets me is when people recline their seat all the way, then lean forward to eat, read, etc.

Anyway, happy trails (vapor?) to you, and hopefully we all can maintain a little civility despite our uncomfortable surroundings in the air.

Freefaller12k