Asked ("ordered"?) by FA to un-recline seat during meal
 

I see lots of debates about seat reclining etiquette, but don't see a thread about this. My basic question is whether a FA is justified in waking up a sleeping pax to ask him un-recline his seat during meal time? And if the FA is within her rights to do that, can the pax just "say no" or is the FA issuing an order/instruction that must be complied with?

The context for those who are curious, which doesn't take away from the questions I posed. Flew TATL in Y last week, and tried to get some sleep once we got airborne (e.g., earplugs, eyemask, blanket, reclined). During the dinner service, I felt the FA tap me and I looked up and noticed/felt the FA press my recline button to un-recline it. I was kind of out of it so I didn't feel like arguing with the FA and I re-reclined my seat back a few minutes later. Since I had earplugs in and was attempting to sleep, I'm not sure whether the FA decided on her own to touch my seat or whether the couple in the next row said something to the FA; the latter is certainly possible because the couple in the next row were whining about seat reclining later in the flight.

N.B. It is highly unlikely that there is a universal AA policy requiring pax to un-recline their seats during meal times. I've flown a dozen TATL flights in Y and tons of LAX-JFK redeyes, and have never had a FA attempt to wake me up during the times I've been sleeping in meal times. And imagine the havoc if the FAs went down the aisles and woke up all the sleeping pax during the 2nd meal of a TATL/TPAC and made them all un-recline their seats.

Ive had the same thing happen a couple times. I wasn't happy, but simply went back to sleep in the upright position.

Well it is awfully difficult to eat your meal, or work your laptop, or whatever with the tray table if the seat in front is reclined. That's one of the major benefits of the new hard shell type seats showing up on some airlines in y.

i'm looking for the part of your rant where you seem concerned that the person behind you cannot really eat while your seat back is in their lap.

sadly, it's not there.

fwiw - it's not your fault, and it's not the fault of the person behind you. it's AA's fault for placing the seats so close together. this situation dictates that you accommodate the person behind you.

i was asked/told once to raise my seat up, and since then i have made sure to have my seat up during food service.

if you've been on the receiving end of someone's seat back in your lap while trying to eat, you understand that proper etiquette would be to respectfully raise your seat (cursing AA the entire time under your breath).

**as stated by the previous post entered while i was typing.**

I think it is nothing but good manors to un-recline your seat so the person behind can eat their meal without having a seat back in their face. I have been asked more times than I care to remember to ask other passengers to put their seat upright so the passenger behind can eat their meal.

As for being "("ordered"?)" to do it, what was said to you by the FA?

Plenty of threads in Travellbuzz on this - It seems, like it or not, that accepted etiquette is not to recline during meals. Of course many differ on this.

• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-his-seat.html
  
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ine-rules.html
  
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ld-you-do.html
  
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...requently.html
  
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...eat-backs.html

I don't see the problem, really. You can eat in Y when the seat in front of you is reclined and you get the added benefit of not having to look at the food.

My question is not about the accepted etiquette. It's about whether it's proper for a FA to wake a pax up to ask him to un-recline, and whether the FA can require a pax to un-recline.

What was said to you by the FA when this took place?

I remember being tapped by the FA, raising my eyemask, and then looking up to notice the FA adjusting my seat. The FA said something very short to me *while* she was adjusting my seat. My earplugs were still in my ears so I can't faithfully report everything that was said by the FA and the tone in which she said it, but what I detected is a phrase like 'seats up during mealtime.' I don't know whether she spoke in a phrase or a complete sentence, whether she said more, whether the posed a question to me, etc.

Rather than try to recreate this exact event, I'm trying to get at the more general question.

One time the pax sitting in front of me would not move his seat back up during a meal after I asked him to and the FA asked him to. He went back to sleep and when I was opening up my packet of creamy italian dressing some accidently squirted on his hair. :D

IMHO, the etiquette should be different on a daytime flight vs. a night flight.

JFK-LHR is only a hair over 7 hours. I would be absolutely apoplectic if, sleeping soundly, an FA woke me up during the meal service at the request of the pax behind me.

I fly Y. A lot. Sure, is it slightly less comfortable to eat your meal with the seat in front of you reclined? Yes. Is it impossible? Difficult? Significantly more difficult than when the seat is up? Absolutely not.

I think it's one thing to be moving your seat *around* during the meal service -- that's just plain rude. But on an overnight flight, TATL, I think it's equally rude to ask the soundly-sleeping person in front of you to put their seat up.

One follows the other, IMO. Since you were reclined while someone was trying to eat, you deserved to have the F/A wake you and ask you to un-recline.

That's just too bad; that's the seat the passenger bought, so they live with it. The FA is out of line to ask a passenger to put the seat in the upright position; it's really out of line to waken the passenger.

+1

and

:D