telabadmanwot

I would hate it if full service airlines removed reclining seats and it would be one more reason to choose a LCC instead.

GrumpyYoungMan

Inhumane? Hyperbole much?

bodapaty

Exactly! Any pax traveling by air should by now know what he is paying for. Period. You want more leg room, buy a business or first class ticket. If not, just shut up and put up with what you purchased - limited leg room.

upinsmoke

You realize that collusion to affect pricing is illegal, right?

upinsmoke

You don't even have to go all the way to F or J prices to get more legroom. MCE is not that much more.

mapu

It's quite simple IMHO. If you buy a cheap ticket, you have to put up with limited space and the guy in front of you reclining into it. He bought a ticket as well and has every right to recline. Want more space? Pay for exit row or Y+ seats. Want even more space? Buy a J or F ticket! Your company doesn't pay for that? Make something of yourself and find a better job! But please, quit the whining about those bad bad airlines. They are in the business of making a profit. If you don't understand this, maybe that's the reason you are back there in cattle class...

Spoddy

I agree, it's cramped enough as it is, and if the seat in front of me reclines, and I can recline, I don't see any net loss of space between us.

Aren't some LCCs removing the ability to recline?

I would love it for the FA's to include a statement that the person in front of you has the right to recline (if they can), and so do you (if you can). Obviously some exit row seats can't, but every time I see that on seat selection pages, they almost always state "limited or no recline", and if it doesn't, that's an issue between you and the airline, not me - or any person in front of you.

FWAAA

True, but recall that the recent United flight dust-up involved passengers who were sitting in E+, so extra legroom is no guarantee that everyone will keep their cool and live in peace and harmony.

diver858

Airlines would happily replace Y with J, E+ on TATL, TPAC IF there was sufficient demand, passengers willing to pay the premium.

As others have said earlier, US airlines understand consumer behavior, giving us what we are willing to pay for - even if it means discomfort, inconvenience.

AATrout

I’m with you. I don’t see the added comfort in a recline so I don’t do it. Just eliminate the option.

duniawala

It is a fallacy to believe that the passengers are always asking for the lowest price. Price is dictated by competition among airlines. Not everyone has the luxury to travel in J (as some J flyers would let you believe). I wonder how many J passengers really pay out of their pocket to buy those seats. So the Y passengers are stuck with whatever the airline is giving to them.

Has anyone noticed that it is the US airlines that have these seat reclining issues. I don't see (or have heard of) similar incidents on say JAL, ANA, Singapore, Cathay Pacific.

diver858

That may be true for J, but not Y+.

sdsearch

But what about airlines removing all conventionally reclining seats and replacing them with articulating seats (like AA did on the 738)?

Unfortunately for the people flying on this diverted plane, I don't think that AA has put articulating seats on the 763.

In case you don't know: Articulating seats are ones where you recline by scooting your own seat forward, and thus the recline is to a significant degree into your space, not the space of the person behind you. The top of the seat may still recline some toward the person behind you, which can impact laptop space, but middle won't move, so it doesn't affect your knee space.

IMHO articulating seats throughout coach (and AA has them in 738 first class cabin too now) are the solution, not eliminating recline.

Btw, the amount of recline for each seat is not a constant; it's settable by the airline. So there's lots of gradation between recline and no recline.

84fiero

I guess the FT crew had a Freudian slip when titling the link for this as a Must-Read story: "Deja Vu: Another Plane Diverts After Passengers Fight Over Tight to Recline"

zerolife

Gotta disagree with you. Fares have gone up in recent years despite cutbacks in services. There are few competition as most airport is primary served by only one or two airlines. There are a bunch of low fare airlines but their routes are very limited. Living near a United hub, more often than not I realize that my only option is United, especially for business trips when you don't have the option to do connections.

Also yes, fares are lower than 30 or so years ago but I credit this to advances in air travel. You ain't paying the same price for a computer than 30 years ago either. You are getting a more powerful computer for a lot less nowadays.