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Reconfigured planes - exit row seats not reclining

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Reconfigured planes - exit row seats not reclining

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Old Mar 20, 2017, 4:13 pm
  #1  
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Reconfigured planes - exit row seats not reclining

I have been on a couple of flights recently where the second exit row seat does not recline. In the past these seats have always reclined as they do not encroach into the exit row.

Today I was on an Airbus A320 (320/32K) V2 row 16 and my seat did not recline. Last fall on a similar reconfigured flight my seat did not recline. In fact the FA tried without luck - I think in that case it was a broken seat as I recall one of the other seats did recline. But it has been a while.

I am curious if anyone else has found something similar on reconfigured planes (i.e. the ones with blue mod lighting).
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 9:32 pm
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I am surprised no one else has chimed in!! That said tonight another !@#$% seat on yet another Airbus A320 (320/32R) V1 where the damn seat did not recline, row 11.
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 9:36 pm
  #3  
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DL seat maps put an asterisk in seats that don't recline. If you pick an exit seat without the asterisk but it doesn't recline, complain to DL.

Does anyone have a theory about why the second exit row seats no longer recline?
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 10:07 pm
  #4  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
DL seat maps put an asterisk in seats that don't recline. If you pick an exit seat without the asterisk but it doesn't recline, complain to DL.

Does anyone have a theory about why the second exit row seats no longer recline?
Screw up with crews installing them I would guess. They saw exit row and didn't pay attention. DL needs to know because I bet at some point they'll run out of non-reclining seats to install with double being installed.
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 10:08 pm
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Only 16AF, the window seats in row 16, shouldn't recline. Also only 14AF shouldn't recline in that row IME.
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 10:09 pm
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Originally Posted by Widgets
Only 16AF, the window seats in row 16, shouldn't recline. Also only 14AF shouldn't recline in that row.
Why that makes no sense. Either the row doesn't need to be able to recline or it can.
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Old Mar 31, 2017, 10:12 pm
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Originally Posted by flyerCO
Why that makes no sense. Either the row doesn't need to be able to recline or it can.
That's just what I observed on a 32K, idk why or why not since I'm unfamiliar with egress regulations or TechOps.
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 8:49 am
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This is definitely a trend on aircraft with newer seats. Even comparing the MD-88 to the newer seats on the MD-90: on the 88, there are two "normal" exit rows where the seats recline a bit and there are no fixed armrests. On the 90, there are four rows around the exit that do not recline, and some of them have fixed armrests.

My conspiracy theory is they are making the exit rows less comfortable so they can upsell to C+.
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 12:07 pm
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Originally Posted by Widgets
That's just what I observed on a 32K, idk why or why not since I'm unfamiliar with egress regulations or TechOps.
I have never seen the new config. But I might see some rational here on both.

The pax will have to remove the window/door and stash them out of the way. Out of the way presumable means rows 15 or 17 near the widows. Either of these locations might be impacted by a recline in 14/16af.

Admittedly a wild guess. But something has to be the basis of what Wdiget just reported.
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 7:16 pm
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Originally Posted by Widgets
Only 16AF, the window seats in row 16, shouldn't recline. Also only 14AF shouldn't recline in that row IME.
As said, that does not make sense. For the longest time all of the seats in front of the exit rows would not recline so they would not encroach into the exit. However, the seats in the furtherest back exit row would always recline.

So if there are exits at rows 15 and 16, the seats in row 14 and 15 would not recline. However all of the seats in row 16 would recline. This is what shown on the seat maps as well as seat guru.

After getting such seats now on three different A320s I am betting that someone did not RTFM.
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 8:04 pm
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Originally Posted by FlyingUnderTheRadar
After getting such seats now on three different A320s I am betting that someone did not RTFM.
I think it's possible that the 14AF/16AF not reclining is intentional if it's being fitted on every newly modified 32K. Maybe with the extra seat density and exit row pitch, the exit row doors line up with the seats in a way that allows for a different recline/no-recline scheme.
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 8:35 pm
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Originally Posted by blitzcon
This is definitely a trend on aircraft with newer seats. Even comparing the MD-88 to the newer seats on the MD-90: on the 88, there are two "normal" exit rows where the seats recline a bit and there are no fixed armrests. On the 90, there are four rows around the exit that do not recline, and some of them have fixed armrests.

My conspiracy theory is they are making the exit rows less comfortable so they can upsell to C+.
Dastardly!
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Old Apr 1, 2017, 8:48 pm
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Exit row aisle armrest

Ones anyone know if the last exit row armrest on the 737-900 is fixed or can be raised?
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Old Mar 10, 2019, 11:41 am
  #14  
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Bump to my old thread as I was another flight where the whole exit row did not recline. And it was another Airbus A319. Interestingly Delta does not show that the seat does not recline but seat guru does now: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/De...s_A319_31J.php

The FA said the seats should recline. And it makes no sense that they do not recline as they do on most, if not all other configurations.

Last edited by FlyingUnderTheRadar; Mar 10, 2019 at 4:19 pm
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Old Mar 10, 2019, 12:15 pm
  #15  
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AFAIK the norm is that the row in front of an exit row doesn't recline, which would include the first exit row on many DL aircraft configurations. The rationale is that if the seat in front of an exit row is reclined, this impedes evacuation in an emergency. However, the second (or last) exit row IME does recline. YMMV of course as this is DL.

OTOH <joke> maybe DL wants people seated in exit rows to stay wide awake, and being able to recline would facilitate or enable naps on board. By the same reasoning, there should be special nonreclining seats for FAMs.
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