Hoc

On about half of my AA flights in the last year, I have sat in seats where the seat backs automatically recline without pushing the release button. I notice this most on takeoff and landing, when I find myself repeatedly leaning forward and pushing the release button to get my seat back upright again.

I figure that this experience cannot be unique to me. How many of you have had this problem with your seats? Is it indicative of deferred maintenance on the AA planes?

pauleeepaul

I have had the same experience- it can make for a sore back on a long flight. Check to make sure your knee is not pushing the recline button- this sometimes is the reason IME.

CO FF

I make a point of telling the FAs about seat problems - esp. in F/J - and most of the time they either appear to do nothing about it (yes, I know that they write it down the minute I turn my back...) or tell me that those kind of things are usually ignored until the plane is in for other maintenance. I'd say I see it about 20-30% of the time...

polkacat

So I'm not just imagining it?! I've experienced seats like this on about 1 of every 3-4 flights.

JDiver

I've had the same situation on a couple of flights in the J cabin this year, most recently SJC - NRT (777.) An AA mech / engineer for the east Atlantic brethren and sistren- in the cabin for a bin issue was actually able to get it working properly by performing what may be similar to "re-booting" - extending the seat fully with a little pressure, and then - it worked fine! A couple of FAs were busy watching as well.

I don't know if this will work all the time, but it's certainly worth trying, IMO.

MJonTravel

It happens occasionally. Sometimes nothing more than tightening a screw or something similar. It is a pain when you get one of those seats though!

Dudleydog73

I thought this was just me too! I always love the FA coming through and saying "Sir, please put your seat in the upright position for takeoff".. I do and then minutes later I would be reclining again...

whirledtraveler

Yes! I've hard the exact same experience in F/J. My stock response when FAs tell me that my seat must be forward is to tell them that they should tell their maintenance crews that. I refuse to pretend my seat is a bar stool.

RGreenPC

IME - I had this on 2 J flights - DFW-LGW and LHR-JFK in a row....

I informed the lead FA and asked that during the next check the seat be repaired/replaced....

She told me that it does happen but would contact AA on my behalf...

The same thing happened on a different plane ( on the same seat (12J))

I know it was a different plane as I took note of the NREG on both craft.

I told the FA about my last flight and she told me that she would also contact AA.

I did end up getting 25K miles out of it for the trouble... I felt bad for the lady behind me who helped me by holding my chair up during landing.

In the end - it was a big hassle at the time, but in the grand scheme of things its just a pothole on the road of life.

fly co to see the yanks

this happens to me every so often. half would be incredible luck, or lack thereof. i would say it happens every 15/20 flights or so.

on continental a few months ago, i was sitting across the exit aisle from someone on a transcon flight. he had this problem and the flight attendant demanded that he move to another (coach) seat (for the whole flight, not just for takeoff and landing). i would have been furious.

brp

I've had this happen, and found it to be a problem on takeoff when acceleration is pushing one back into the chair. On landing, deceleration would seem to be pushing one forward, so this shouldn't be as much of an issue.

Still really nice of her to do that. Did you split the miles with her? .

Cheers.

RGreenPC

In my instance anything more than mild pressure in the seat caused it to fall back quickly...

cressers

This happened to me twice in J on AA. Each time I called up AA and complained, and each time I got travel vouchers, once for $275 and once for $400.

Considering the reason you pay for J is for the seat, if it is uncomfortable, it is unacceptable. I have the same seat out and in, and it was broke on the way back even though they new it was broken, and this was a week later.

This was the trip I got $400.

Boraxo

This happened to me on 2 of 4 flights in the past week. Of course, the FA's did not bother to make even a mental note when I informed them.

I felt bad for the people behind me (IMO it is rude to recline in MRTC unless you are 6'4").

It never occurred to me to ask for vouchers...I guess you need that PI lawyer mentality.

brp

Do you really think that reclining is rude, or is that just humor? Also, wouldn't it be worse to recline in LRTC since you're more likely to impact (maybe physically, depending on the speed of the recline ) with less pitch?

Cheers.