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Reclining Seats on Planes.

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Bletchleyite

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Yup, particularly when you're expected to head straight into work after long haul + connection.

Would be a lot better if legislation prohibited that. Unless the long-haul was business class (in which case you have kipped there) it is totally unreasonable to do that, and almost nobody will work effectively in such a case anyway.
 

stut

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Would be a lot better if legislation prohibited that. Unless the long-haul was business class (in which case you have kipped there) it is totally unreasonable to do that, and almost nobody will work effectively in such a case anyway.

Oh goodness, no, I haven't had business class travel since the mid-00s. I can just about sneak in a premium economy sector if I'm creative with the online booking tool. I've had plenty days where I've come off long-haul flights into the office, and you're not at your peak, but you can work a full day. It's not exactly safety-critical stuff that I'm doing. I've had 50-hour non-stop sessions and 150+ hour weeks, too. The joys of a life in a consultancy (a life I gave up on becoming a dad!)

I have also worked for companies where they give you a day in lieu for travel over personal time, which I've then opted to use at the weekend when I'm away to have a long weekend where I can do my own thing. So, in that case, I had it coming.

My German colleagues do have a rule that they either have a day to recover from an economy long-haul flight, or they fly business if expected to work straight away. But that's the result of a works committee negotiation (a concept we lack here, we've managed to turn the middle classes against that kind of collectivism) rather than specific legislation.
 

edwin_m

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I still don't understand why someone who didn't manage to sleep on the long haul would be able to do so on a 1hr connecting flight in a more cramped environment, reclining seats or not.
 

Bletchleyite

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My German colleagues do have a rule that they either have a day to recover from an economy long-haul flight, or they fly business if expected to work straight away. But that's the result of a works committee negotiation (a concept we lack here, we've managed to turn the middle classes against that kind of collectivism) rather than specific legislation.

I think that's a reasonable position, and personally I would almost certainly select the cheaper option of an economy flight and a day off. If not offered by the company I'd seriously consider, if it was a week's trip as they often are, flying Saturday to get it myself using the Sunday. If the company was so tight they wouldn't even cover the extra night's hotel I'd be looking for a new job pronto, given how much money is made from consulting.
 

Bletchleyite

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I still don't understand why someone who didn't manage to sleep on the long haul would be able to do so on a 1hr connecting flight in a more cramped environment, reclining seats or not.

I don't know about you, but very often I find that if I miss a complete night's sleep I doze off involuntarily the following day, however uncomfortable a position I'm in. This sort of confirms the old adage "the only way to get a decent night's sleep on a night train is to have been on one the night before".

In any case, sleasyJet offer better legroom in most seats (other than behind the exit row in A320s where they crammed an extra row in) than KLM do on longhaul :D
 

edwin_m

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I don't know about you, but very often I find that if I miss a complete night's sleep I doze off involuntarily the following day, however uncomfortable a position I'm in. This sort of confirms the old adage "the only way to get a decent night's sleep on a night train is to have been on one the night before".

In any case, sleasyJet offer better legroom in most seats (other than behind the exit row in A320s where they crammed an extra row in) than KLM do on longhaul :D
In that sort of situation you'd sleep on the connecting flight whatever the legroom and whether the seat reclined or not.
 

jopsuk

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Apart from reducing arguments, one of the reasons for low cost/charter airlines going no-recline (and remember these are airlines running eg northern europe to the Canaries!) is that the fixed seats are rather lighter.
 

Tetchytyke

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I still don't understand why someone who didn't manage to sleep on the long haul would be able to do so on a 1hr connecting flight in a more cramped environment, reclining seats or not.

I've not slept on a red eye then fallen asleep- standing up- on the Northern Line!

I do agree with you, though, in short-haul doesn't need recline. The question is how you define short-haul. It's 4 hours to the Canary Islands or the Greek islands from here, 5 to Turkey and nearly 6 to Egypt. But they're "short haul" flights. It's only another hour or so to Dubai and that's "long haul".
 

ModernRailways

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I've not slept on a red eye then fallen asleep- standing up- on the Northern Line!

I do agree with you, though, in short-haul doesn't need recline. The question is how you define short-haul. It's 4 hours to the Canary Islands or the Greek islands from here, 5 to Turkey and nearly 6 to Egypt. But they're "short haul" flights. It's only another hour or so to Dubai and that's "long haul".

For me, short haul is 3 hours or less. You then have medium haul, which I would put at 3-6/7 hours, then long haul as 6 hours+. Short haul doesn't need recline, medium haul is a tricky one with the longer journey end being where I'd suggest having recline. Long haul should have recline.
 

edwin_m

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I've not slept on a red eye then fallen asleep- standing up- on the Northern Line!

I do agree with you, though, in short-haul doesn't need recline. The question is how you define short-haul. It's 4 hours to the Canary Islands or the Greek islands from here, 5 to Turkey and nearly 6 to Egypt. But they're "short haul" flights. It's only another hour or so to Dubai and that's "long haul".
The difference with Dubai is hat a lot of people are interlining with a fairly short connection time onto another flight of similar length to somewhere further east. So there's some reason to offer better conditions than might be justified by the Europe-Dubai leg in isolation.
 
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