Consolidated thread: Seat recline etiquette.
Sep 6, 2014, 2:49 pm
#301
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
I'm 2m and 2cm and I've told you it can't be down, when are you going to believe someone who has experience and stop spouting your ill informed waffle?
Sep 6, 2014, 3:32 pm
#302
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Of course it can be done. Will it be comfortable? Maybe not. But you seem to be insisting that it is not your responsibility to handle your personal situation and want others to sacrifice for your benefit. I can't, I can't, I can't doesn't really solve your problem, does it?
Sep 6, 2014, 6:01 pm
#303
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: SYD
Programs: QF
Posts: 490
I'm 191cm with extremely long legs, mate, there's nowhere to move them if there is less than 34" of pitch.
I'm not saying that no one should recline under any circumstances, just that it would be extremely neighbourly to check with the pax behind to ensure that they would not be overly bothered. With a tight pitch and a short flight, it's likely to refrain altogether.
I'm not saying that no one should recline under any circumstances, just that it would be extremely neighbourly to check with the pax behind to ensure that they would not be overly bothered. With a tight pitch and a short flight, it's likely to refrain altogether.
No, you don't have to pay double. You can accept the fact that your height is going to result in you being uncomfortable. If you don't want to be uncomfortable, then you have to buy a more expensive ticket. Your decision. But what you don't get to do is to punish the guy in front of you because of the way your were born.
Let me give you an analogy. If you had been born ugly, like me, would you have the right to demand that the pretty girls go out with you like they do the good looking guys because it's not "fair" that you were born that way?
Live dealt you a hand. Play it the best you can. But don't punish others if you don't like the hand.
Let me give you an analogy. If you had been born ugly, like me, would you have the right to demand that the pretty girls go out with you like they do the good looking guys because it's not "fair" that you were born that way?
Live dealt you a hand. Play it the best you can. But don't punish others if you don't like the hand.
Hogwash. If you don't fit in one seat, whether it's because of your length, your width, or your height, you must buy a bigger seat or a second seat. You cannot infringe on the space that someone else paid for, either laterally or fore-aft.
Height is part of size, ergo customers of great height like you and me are Customers of Size, no matter how wide or deep we might be.
Height is part of size, ergo customers of great height like you and me are Customers of Size, no matter how wide or deep we might be.
Sep 6, 2014, 8:49 pm
#304
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2
What would you do ?
Last Monday night I boarded an Etihad flight bound to Brisbane from Singapore. It was a midnite red-eye of around 7 hours and I needed to land on my feet with a long drive ahead of me, so being 6 ft 2" I paid for the exit seats with extra legroom to try and maximise my rest during flight. All was well, eyeshades on after takeoff, earplugs in dead tired ready to sleep, until I tried to recline my seat....
Immediately I heard a complaint from the woman behind the second I tried to recline..."oh oh my knees are right on your seat".... I twisted around in surprise to see a largish woman but not exactly of tall build and replied "excuse me?", at which point her husband on the right hand side interjected and told me that I had all the legroom at the front and should be considerate to his wife and not recline my seat at all! Furious, I replied that I'd paid for the seat and should be entitled to recline my seat, and told him I'd never heard of this kind of request before, and myself have to put up with people in the front reclining their seats and never complained myself. He went on to tell me that out of consideration for the people behind that he never reclined his seat, trying to make me feel like the inconsiderate assh*le. When I told him that he could have and should have paid for the exit seats, he told me that he'd booked them 8 months in advance and that the airline had "stuffed it up". Yeah right, at which point he told me do do what I wanted to do in a searly tone. I did not wish to make a scene and granted them their wish.
Of course how you react at the time and how you should react after due introspection are different. In retrospect, what I should have said to him was that his issue was with the airline and not with me, and that after the seatbelt signs were switched off we would discuss it in a civil manner and allow the hostess to arbitrate. But when you are dead to the world and all you want to do is sleep, what to do. What would you do ?
Immediately I heard a complaint from the woman behind the second I tried to recline..."oh oh my knees are right on your seat".... I twisted around in surprise to see a largish woman but not exactly of tall build and replied "excuse me?", at which point her husband on the right hand side interjected and told me that I had all the legroom at the front and should be considerate to his wife and not recline my seat at all! Furious, I replied that I'd paid for the seat and should be entitled to recline my seat, and told him I'd never heard of this kind of request before, and myself have to put up with people in the front reclining their seats and never complained myself. He went on to tell me that out of consideration for the people behind that he never reclined his seat, trying to make me feel like the inconsiderate assh*le. When I told him that he could have and should have paid for the exit seats, he told me that he'd booked them 8 months in advance and that the airline had "stuffed it up". Yeah right, at which point he told me do do what I wanted to do in a searly tone. I did not wish to make a scene and granted them their wish.
Of course how you react at the time and how you should react after due introspection are different. In retrospect, what I should have said to him was that his issue was with the airline and not with me, and that after the seatbelt signs were switched off we would discuss it in a civil manner and allow the hostess to arbitrate. But when you are dead to the world and all you want to do is sleep, what to do. What would you do ?
Sep 6, 2014, 9:00 pm
#307
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You still need to deal with the flight crew and let them bring this to a resolution. They'll need to tell the passengers behind you that you're entitled to recline.
Sep 6, 2014, 9:00 pm
#308
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: SYD
Programs: QF
Posts: 490
Of course how you react at the time and how you should react after due introspection are different. In retrospect, what I should have said to him was that his issue was with the airline and not with me, and that after the seatbelt signs were switched off we would discuss it in a civil manner and allow the hostess to arbitrate. But when you are dead to the world and all you want to do is sleep, what to do. What would you do ?
Sep 7, 2014, 1:36 am
#311
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Battleaxe Alliance
Posts: 22,127
I always try to think, "Is what I am about to do going to have adverse effects on others", e.g. turning on the reading light or reclining my seat, and if it does, I would either not do it or if I am really needing to do something, I'd ask the potentially affected person first.
The day I stop thinking about others around me before I act when travelling is the day I will ban myself from travelling for a while to reflect on my own behaviour because I will not like myself if I become what I consider to be so inconsiderate that I cannot think of how what I do may affect others.
Last edited by LTN Phobia; Sep 7, 2014 at 1:46 am
Sep 7, 2014, 2:03 am
#312
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 14
I don't think so.. I enter into a contract with a corporation. an airline. they sell me a seat on an airplane. with a certain space.
now I may or may not have a choice of which seat or space I am PURCHASING, depending on the airline or how soon I Puchase said seat.
I can opt to choose business class, exit row, blah blah. I can opt to buy a seat with an airline without reclining seats.
I can opt to buy a coach seat, as cheap as possible, with an airline that squishes us in together, and yet, the seats recline...I bought that seat for that reason... I will recline.
Last edited by smidgy; Sep 7, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Sep 7, 2014, 2:38 am
#313
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Cypress Hills Research Center
Posts: 5,295
...
Immediately I heard a complaint from the woman behind the second I tried to recline..."oh oh my knees are right on your seat".... I twisted around in surprise to see a largish woman but not exactly of tall build and replied "excuse me?", at which point her husband on the right hand side interjected and told me that I had all the legroom at the front and should be considerate to his wife and not recline my seat at all!
...
What would you do ?
Immediately I heard a complaint from the woman behind the second I tried to recline..."oh oh my knees are right on your seat".... I twisted around in surprise to see a largish woman but not exactly of tall build and replied "excuse me?", at which point her husband on the right hand side interjected and told me that I had all the legroom at the front and should be considerate to his wife and not recline my seat at all!
...
What would you do ?
Another option would be to swap seats with the person behind you. Assuming it's all the same cabin and not swapping a bulkhead seat for a non-bulkhead one that should solve the problem. Unless that person reclines into your space
Last edited by uszkanni; Sep 7, 2014 at 2:45 am
Sep 7, 2014, 5:42 am
#314
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Location: Ontario, Canada
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Of course how you react at the time and how you should react after due introspection are different. In retrospect, what I should have said to him was that his issue was with the airline and not with me, and that after the seatbelt signs were switched off we would discuss it in a civil manner and allow the hostess to arbitrate. But when you are dead to the world and all you want to do is sleep, what to do. What would you do ?
Sep 7, 2014, 6:08 am
#315
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 523
When I was young, I was a Reagan Republican. I believed in personal responsibility and if you're not capable of doing better, too bad for you. I still believe in personal responsibility. However, going to medical school and living a couple of decades has tempered my view.
I firmly believe that we all have to make certain compromises to result in a civil world. Does this sometimes result in my not exercising every "right" or "priveledge" that I have? Yes it does. While I would prefer to do whatever I want, I believe/realize that, ultimately, we all benefit by abiding by laws, rules, and appropriate consideration to my fellow humans.
Some people seem to think that they should extract every advantage, legal or not, that they can gain. That's OK but, for those of you who feel that way, are you OK with, in your moment of need, no one assists you because that's their "right?"
I firmly believe that we all have to make certain compromises to result in a civil world. Does this sometimes result in my not exercising every "right" or "priveledge" that I have? Yes it does. While I would prefer to do whatever I want, I believe/realize that, ultimately, we all benefit by abiding by laws, rules, and appropriate consideration to my fellow humans.
Some people seem to think that they should extract every advantage, legal or not, that they can gain. That's OK but, for those of you who feel that way, are you OK with, in your moment of need, no one assists you because that's their "right?"