Working a small project that centers around the somewhat controversial topic of reclining your seat. It's always on the news in some capacity it seems. Most recently on Instagram with a guy holding a persons seat in place with his outstretched arms to prevent him from reclining.

If you want to answer if you recline or not, great, but I'm more interested in what you can do personally (on your own) to optimize your flight. Figure you guys would know best which airlines / planes have the widest seats, the best starting pitch, be reclining etc. *Ideally we stick to economy for the conversation assuming most can't spend the extra $.

As a recliner - are there certain plans or airlines that have the best seat pitch to begin with, widest seats?

As a Non-Recliner - You can by the first or emergency row to make sure you have extra (face space?) Again, which airlines have the best seats, or in a non-recliners perspective, the shortest recline

I saw on reddit a funny suggestion where if you recline your seat back it would also simultaneously move forward to prevent taking away space from the person behind you. And now also with West Jet removing the option on some planes, I'm curious to see if those with back pain, long legs or other reasons we've heard that people need to recline for comfort will they pay whatever the added fee will be to recline on those flights.

I find it strange that we even have to talk about whether it is okay to recline your seat on a plane. The answer has always been simple. Your seat has a recline button for a reason. If you do not want the person in front of you to lean back, you should pay for a seat where that can't happen. It makes no sense to buy the cheapest ticket and then complain that you don't have the most space.

If you are someone who does not want to be reclined on, the easiest thing to do is pay for a seat where it is not an issue. The best choice is a bulkhead seat, which is the seat right behind the wall that divides cabins. No one is in front of you, so no one can recline into your space. Exit row seats also have much more legroom.

That funny idea you saw about a seat that slides forward when it reclines is real. Many premium economy cabins have these "fixed shell" seats. When you lean back, your seat moves forward inside its own shell, so the person behind you is not disturbed. You can find these seats on airlines like Japan Airlines, Air France, and China Airlines.

In the end, an airplane cabin is a shared space, but you get what you pay for. If you want more room or want to be sure no one reclines into you, you need to book a better seat. Expecting the best comfort for the lowest price just isn't realistic.

Tho I have to say JAL's shell seats in PE aren't that great if you're 6' tall.
The concept is great but the size and angle of the seat at least for me gave me 0 support on my legs. There was so much space between my calves and the pad even with my body far back in the seat as possible and my feet up on the footrest.

There’s a good Radiolab podcast episode called “The Flight Before Christmas“ on this topic. Goes into the moral and social implications of reclining seats. I’d recommend it if you haven’t already listened. It’s been a couple years since it was released but still relevant.

More airlines might be getting rid of reclining, at least in economy. In the US, Spirit's seats do not recline. Canada's WestJet has a new cabin design in which economy seats will not recline.

Gonna check it out. Thanks!

That's the interesting development. It's usually the folks that recline and when people complain about someone reclining in front of them, they say well just pay for a better seat if you want more comfort and need the extra space. Now the shoe is going to be on the other foot, it's going to be the recliners who are going to have to pay up for this comfort.

So what do we think is going to happen? Will all these people who "need" to recline because "their back hurts" put their money where their mouth is and pay the extra ($25-$150?) creating some booming revenue stream for airlines that they never saw coming? Or will people just refuse to pay the extra fee and deal with the extra discomfort? (and thereby proving those who say their back didn't really hurt that much in the first place if you can in fact sit upright for the 3 hours)

It looks like there is no fee for reclining per se; reclining will be part of the amenities of the more expensive areas of the plane (first/business class, more leg room area, etc.). The airlines seem to be removing reclining in economy in order to squeeze another row of seats there, so the anti-recliners will complain about shrinking leg room even more.

Personally do not think SH Y seats should recline (nor J in most European carriers - same seat pitch!) - LH naturally should.
In a perfect world there would be an electronic lock, which allows recline when cabin lights are dimmed for sleeping.

Even working on an iPad can be a challenge in SH if someone reclines (Y/J) - with bulkheads the only option to avoid this, which often are unavailable when booking business trips on status heavy routes.