If asked-- would you not recline your seat back?
 

Recently I was on a flight and the person in front of me reclined their seat all the way back without asking me if it was OK. When I complained, she told me that it was her right because the seat did recline all the way back. That was the way the airline designed the seat. After thinking about it, I had to agree but I was miserable all the way to Seattle.

I believe it is time for the airlines to redesign their seats-- so they will not recline so far back.

Yes, I know it is more comfortable for the person in the seat in front of me to recline it all the way back, but is is painful for the person behind them. The seats just recline to far back into my knees. There has to be some middle ground.

What is your opinion about this difficult situation?

This and use of overhead bins has to rank as the most popular thread subjects on Flyertalk!.

This has been discussed alot on many threads. As far as the question in your topic, I would probably compromise and not recline all the way back, just enough to be comfortable.

Being 6' 3", I'm not a big fan of those who recline their seats in front of me, but I understand the logic. That's why I try to assure myself of an upgrade or an exit row seat whenever possible.

As OutOfOffice said, this topic's been discussed at length, so I'd recommend running a search. I suspect you'll find LOTS of opinions.

I was told once on CX coach JFK-HKG, by an FA, to not recline seat "all the way back". I understand, and didn't do so, even though I was not happy about it. The person behind me was bigger than I am, and he needs more space. It's a difficult situation, but we're both stuck in coach. Not much I can do.

I take it a step further and don't recline whether asked to or not. A good rule of thumb for recliners: If the person you're reclining into is reclined, then they should have no problem with you reclining.

^ ^ my rule of thumb

I try not to recline, but if the person in front of me reclines and makes it impossible for me to see my laptop screen, I will often reluctantly recline. As often as possible, I reserve exit rows or bulkhead seats so as to avoid this unpleasant situation (and as a rule, I don't recline when in an exit row or bulkhead seat).

Edit: the above is based on my 1-3 hr flights. If I were on a trans-con or especially if on an overseas flight in Y, I would re-evaluate the above.

My response to the FA would have been: "If you upgrade me to C, this seat will not recline at all!!!" Just kidding.

Seriously, on a long flight (to me, anything longer than 3 hours), my back would really suffer if I can't recline. I guess my back doesn't require the seat to be all the way back, but it needs most of the recline. I certainly feel bad if the passenger behind me is particular tall, but it's either his/her comfort or mine. A guess a fair compromise would be a seat change for him/her or me.

LAX

And please, for the love of God, don't slam your seat back as hard as you can. Some tall person's knees might be there.

I never recline if there is an adult behind me. If the seat is empty, or occupied by a child, I might recline.
At 6'8", I hate when people recline in front of me, but I will never ask them not to recline.
I only pray that they will not do so while my knees are staight in front of me.

I also do all I can to procure an exit seat.

IMHO, they should design all coach seats so they do not recline at all.

I find a lot of "grey area" in most of these etiquette discussions here on FT. This one is an exception.

In answer to the original poster who said that the reclining lady told him 'it was her right because the seat reclines' I can only think of the following situation:

In the UK we have a TV show called Airline which follows the trials and tribulations of a low-cost airline. On one particular episode a woman passenger was having a real rant at the (male) FA because he was happy to sell her duty-free cigarettes but it was a non-smoking flight.

He replied "You can buy condoms in the drugstore".

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should, and it certainly isn't your right to do so. And in any event, with rights go responsibilities and it would be her responsibility to make sure her enjoyment of the flight wasn't at the expense of someone elses.

To digress still further, when I used to fly coach, if I did get the recliner-from-hell in front of me, I'd just make sure I got up every 10 minutes and grabbed hold of their seat to 'assist' me out of my own. Sooner or later they'd complain and I'd apologise but explain that because their seat was reclined so far I needed to get out often to stretch my legs and because there was so little room to manoeuvre I needed to use their reclined seat to get out.

:D

if the person behind me is big like me, I try to recline as
little as possible. I don't like a pair of angry eyeballs
staring at the back of my head on a 12-hour flight.
these days, I only book flights where I can get confirmed
upgrades or exit row seats, even if means paying a few
more buck on the airfare... :)

people all over the world are getting bigger, taller,
and fatter... (myself included) :)

these types of problems will only get worse over time.

the airlines will have to makes seats wider with more pitch
eventually...

I'm in the "never recline" camp. Do unto others and all that.

I personally never recline, I find it uncomfortable. But I'm always behind someone who does, which makes my laptop (I have a small sony) very hard to use. The worst was when I was sandwiched between a guy who had his seat all the way back, and a three year old who was kicking my seat the whole flight. Not a pleasant way to go from BOS to MSY.

Even though the woman had "a right" to recline doesn't mean she had to be inconsiderate.