HMO

Just to remember, even First Int'l Pods must be in upright position for take off & landing ^

Let's agree that the upright position isn't the "natural" position for any seat

CitizenWorld

So many people talking tough on this thread about deliberately annoying other passengers but I wonder how many will actually risk a physical confrontation and actually follow through. Either keyboard warriors or someone likely to get a plane diverted on the news one day.

YKF

The gadget worked well. I saw her try to recline and then she tried a few times, thought she was pushing the button wrong then went to sleep in upright position. The offender was restrained

CX HK

Didn't read the 5 pages, but damn, how is this still an issue? The seats were designed to recline for a reason. CX tried to make economy seats non-recline, but the sheer number of complaints led them to change back.

I get that some people don't like the seats reclining, but you can't just stop someone else from doing it. I do agree that people should put their seat upright for meals; however, those who want them to stop reclining the entire flight ought to take their first class attitude out of the economy class section.

Megn

It's interesting to me that all of the ire here is focused on fellow passengers. How about a little bit for the airlines putting seats so close together that your reclining endangers my knees whether I recline or not?

Badenoch

The threads on this have been very helpful. Until recently I had no idea the Knee Defender existed. Now if I find my seat won't recline I won't automatically assume the seat is broken. I will instead determine if some moron has installed the device and deal with him/her accordingly.

Paul56

Then you do not mind if the passenger in front of you fully reclines so
they are comfortable while you are back there eating.

I do not care if the passenger reclines or not but I would expect folks
in public spaces to have some degree of civility if they are to get
along with others occupying the same public space.

boltjames

Honestly, it's not something that has ever crossed my mind until I read this thread. I have been flying for over 30 years, never given a single thought to the smidgen of space that my uncomfortable seat would occupy other than how bad my back and neck feel just struggling to make it thru the flight.

You are thinking of this all backwards. The seats in their reclined position are how they were intended to be used 90% of the time. The only reason they would be fully upright is upon takeoff and landing. If everyone leaned their seats back on the flight no one would be upset because we would all have an equal amount of space between our noses and the seatbacks in front of us.

Civility means keeping your elbows on your own armrest, controlling your bowels and cutting one loose only in a toilet, keeping your shoes on if you are wearing old socks. The angle of a seatback that only moves a few degrees has nothing to do with civility, it is getting what little you paid for.

BJ

CitizenWorld

Actually, passengers are instructed to have the seats upright during meal times on airlines that I've flown. It's more or less a moot point.

Cargojon

This. Lufthansa's 747-400 coach seats are terrible for instance. I barely have enough room to keep myself from clunking into various parts of the seat in front of me regardless of what the pax in front of me did or didn't do.

TravlnD

The airlines already make little to no profit. If they space seats they have to charge more for the tickets or go out of business. So I don't think that is an option. People want cheap tickets first and foremost.

spot on!

Megn

They could always just stack us like cordwood.

Zeeb

Because people know what they are buying when they purchase a coach ticket. Would you get angry at McDonalds if you buy a cheeseburger and they don't give you a Big Mac?

TravlnD

I'm sure some have thought about it. Not sure FAA would sign off though.

Maybe the airlines can move to all first class seats and quintuple the fares. Then everyone who flies will be comfortable (but only the 1% will be able to fly like back in the heyday of air travel when every trip was a trip of a lifetime).

Badenoch

Exactly right. The creeps who use the Knee Defender are just trying to excuse their own egregious behavior by blaming the airline.