First of all your post stated an 1130 pm departure. That impresses upon me your need for sleep. If you like to recline immediately upon entry on all flights, then so be it. I do understand the point of this thread is to understand the "official" CO policy regarding reclining before takeoff. I have had the occasion to board late in BF on 762 and 764. I do admit I seldom fly continental other than from LAX to HNL to GUM, so I am not familiar with the 752's. Nevertheless to address your initial inquiry, I have asked people in front of me, most of which are CO employees in BF (another thread), to move their seatbacks up to allow me better access to the area under the seat in front of me and never had a problem. I also have never had to escalate this to the FA so I can't tell you whether they would have supported me on this. It can be tight behind the seats in this BF arrangement, once the seat in front of you is reclined. I realize I do not have 4000+ posts to my name and do not have your experience on FT, nonetheless I do have a great experience with the airline and hope that if it is not a policy to enforce keeping seatbacks up before takeoff, it should be.

That said, if the plane is in a delayed situation, and takeoff is nowhere in sight, I do agree that rules should be relaxed. All of this is common sense.

I do agree with the original post that if the OP is seated, slightly reclined, (not on someone's lap) on a red-eye, and the people behind are seated comfortably, and reading, listening to music, etc. There is no reason to enforce some policy, regardless of the rule, if everyone is happy.

Asides from the FA having a mood on, the only other reason I can think of, especially if nothing was said to the other at-the-gate recliners on your flight, is that the person(s) behind you, while you were sleeping, said to or signaled the FA that you were encroaching in their space too much too early. They didn’t want to confront you directly, so they asked the FA if he would. Much like I don’t want to contact the people in the room next door to me in a hotel myself if they’re too loud late at night, but will phone the front desk and ask them to deal with it. If you were sleeping, you wouldn’t’ve known. Rather than give the people behind you up on their request, the FA did the “it’s regulation” thing to keep them out of it.

Pure conjecture on my part, FWIW, and doesn’t make it right. He could’ve simply asked you to move your seatback up a bit.

Actually, directly behind me was a girl - maybe 10 years old, traveling with a man who looked to be early 20s. They appeared to be reclined slightly and playing/doing something with their cellphones - iPhones.

I did write CO and will be interested in their response. It may be well it is policy, although I have never seen it enforced. It will be interesting to find out.

Uh...did you miss post #9?

When I'm flying on a red-eye in F, I always try to get the window seat in the last row. I usually don't get up during flights so the window is better so I can sleep the whole time. I've found that in the back row, I can usually (at least partially) recline while still at the gate and not have to bring my seat up for takeoff. Since it's the back row with a bulkhead right behind, it's not in anyone's way so I guess the FA's turn a blind eye. This tends to work better when both seats are reclined so there's no basis for comparison.

I have yet to try this in a BF seat but I'm guessing the response wouldn't be as favorable.

Actually if you want to be techinical about it. All passengers must be in their seats with their seatbelts fastened, seatbacks and tray tables up, and all overhead bins closed PRIOR to closing the main cabin door. The main cabin door can only be closed when the "cabin is secured" as an FAR, and all of the above must be in compliance for the cabin to be secured.

So in reality a flight attendant does have the ability to say "your seat must be up" during boarding, in securing the cabin before closing the door.

But what actually happens is a different story, and that is flight attendants may be busy during boarding counting meals, greeting pax, taking drink or meal orders (for f-class), or maybe just chatting it up with the other fa's in the galley... :) So it's rarely enforced and instead it is all done on pushback when the compliance check is done. If you were to have a random FAA inspector obviously you would follow the rules by the book...

In any case the OP said he was the only one asked to put their seat up, and the fellow pax also reclined weren't. So it was prob just a cranky fa, trying to take it out on the pax for having to work an all-nighter.

I like my sleep, and I like going to bed early (boring I know), as a flight attendant I hated working red-eye flights. But I was still nice to pax, considering in reality you only deal with them during boarding and deplanning, and for the most part the majority fall asleep once you turn off the lights before take-off... :)

Untrue, because PAX can actually still be standing when the door is closed. However, all overhead bins must be closed prior to door closure as well as bags stowed. The principle is that, while presumably there is always a place to stow a person (in their seat) there may not be a place to put all of the luggage unless compliance is verified before the door is closed and if the plane isn't moving, PAX who aren't seated can't be hurt.

Technically, per CO policy (and I think it's safe to assume they don't have a published policy in direct violation of an FAR), seat backs don't have to be up until the moment the AC commences movement. This goes for tray tables, seat belts, footrests etc. Once the door is closed though, it's assumed that the AC could be pushing back at any moment so it's appropriate to prepare for movement (sometimes we push literally one or two minutes after the door is closed). Prior to door closure, it's impossible for the AC to move so the recline is allowed.

Door closure:
(b) No certificate holder may allow all passenger entry doors of an airplane to be closed in preparation for taxi or pushback unless at least one required crewmember has verified that each article of baggage is stowed in accordance with this section and §121.285 (c) and (d).

Movement:
(a) No certificate holder may move an airplane on the surface, take off, or land when any food, beverage, or tableware furnished by the certificate holder is located at any passenger seat.

(b) No certificate holder may move an airplane on the surface, take off, or land unless each food and beverage tray and seat back tray table is secured in its stowed position.

Note that seat recline isn't even addressed in the FAR's and I haven't found it yet. Note also that this is why we're supposed to take your pre-departure drink before taxi and all items prior to landing.

EDIT: Found it. If you really want to get technical (and I like to), seat backs DON'T have to be up for taxi, only take off and landing (but CO policy still supplants this):
Title 14: Aeronautics and Space
PART 121—OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS
Subpart T—Flight Operations

§ 121.571 Briefing passengers before takeoff.

(A) The placement of seat backs in an upright position before takeoff and landing.

You are actually right! :) My friend checked his CO FA manual, overhead bins and emergency equipment checked is all required prior to closing the door. PRIOR TO PUSHBACK is seatbelts, seatbacks, tray tables, etc. So I'm sorry, my bad...

My friend and I were getting the UA and CO policies confused. If you've worked for another airline, you know the first training you get as FA never goes away no matter how many airlines you work for afterwards. :)

PS. It's not a violation to talk about safety procedures of an airline, but it is to talk about threat levels/security procedures, and BTW I'm no longer a FA, the furloughs and layoffs got tiring...

Yes, thanks! I thought the FA request sounded strange as I had never been asked to do so 10 minutes before departure, nor ever seen FAs on any airline asking pax to do it.

Particularly annoying as that I had dosed off, so the FA purposely woke me up with the request.

Hopefully my email to CO will reach his supervisor so he can be better trained.

From the safety demo: "...Customers are required to observe all posted and lighted information signs, and adhere to crewmembers’ instructions."

EDIT: Found it. If you really want to get technical (and I like to), seat backs DON'T have to be up for taxi, only take off and landing (but CO policy still supplants this):
Title 14: Aeronautics and Space
PART 121—OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS
Subpart T—Flight Operations

§ 121.571 Briefing passengers before takeoff.

(A) The placement of seat backs in an upright position before takeoff and landing.[/QUOTE]

As per the Flight attendant safety checklist prior to push back from the gate seat back, tray tables, headrests,footrests and monitors stowed"

A crewmember (or any other employee) does not have the authority to invent a policy and then demand adherence to it.

Response from CO
 

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the unpleasant flight experienced you encountered.

Please accept my sincere apology for the service events you encountered with the flight attendant on flight 530 on August 30, 2009. Continental employees are expected to provide our customers with friendly, courteous, efficient service at all times. There is no excuse for unprofessional behavior. Please know that our In-flight management will do their best to identify the individual involved and ensure appropriate action is taken. Additionally, your letter will be included in future training sessions.

Thank you again for bring this matter to our attention. We value customers like yourself who take the time to inform us of our service and the opportunity to identify areas where we may improve our service. We will continue to work hard to earn your future patronage.

Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines.


Regards,

Congratulations, you've just taken an entirely harmless, pointless, and trivial experience and put it on a probably overworked and normally excellent FA's permanent record, all because you instigated his "rude" response with your childlike and defiant "it's never been a problem before" attitude. Regarding "I know", you know how nauseating it gets to remind "expert" fliers about their phones needing to be off only to be told, "I know!"?? Well, if you know, turn the damn thing off. I'm sure you're quite pleased with yourself.

Seriously, how would you guys like us to file a report with the FAA every time you get up while the seat belt sign is on, or are still using your blackberry/iphone after door closure? Because we have the authority to do that, but we don't act like children when it comes such trivial things, unlike some of our "valued customers". Give me a break, complaining about such trivial bullcrap.

Could be just me, but I read the Continental response as "Yeah, whatever, get over it", but in the form of a standard customer service apology.

If there was actually anything done wrong to the OP, Continental would've done more than say "Sorry bout that". Maybe some miles, maybe certificate for future travel, a drink coupon, anything!

They'll include this letter in future training manuals so that FA's know how annoying passengers can be.