nycflyer17

OK fair enough, if it's a real comfort reason then I understand. I personally prefer my seat more upright with better legroom on a shorter flight. And as for Delta, the current recline in their domestic economy does make it impossible to work on a laptop, one which you can't alleviate in any way but reclining your own seat as well. It also feels pretty claustrophobic.

woodenshoe101

100% like this change DL is making. It's bad enough in coach how far some seats recline, but earlier this year I was in F on I think a CRJ-900, and when the person in front of me reclined fully their head was pretty much in my lap.

US-Transplanted 6'6" Dutch guy here - just because they tolerate the poor seat pitch doesn't mean they don't have physical problems with it. Everyone makes choices based on their needs (where to get to), and what they are willing to spend (who do I use to get there). The challenge in Europe is that there really isn't much choice because many airlines there are at best on par with the base pitch of US legacy carriers (with often no C+ like options on many intra-europe flights - and legacies that do are vastly more expensive to fly, even in a standard seat), and at worst are 27-28" of pitch. Even in some standard pitch DL seats (looking at you MD88), which is supposed to be 31" I cannot physically fit my femur between my seatback and the seat in front of me. To make things worse, the seat bottom of the seat in front is too low for me to stretch my legs under the seat in front of me. The physics of it simply don't work, so then I'm either man-spreading or riding side-saddle which is no fun for me or my neighbors. Once, I got stuck in a 28" seat on a Transavia flight BCN-AMS after a schedule change (I had the exit row originally) - I swore after that I would never fly Transavia again.

My solution: make sure I sit in a) exit row, b) C+, or c) F. With the changes to C+ allocation and my status gradually dropping form PM to FO, I now usually opt for option C.

luv2vacay

Initially I'm not terribly enthused about this, but before I make a snap judgement:

Does anyone know what the seat reclines are for other airlines? (seems the only stats I can pull up are pitch and width).
I mean could be that I've always had say, 2" recline on Southwest, or only 3.5" recline on AA First and never noticed.

Rebelyell

I find it extremely uncomfortable to sit bolt upright in a crash-landing position. It actually makes it much harder to breathe. I'll avoid the 320 like the plague.

DCAproducer

I'm all for this. I personally don't recline because I don't like it when someone does it to me.
The F pitch on the A320 is tight as it is.

cerealmarketer

Yes it's glossing over the real problem when recline in first class is an issue.

"Seats in economy class, including extra-legroom seats, will recline two inches, down from four. In first class, seats will go from more than five inches of recline to roughly three and a half."

I'd say they settle on 2 for economy, 3 for comfort plus (if 2 is enough for economy, 3 should be fine for comfort plus and differentiate), 4 for first class.

I'm curious mechanically where / how they change this recline setting. Is there some magic allen wrench or is it something a too well informed traveler could change.

indufan

Dare I ask what other reason there might be?

chipmaster

I'd say adding a couple inches of pitch is going to do far more than restricting incline, just jam as many as you legally can and in that space restrict motion.

What happens to does with bad back, leg circulation or a little too big to fit into the pitch?

joethekay

100% agree. BTW you don't have a right to recline in my space.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Speak for yourselves. Some people, myself included find the fully upright position to be extremely uncomfortable even for a short period of time. Reclining the seat less than an inch helps immensely.

Seems that some people have forgotten that they are in a sealed metal tube filled with other people all sharing a space. When in such a space having an little empathy for their fellow passengers goes a lone ways. Some people find the seats when fully upright uncomfortable, others could not care. Others find when the seat in front is fully reclined causes them to be uncomfortable, others could not care.

Delta is trying to find a compromise. I will give them credit for that.

Given the change is going to happen on the A320 I wonder if Delta will fix the exit row seats so they too recline?

rickg523

Can't believe people are upset over one and a half to two inches of recline.

TerryK

If this test is successful, DL will test making seats without any ability to recline.

hockeyinsider

Or reduce armrest width, legroom, or whatever else they fancy.

indufan

I can't believe some people aren't. Unless, of course, you don't recline then why wouldn't you be for this.

rickg523

Well I recline sometimes. But no one is convincing me they can't take it only being able to recline 3 and a half inches instead of five inches. I will in fact bet you that no one can accurately - within a half inch - tell me exactly how far their seat is reclined. Except the person behind them!