Agreed, and although I would not kick the back of their seat when someone slams their seat into my laptop I might be inclined to go as far as pointing my air vent their direction - a little draft to thank them for the seat slam.

I disagree slightly about making it an issue. I was recently on a trans-con and the person behind me was kicking the back of my seat the entire time. A little over an hour into the flight the person got up to use the lav and it was at that time that I discovered that they had cerebral palsy or some other motor skills disorder. I am not saying that something should not be said, but one should approach it in a diplomatic manner so as to not end up with ostrich egg on their face.

You were both in the wrong imo . The guy behind you is undeniably a jerk but reclining before take off is inconsiderate because it makes it much harder for the people behind you to stow their stuff and get comfy. It could also be viewed as being inconsiderate to the crew as one of them may have to come and tell you that reclining during take-off is banned - they don't know that you are planning to re-upright

So...

What about after taxi / takeoff? When is it appropriate according to FAA? When we hit 10,000 feet and get the double dings, or as soon as the wheels come off the ground?

I've seen a few people do it as soon as wheels up.

It's somewhere after wheels up and before 10k feet. The whole point of the "don't recline" rule is to reduce anything that might prevent the person behind you from evacuating in an accident. At some point any accident without sufficient notice to put your seat upright won't be survivable. My guess is ~1000 ft AGL as a "landing" at 1000 ft/min would be pretty devastating.

That pretty much sums it up.

People who recline as soon as the wheels are up is one of my pet peeves. I think that's wrong. It should be 10,000 feet or close to it.

I took an unofficial survey of FAs a few years back -- after wheels up is fine, and that's when I do it.

Why?

I have read this thought before and really don't get how reclining is any worse on short flights. The reclining is for less time, after all. Someone wanting to rest or take a power nap is perfectly reasonable to me. The seats on an RJ have the button for a reason, right?


I agree there is no reason whatsoever to recline quickly, baring the seat not working properly. I hope the other poster was kidding.

But there is no excuse for preventing the seats recline with your knees. You can move them to the side, and even a shorter person could slide their knees to block a seat.

I am 6'4", so understand your space issues (and I know those extra 4" are a big deal). But it is unfair for others to not recline (or be prevented from reclining) due to your height. You need to buy whatever comfort you want/need and shouldn't expect others to suffer because you didn't. Again, the button is there for a reason.

Could the airlines help us a bit on this issue?

"We are starting our meal service and respectfully ask you to bing your seat back forward until we complete removal of service items.

Global services please bring your seat back forward now...

Now 1Ks......

Now plats......

1. OP should not have reclined. During boarding, it's a nuisance.

2. The guy behind OP should have been tossed off the aircraft. He could have asked OP and then complained to the FA. But, kicking the seat? Nyet.

3. I've never heard of any rule that suggests that one can't recline after take off. I do and I do it slowly (as always).

I'm with the majority.

Reclining during boarding is inconsiderate.

Kicking the seat in front of you is rude.

Once the wheels leave the ground, it's OK to recline if you want to.

During mean service, seat back up, even if you don't plan to eat. It's just common courtesy. That does not apply to soda/nuts service, only real meal service.

If you are so tall that having the seat in front of you recline is a problem, make sure you get a seat that accommodates your unusual requirement or grin and bear it.

One thing I like a lot about the newer AA 738 F seats is that the seat slides forward as the back reclines. The upshot is that it is at least as comfortable as the standard recline-only seats, yet even when fully reclined doesn't intrude nearly as much on the next passenger back as the standard seats. Makes it easier to eat, use a laptop and simply enjoy the flight. And at 6'2", I don't feel that my legroom is restricted by this slide-forward configuration.

I don't know whether any Y or other airlines' F cabins have this, but it seems like a good approach to ameliorating or even eliminating the tension over the reclining seat.

I always recline the seat briefly (and then, normally, immediately bring it back to vertical) when I first sit down, to check for a broken seat -- plus to have a definite answer that it isn't broken on the rare occasion you get someone intentionally blocking the recline (whether using a device or just their knees.)

I don't normally bring it down on the ground, although I have during extended ground delays. I've twice been caught on board a plane for hours during WX delays (once at SFO in AA domestic F, once in HKG in CX J) and being able to recline made a huge difference in my ability to sleep through them.

Having been in an flight with a mechanical failure that required an immediate go-around to the gate (although it was something where we could get back to a gate, and not an evacuation) I always wait for the 10,000 feet ding to recline and take my shoes off. I figure if something were to go wrong which would bring us back to the ground quickly (but in one piece) it would have happened by then.

The AA 738 F seats are a particularly nice implementation of this; the 738 Y seats do it too, a bit less nicely. The fairly recent, but now outgoing CX Y "shell" seats do, but rather badly (these have a different point of articulation.)