Whether you have a right to recline or not is kind of like whether you have a right to part of the armrest in Y. You look a little ridiculous making a scene about it. There's an obvious reasonable expectation that you should be free to make yourself comfortable within usually accepted norms. But if you're in a dispute about this with the person beside/behind you, you're in for a long flight.

Either I'm a bit of a traditionalist (or perhaps it's a Trans-Atlantic difference) but as a matter both of courtesy as well as safety, one shouldn't recline their seat until after take-off.

I just see the practical side. During boarding, people need to stow things. It harder to do when the seat is back.

Amen. I very nearly had a laptop computer destroyed once in F when the person in front of me apparently tried to see how fast his seat would go back. (I whispered the vulgarity, but I really hope he heard it.)

That was my thought. The two people behind you are trying to get organized, taking out their reading and their Bose, leaning down to slide things under the seat, maybe getting up to retrieve or place something from/in the overhead they forgot, etc. Seems a little obnoxious to be reclining just because you got on first and got all settled yourself.

I try to recline as infrequently or as little as possible but I know it's the right of the person in front of me to do as they wish. Occasionally I might ask them to sit upright for meal service or sometimes when I have to crawl on the floor to find the outlet, etc. I've never had anyone be anything but gracious about it.

Where I have no patience is the people on an RJ who insist on reclining for a 45 minute puddle jumper flight in the middle of the day. There's a special place in hell for them, especially if they sit upright the whole time reading or working on their computer and not even using the recline. Special place in hell, I say.

I always choose the last row in first. For the record the 57 has a pretty big recline. No reason to recline during boarding or taxing. It is a safety hazard for the person behind you. Have respect and wait just a tad. Recline all you want but do it in the air and slowly. Look behind you before you recline all the way. I've had people recline during dinner without looking.

If you're on an RJ with someone reclined and laying on your lap, for 45 minutes, aren't you actually the one in that "Special Place"?

How is it a safety hazard to recline during boarding?

I don't recline anywhere except on overnights. I check with the person behind me to make sure they have space, especially if they are working.

I have trained my kids that reclining otherwise is kettle behaviour.

Sit up like an adult. It's a plane, not a living room. Reclining while boarding has to rank up there with leading Un-necessarily insensitive actions IMHO

I too think it is actually a bit rude to recline on the ground. The OP admits they wanted to sleep, but would - of course - put it upright for taxi and take off, so I am wondering what the point of reclining it early when they'd only need to straighten it again. Surely the extra fuss of having to remember to unrecline it, with the shifts in position that brings is less relaxing than just waiting until you can recline it once in the air? :confused:

I don't condone the person in the seat behind, but since I've ended up doing something out of frustration (the person in front reclined, then refused to put their seat back up for take off, I called crew, they straightened and then reclined again as soon as the crew were belted in - and to me, this is not a comfort issue, on take off it's a safely issue - they are putting their personal convenience over my survivability in an emergency stop) I can't really condemn them too bad either. Once into flight, that's it, you can't complain.

I don't think there's a published rule, but generally people don't recline at the gate. On something like Hawaii-DEN overnight, I would guess that the etiquette is upright through a meal service, then recline the rest of the flight.

Or maybe there's no meal and the etiquette is that everybody reclines right after takeoff...I don't know. In any case, I've never been on a flight where people began reclining en masse while we are at the gate.

I find most airline seats to be uncomfortable when fully upright. After boarding I typically recline them a very slight amount as it takes some of the pressure off my back.

Once in the air I might fully recline - and of course if I do I slam that sucker back as fast as I can :-))))))

This is how I feel as well. During boarding people are taking things in and out of carry-on bags and getting their seats organized. However, you could always look behind and see if the person is already settled. Or else you could just ask if they mind if you recline for a few minutes before takeoff.

However, I do agree that this particular guy was just being rude and childish, and probably no amount of pre-recline politeness on your part would have changed his behavior.

If I am behind you at 6'8" you seat is not going to recline. When seating my lap actually slopes back towards me with my knees higher than my waist.

You "seat back slammers" just won't move, even without me putting my carry on under your seat and if I placed my feet there under your seat instead most aircraft me knees are still up against the seat in front of me.

Has led to numerous arguments, even someone suggesting to FA that I needed to pay for two seats because he could not recline, I should have paid to have an empty seat in front of me.

I will gladly move, even sat back by the Lav next to the MD80 engine to have an empty seat in front of me but a lot of times now the bus is full and no place to go.

Please don't recline during boarding, if someone has to get the middle or isle seat in my row I have to get up and stand in the isle, no way to get around my knees ;)

That's not an airline issue, that's a people issue and a strong confrontation can easily remedy that. Make an issue of it and make sure everyone else around hears. In the end, no helping an idiot. There are lots of them on airlines and airline forums who are too stupid to buy a seat with enough space and expect people to follow their rules.

FYI, the last row in F typically doesn't recline much. I'd stay with how you booked things previously as this doens't happen much. You might want to work on being more assertive too. I'd have nipped this in the bud easy.