FA dereclines me
 

AF Aisle seat in Y on A340. (want DL flyers opinion).

I was eating. I had headphones/music on.

The seat ahead of me was 100% reclined, which didn't bother me particularly (I'm 5'10" 180#).

I was ~ 70% recline.

FA points to me, I start to take off headphone to ask what she is talking about or asking.

She then quickly grabs the armrest, pushes the recline button and abruptly dereclines me. I nearly spill food.

I think to myself "..., what a B", but say nothing. After the meal is over, I rerecline to 50% or so and the flight proceeds uneventfully other than occasionally I feel a little kicking from the purple haired man behind me but no comments ever from him.

Question:

-If it's not an emergency (takeoff/landing/disturbance etc), shouldn't she talk to me first and ask/instruct me to derecline?

I would never disobey a FA especially over this issue.

Did you ask her why?

Sorry, I find it hard to believe that if you were situated normally in a reclined seat that just pushing the button would cause the seat to return to an upright position, especially with the force you describe.

It seems like she should have done two things differently. First, she should have instructed you, rather than doing it for you. (Unless, of course, she'd been standing there tryiing to get your attention for 5 minutes. ;) ) Second, she should have also requested that the pax in front of you "derecline."

I think requesting that seats be upright for meal service is not unreasonable, but it only works if it's enforced for all pax. It seems unfair to make you sit up, if she left the person ahead of you reclined.

Ok here's the image:

FA left hand goes to the button

FA right hand goes to the seat back and abruptly dereclines me.

She pushed me up.

wifey was reclined too, she said nothing.

per wifey, she had just arrived and immediately attacked my seat.

Some FAs are quite adept at pushing that button while pulling on the seat back. I've seen it happen more than once, and have even been on the receiving end a few times. The leverage that can be achieved is surprising.

...I would have pointed to the pax in front of me, and mentioned the reason you are reclined is because the pax in front of you has fully reclined and you need some space.

David

OK. Makes a difference. Apparently you did not question her action...why?

I have had this happen to me on Emirates and Qantas. I am 6'0'' 200 lbs and the FA has no trouble hitting the button with one hand and adjusting the seat with the other. Normally I see it though when the person has been asked and doesn't respond.

My guess, then, is that the person behind you complained. That doesn't explain why she didn't give you an opportunity to do it yourself, but maybe she thought she was being helpful?

Wrong forum?

#1 write to Delta, presumably you'd like some points out of the deal (and I think you deserve something - at least an apology and points make an apology more meaningful)

#2 if it ever happens again (has never happened to me!) be sure to ask why this was done - seems very rude at the least and potentially could cause a spill or other problem since you are not prepared for the sudden change.

He said he wanted DL Flyers' input

It happened to me on AF, while I was asleep. It did wake me up! Was not happy :(

Please reread the post. It happen on an AF A-340.

Delta won't care. It will also be a long while before they take delivery of any A-340s.

AF is a partner, right?

That's the only reason I can imagine a post on the DL board about an AF experience.

Oh, I suppose we could put in some comments about the French now.

:)

I'm not justifying how the FA went about handling the situation, but I fly on AF a lot and noticed that this is SOP during meal time. However, they usually are very nice about it and ask you to put your seat up:)

IMHO, I like that they do it. Nothing is more arrogant than fattie in 20A, fully reclining at meal time like he's the only one on board.:D

It sounds like the guy behind the OP called over to a FA and said he had requested you to move the seat up so he can eat. This could be a lie or since you had headphones on it could be that he thought you were just ignoring him. The then rude FA reacted poorly and did it for you. It should have been questioned politely.
just my opinion.

I'll admit I don't care about your issue, but I love the word "dereclines"! ^

I would have just reclined again, and not worried. What an a$$hole - it's not like you were doing something wrong. How dare a FA to move your seat.

"It was a terrible flight. I couldn't get a whiskey from the beverage cart because they don't take cash and the machines didn't like my card. Then meal service came around and the flight attendant both dereclined and redeclined me."

I certainly wouldn't care to have the FA do this to me either. I remember well my reaction when a FA came up beside me unseen and undid my seatbelt while I was watching the movie on a redeye (headphones on, of course). It was startling but forgivable as unbeknownst to me the gentleman next to me was having a medical issue. If the FA had done it for a lesser reason I would find it offensive.

And if I was the Pax behind you my food would have "accidentally" spilled over the seat onto you.

It is RUDE to recline during meal service in Y.

Just because the FA handled it wrong does not mean that someone should retaliate against a pax who could well have had insufficient room
.

Thread Alert
 

I am not sure why you want the opinions of Delta Air Lines frequent fliers on an incident that happened on an Air France flight.

Let us find out the opinions of frequent fliers from other programs as well by having the TravelBuzz! forum as the new home for this thread.

Regards,

Canarsie
Co-Moderator, Delta SkyMiles forum

And your childish response isn't rude? :rolleyes:

Kinda what I was thinking. It's funny how some only recognize rude/immature behavior when it's diplayed by others.

You problem can be explained in two words - Air France

This is the same airline whose FA's went berserk over someone's refusal to lower the window shade when they wanted to look outside.

Frankly, I would have just pushed my seat right back the moment she turned around - and I'm in the camp who would have refused to lower my window shade and dared her to call the police and report me over it.

These annoying FAs with their power trips and ridiculous demands and threats are just that - annoying.

If this story happened as you sat then the FA is way out of line. You DO NOT just take an action against a passenger without telling them what is going on. I find the FA behavior bizarre at best and feel it warrants disciplinary action. I sense there has to more to this story.

Remember, this is Air France - where a sneer is a smile.

There really isn't.

Well if that is an accepted behavior of an FA on Air France, they should be avoided at all cost.
One wonders where that behavior ends, would the FA take your drink right out of your hand to clean up without saying a word?
Simply bizarre.

Maybe it's a French thing. I had a tussle on an AirTransat (Canadian charter airline to be avoided at all costs) with a French speaking FA who tried to wrestle my blanket away from me "for security reasons" while on initial descent.

I won, he lost; but had he called the authorities on me, I wouldn't have cared.

So the Flyertalk guiding principle moving forward is:

French food: Good^
French Airline: Bad:td:

sounds good to me!

hell funny thread

God we all find the smallest things to whinge about

Touching someone against his will can be considered assault.

In your complaint letter put words in their mouth (i.e. specify) regarding compensation that should be made to you.

Here the primary purpose is to make heads upstairs roll and the secondary purpose is to make good to you.

In addition the FA's should be working on the recline issue from the front of the plane rearward.

Having people that recline their seats for the entire trip is one of the most annoying things on flights. At a minimum seats should be upright during meal times. The simplest things is for FA's announce we are getting ready to serve meals will everyone please put seat backs up. Then as they are serving they should double check them and ask passengers to put them up if they haven't already done so.

I've flown AF trans-A several times, and they are pretty aggressive about requiring everyone to raise their seats during meal times. My guess is the OP may have been asked and did not hear due to the headphones. The idea is that his wife, sitting next to him, would get the idea and raise her seat. I'm really surprised they allowed the person in front of the OP to remain reclined.

I've never found the AF staff to be "rude," but I tend to like the French.

Possibly... it's really to hard to tell.

On the surface, that may seem to be obvious - to ask or instruct first. But it may be worth realizing that we don't necessarily set the constraints by which the FA's do their various functions. I have to assume she's done it before and feels they have a reason or rationale for it.

I would have asked the FA at the time. Coming here after the fact? Well...


I agree, which is why on a recent flight I selected a bulkhead seat just to get some relief from the flood of inconsiderate dolts who slam their seats back into my face for an entire transcon.

And agreed, again. But I'd prefer the passengers did it as a matter of courtesy, not rule or instruction (yes, I'd like a comet to go with my moon and stars, please...)

Here is what I would have said
 

If I was the flight attendant I would have said Excuse me sir would you be as kind as to bring your seatback into an upright posistion so that your fellow passengers and you enjoy the meal"? I would then say thank you and when the meal service is over you may recline your seat again.