Reclining seatback while plane at gate?
 

I was on a flight back from Hawaii to Denver a few weeks ago in F on a 757. It was a on red eye so I wanted to sleep, at the gate I slowly reclined my seat to get the Z process started. The guy behind me proceeded to push an kick my seat. I asked him to stop but he said I was breaking the rules by reclining before take off.

For taxi I put it upright, of course and then reclined again after take off. He continued to push and prod for the entire flight. I think he had no manners at all. Thoughts?

I have since changed my F selection on no lay flats to be the last row with nobody behind!

I am somehow reminded of the dueling threads http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...called-me.html and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ht-saying.html (I think there was a third thread somewhere, and a fourth joke?).

I don't think there is any rule about reclining while at the gate, so my understanding is the same as yours. As long as it's upright during taxi/takeoff/landing, I don't see a problem.

My pet peave is the person that slams their seat back giving me no notice. I rarely reclince, but when I do, I ease it back slowly.

"I don't always fly United, but when I do, I prefer BusinessFirst" -The Most Interesting Man in the World

Even when someone reclines during the meal service (which I think is rude), I still don't use that a reason to push, kick or otherwise mess with the seat in front of me. I really don't think you were out of line....but he was.

IMO you shouldn't be reclining your seat until you're in the air. Everyone around you will still have it upright - you should too.

^ And you can add a 100% agreement from me as well. The pax behind the OP was being a "jerk" ;)

I try to recline slowly too, but sometimes the seat gets "stuck" so I have to keep pushing harder just to get the seat to recline. And when it finally goes, I sometimes accidentally slam it back.

This is a good point. IMO I think it's OK if you are reclined during the meal service if you are actually sitting reclined. But most of the time, people leave their seats reclined even though they're sitting upright in their seat, so there's absolutely no need to leave it that way.

I actually see people reclined during boarding / at the gate quite frequently. It might be polite to wait until people in the row behind you are seated (especially in Y), but I don't think it's such a big deal.

Reason #50 why I like the last row of F on every plane, especially the 757. And I can fly in it again since they 'righted' the meal order taking process. ^

still crew dependent. in 3 of my last 4 F flights, meal orders were taken front to back and not in status order. all four flights were pmCO cabin crews. YMMV.

Not problem taking request front to back, as long as the prioritized done in the galley is by the new status based process. IMHO hopping around the cabin is best to be avoided.

I don't think you should recline your seat while on the ground.

It makes getting in or out more difficult for the person behind you.
So what if you had a ground evac while at the gate? It has happened.

Before taxi & T/O, your just gonna have to put it up anyway.
At least by not reclining, the F/A won't have to wake you.

Just changed ALL of my MR's for first 3 mo's of next year to last row of First on every itin that I'm already upgraded on. Don't know why I decided to change to further up, but I need my recline with no bumping and kicking. Thanks for the reminder OP! ^

Not sure what the big deal is. Most seats don't go back that far anyway. If the person in front of me puts their seat back, the last thing on my mind is how can I annoy them for the rest of the flight.

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.

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.