Megan Murray

I don’t see any issue with reclining and don’t understand why others do. The seats are designed to recline, and airlines promote this feature to sell more tickets. If you go on a long haul flight, you go in expecting to be reclined on. The only time seats should be upright is takeoff and landing, and of course meal times.

I have to say that on my most recent transatlantic flight in economy, the seat was bolt upright and it would have been incredibly uncomfortable to keep it like that for the whole flight. This is why seats recline!

As for the recent scenario with the lady flying on American Airlines, I fail to see that she did anything wrong. The man asked her to put her seat back up, and she did out of courtesy as it was a mealtime. There’s nothing wrong with reclining once the meal service had finished, which is what she did and why the issue arose.

Close2KADS

In Y I do not recline on domestic flights unless the cabin lights are dimmed. Fortunately, I have a decent upgrade percentage. In F, I have no reservations about reclining.

lokijuh

IMHO, the problem is not that seats recline and that people recline, but that the seats have too much recline in them. I don't mind reclining a bit but there becomes a point (for me), where further recline does nothing to enhance my comfort, in fact with some seats if I recline too far it becomes uncomfortable, at least in the thin sparsely padded economy seats.

FlyDeltaConnection

I only recline if there is no one behind me. I really don't get the recline feature in economy seats, but maybe that's because I can't sleep in economy anyway. I need a fully flat, bed like surface to sleep anyway so it doesn't really matter if I recline or don't in economy.

Tejas

if i fly domestic - i don't recline. my flights are around 2 hours and it's not worth it. In september when i fly from australia to london you better bet your arse i'm reclincing, especilly as my first flight is at 3am

Barrheadlass

a

Me too...like one inch. I’ve had 8 hour flights where the person in front of me is fully reclined the whole time. I just won’t do it to the person behind me.

Dublin_rfk

They can have my recline button when they pry it from my cold dead hand!

That said, the chances of finding me in an E seat are very, very, slim but 100% higher than an E- seat.

SQTraveller

I rarely recline my Y seat, even on long haul flights.

I am fortunate that I am probably one of the few people who don't get uncomfortable sitting upright for hours on end. Also I guess it's because I can go to sleep very quickly.

HardToConcentrate

I rarely recline. If I do, it’s one click, very rarely two, and I do it slowly. Making sure to move my seat upright for meals and such.

I’m fine with the person in front of me reclining a little, but on more recent transatlantic flights I’ve had a few people recline all the way back. That’s a ...... It renders my tray table almost useless, and makes it difficult to move my legs. I’m 5’5.. Which also makes me need to recline more, but I don’t as I don’t want to inconvenience the person behind me.

I once had an FA make the person in front of me sit up for meal services. The person reclined fully as soon as they got on the flight. Begrudgingly moved her seat upright for takeoff, and absolutely tried to eat her meal by sitting forward in her seat, instead of moving her seat upright. Bless the FA! When she handed me my meal, she gave me a knowing smile and nod, then spoke to the passenger.

lohi

Never on short haul and on LH only if they dim the lights for sleeping and only minimally at that.

Zeeb

When I go to purchase a ticket for any airline and look at the seatmap any seat that can't recline has a comment that pops up making sure I am aware that i am selecting a non-reclining seat. If I go to seatguru any non-reclining seat is always yellow or red because people know that seat is missing a basic function. When airlines added Y+ seats one of the advertised selling points was "Increased recline". I don't think that anyone can make a good faith argument that reclining is not considered a standard part of what you purchase when you buy a ticket. Can it sometimes be annoying if the person in front you you reclines? Yes, it can. But add it to the pile of a million annoying things you have to deal with when traveling. If it bothers you that much you can spend a few extra bucks to get a bulkhead or exit row seat.

AUCLABruin

I rarely recline,I don't feel like I am that much more comfortable.

CMK10

I do. here are my rules:

1. If it's a redeye I'm reclining 100% of the time. Most people are going to sleep and it's an overnight flight so I think that's fair
2. If there's no one behind me (increasingly rare) OR there's an empty middle behind me I will if I need to get comfrotable
3. If the person in front of me reclines and I need to work on my laptop

Otherwise I don't.

Rebelyell

I have trouble breathing with the seat tilted forward, so I recline. Anyone with special legs is no different from a fat person. They need to pay a few dollars more for extra-legroom seats.

weero

It's even more abstract though as they simply can recline too and enjoy the exact same space they had before, just slightly tilted.

Sure there are a few non-reclining seats on most planes. They should be prohibited for passenger use.....