Whose legroom is it?
 

On a flight recently, I had packed light so I didn't have any bags underneath the seat in front of me. Trying to nap, I stretched out my legs with my toes resting on the bar underneath the seat in front of me. The lady in front of me repeatedly kicked my feet. At first I thought she might be unaware that she was kicking my feet, but eventually she turned around and asked me to move my feet.

I politely replied that the space underneath the seat in front of her was her space and that the space underneath the seat in front of me was my space. I'm sympathetic that having a bag under the seat in front of you doesn't leave much legroom, but I think it's rude to disrupt another passenger by kicking your feet back.

Have other people experienced this? How did you handle it? Who's legroom does the bar belong to?

I sympathize and agree with you. I'm 6'4" and need to stretch to the magic bar. I can actually remember people shoving their newspaper under their seat amongst other things. In my opinion I concur that that space is yours or mine not theirs.

The space under seat in front of the OP is the OP's space. But if the PAX to the front is able to kick the OP's feet then it sounds like their feet were past the bar. Which in that case they need to move their feet back some.

FWIW I have been both the PAX in front and in back. If the PAX in back I move my feet back. If the PAX in front, I have never needed to say anything to the PAX behind me as they have moved their feet back.

Not sure how the kicker was able to get the leverage to kick behind the bar. Or what good it would have done her had he moved his legs or had the seat been empty.

My guess is that he must have, at some point, had some part of his feet forward of the bar. In that case, he's the "trespasser."

My heels were on the floor behind the bar with my toes resting on top of the bar. So, my toes were sticking out maybe an inch beyond the bar but completely under the seat. (Keep in mind that the bar is behind the edge of the seat.)

To my mind, the bar is there to prevent bags from sliding forward rather than to delineate the beginning and end of one’s personal space.

But anyway, the lady in front of my had her feet positioned so that her heels were extending behind the bar. I could maybe accept the perspective of the bar being a shared area, just like an armrest between seats. But I really can’t imagine kicking (or shoving in the case of an armrest) to claim that space as your own.

An inch beyond the bar is her space. You were in the wrong.

Agreed.

You get up to the edge of the bar/frame. The person in front gets the space from the bar forward.

As an aside, I have fond memories of a flight MSP-EWR in early 2001 where ~50 kids from a school group were on board connecting onward to Europe. Many of them sat down and then put their bags under their seat, just like at their desks in the classroom, rather than under the seat in front. Of course, one of them was in front of me and we had to sort that out (all friendly). The chaperones laughed almost as much as I did about it.

I don't think the bar is to prevent luggage slide, it is part of the recline mechanism - (?)

If you are tall then your feet are fairly long and if you upper foot rests on the bar, she might have been able to feel your toes on the underside of her seat - which could annoy. Either way it is a sensitive space , the forward passenger needs some " heel kick' space.

That said, she could have been more diplomatic, even if she were in the right. Harmony in the cabin is in everyone's interest.

And there it is.

Your feet were not behind the bar. They were in front of the bar. That was the forward passenger's space.

While kicking you is just plain rude (and perhaps worse), she was entirely correct to complain.

This sounds like a great plot for a Larry David TV episode

If you extended over the inside of the cross bar you definitely intruded into her space and she was justified in complaining but not kicking (more than once if done in error)

OP stated that her heels were BEHIND the bar though so perhaps she was incorrect in demanding the OP move their feet?

as far as I'm concerned anything north of the bar is the person in front of you space.

In kindergarten we (some of us) learned how to cooperate with our neighbors and share things. This sounds like a schoolyard issue.

Be adult about it.

I disagree, but it’s helpful to see that other people have different opinions. If I’m in the wrong for having my toes forward of the bar, she’s in the wrong for having her heels behind the bar.

As someone else mentioned, this is reminiscent of schoolyard stuff. I’d have no problem with sharing the space but I get riled up when someone kicks me to solve the problem.