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To recline or not to recline on planes....

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Butts

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That is the question.........:roll:

Recently on a Domestic Hop from LHR to EDI I was amazed when someone reclined their seat and nearly cascaded the women next to me's Coffee into her lap. Ironically the perpetrator was a smallish female with no leg room issues as far as I could see.

This argument is probably more relevant to long haul flights , but is it bad manners to recline your seat ? The most annoying aspect is probably people who fail to right their seats during meal service and the staff fail to notice or do anything about it.

Have any others witnessed or experienced any amusing anecdotes related to seat reclining - or arguments ?
 
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Greenback

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I've don't recline my seat on any sort of flight any more as I could never notice any sort of difference when I did do it! But as you can probably tell (being Welsh) I have short legs!
 

WestCoast

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If the seat has a recline button, then many people will want to recline. I try not to if I can help it, but on my 14 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney last year, it was very much necessary.

It may be of interest to you that Ryanair's seats don't recline!

Just as an aside, there are actually two ongoing threads in the "Metro, Light Rail & Other Transport" section of the forum called 'Aviation Discussion' and 'Plane Bashing'. You could post anything like this in one of those threads.
 

LE Greys

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I'm probably really annoying to people, because I automatically hit 'full recline' as soon as the seatbelt sign comes off (although I do my best to make it go back slowly) and only let the seat back up again if there is a meal service. The reason, I do my best to get a window seat, and this generally makes it easier to look out without developing a crick in the neck. Mind you, there is usually a bit more room on BA flights. The same goes for my occasional visits to first class on trains.
 

Mojo

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Normally I'm quite quick at responding to someone attempting to recline their seat by putting my knees underneath the tray table and pushing them straight back upright as soon as they press the button. I'll often sit in such a way where my knees are ready to then stop them from being able to recline the seat after they've tried it once as most people don't get the message that it's plain damn rude :rolleyes:
 

GB

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Sorry but how in the hell is it rude to recline you seat?? What you are doing to prevent it is totally out of order!:roll:

I pay my fare, and I'm within my rights to use it... and I will, particularly if I have upgraded.
 

Mojo

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Sorry but how in the hell is it rude to recline you seat?? What you are doing to prevent it is totally out of order!:roll:

I pay my fare, and I'm within my rights to use it... and I will, particularly if I have upgraded.
Reclining most seats on a plane involves the top of the back of the seat in front going directly into the face of the person in the seat behind. This is unlike on a train where reclining your seat means your seat cushion goes forward, not affecting the person behind. I was in Upper class though where reclining did just this though, but given what the OP has said it seems he is talking about the first kind.

Depending on the available seat pitch, by reclining your seat you are preventing the person behind from reading their book or newspaper, or even reducing the room between your knees, and the back of the seat in front to 0cm, as happened to my mum last time.
 

GB

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Sorry I may have jumped the gun. Are we talking short haul or long haul?
 

LE Greys

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Normally I'm quite quick at responding to someone attempting to recline their seat by putting my knees underneath the tray table and pushing them straight back upright as soon as they press the button. I'll often sit in such a way where my knees are ready to then stop them from being able to recline the seat after they've tried it once as most people don't get the message that it's plain damn rude :rolleyes:

While I might respond to an 'excuse me, would you mind putting your seat back up' with an 'oh, sorry' and returning the seat to upright, I've sat in front of my little sister too often to do anything about those tactics by anything other than throwing my full weight against the seat and using the leverage to force it down hard.

Then remember it's either a BA flight or a first class MkIII, so there's plenty of room.

<EDIT> I'd better qualify that a little. I know I'm an arrogant son of a bachelor and completely unapologetic for that, but firstly I might interpret the seat as being broken, and secondly if someone behind me was being that childish, I'm afraid I'm the sort of person who would be childish right back. If it develops beyond there, I never back down when confronted. Sorry, but that's just me.

On the other hand, a polite word would cost the person behind nothing, and would be very likely to be met with an apology, and of course the seat would go back up.
 
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ATW Alex 101

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You have paid for a flight and the recline is there for you to use, there is no restrictions either however, iv'e always been told to ask the person behind me though. I find it is good manners to at least ask as a seat back in your face isn't great. If the person in front decides to recline without asking I just politely ask if they could move it back, they don't have to move it back because they are well within their right to use the recline.
It's only happened to me twice and both times they apologized and moved their chairs back.

What I hate is when the person in front rests their arm on top of the seat and their hand is hanging down in front of you. On my last flight some bloke with dirty nails did that and the meal service came round so I got my dad to tell the flight attendant and she got him to move his hand. Still manky though.

Man, it's been ages since I have been on a plane
 

LE Greys

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You have paid for a flight and the recline is there for you to use, there is no restrictions either however, iv'e always been told to ask the person behind me though. I find it is good manners to at least ask as a seat back in your face isn't great. If the person in front decides to recline without asking I just politely ask if they could move it back, they don't have to move it back because they are well within their right to use the recline.
It's only happened to me twice and both times they apologized and moved their chairs back.

What I hate is when the person in front rests their arm on top of the seat and their hand is hanging down in front of you. On my last flight some bloke with dirty nails did that and the meal service came round so I got my dad to tell the flight attendant and she got him to move his hand. Still manky though.

Man, it's been ages since I have been on a plane

Exactly. Besides, the seat design when pitched at a sufficient distance is intended to prevent problems by being hinged quite high and having stoppers at a certain point (unlike our old Ford Orion). If someone decided to lean back in front of me, I couldn't give a monkey's. Maybe I just assume that if it doesn't bother me, then it shouldn't bother anyone else. That might be wrong, but it's hard to put yourself in another's place.
 

WestCoast

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Mind you, there is usually a bit more room on BA flights..

BA have 31in pitch across the fleet in Economy, which is slightly generous for short-haul, but nothing special for mid/long-haul. Thomson actually offers 33in-34in on their long-haul flights now, which is surprising considering they are a charter airline.

On Domestic BA flights, you can often get a seat in the first 6 rows. These have more legroom as they used as Business Class on European and North Africa flights.
 

Roughytuffy

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Sorry but how in the hell is it rude to recline you seat?? What you are doing to prevent it is totally out of order!:roll:

I pay my fare, and I'm within my rights to use it... and I will, particularly if I have upgraded.
Hmmmm, never mind the poor person behind errr? Smacks of "I'm alright Jack". Other people pay their fare too. I notice its only the arrogant of sorts who will recline their seat. Can spot them a mile off. The last few flights I've been on and people seem to be realising that its offensive to recline the seat and are refraining from the act.
 

bb21

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It is perfectly understandable that people might want to recline their seats and relax on a long-haul flight. How is that arrogant? I don't want to be awake for a 15-hour flight to Asia and I believe most other people on the same flight don't either.

There might not be such a need on a flight lasting less than maybe 3/4 hours, and that I can understand.
 

LE Greys

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I don't want to turn this into a rant, but there are far worse things people can do on flights, most of which involve blocking window views. I once had to construct a sort of tent around the window using a blanket, a hat and my camera bag so I could open the blind about 3 inches (when it was mostly pitch black outside and all I wanted to do was see the sunrise). But what really wound me up once was someone who insisted on keeping the seat up, reading a broadsheet newspaper and completely blocking the window on a day with perfect visibility. If he had put the seat back, there might have just been a view. As it was, I had to make do with some brief glimpses through a door porthole before one of the cabin crew asked me what I was doing.

Compared with that, losing a foot of air space at head height makes absolutely no difference.
 

Skimble19

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I fail to see why it's arrogant to use a feature provided to you? I wonder if people who claim it's arrogant to recline your seat also think its arrogant to use the reading lights, or the air-con blowers?!
 

pemma

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Ironically the perpetrator was a smallish female with no leg room issues as far as I could see.

On a middle of the day flight I was on between Cologne and Liverpool (when direct flights did operate) it seemed that the only people who had their seats reclined were a small group of female American teenagers.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
the recline is there for you to use, there is no restrictions either

Actually there are. The seat must be upright when taking off and landing.
 
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Butts

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I suppose the fairest solution would be "all or nothing" -ie everyone does it or no one does.

I'm disappointed no one has come up with an "air rage" tale caused by this :p
 

TrainBoy98

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Reclining most seats on a plane involves the top of the back of the seat in front going directly into the face of the person in the seat behind. This is unlike on a train where reclining your seat means your seat cushion goes forward, not affecting the person behind. QUOTE]

I didnt know train seats reclined?
 

starrymarkb

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Also the German ICE seats recline in both first and standard (though the ICE is premium fare unless you get an advance ticket)

The seats that All Nippon Airlines are fitting to their 787s are designed so the cushion moves forward. and the seat back reclines within a fixed shell. But it looks like ANA are going to be an exception rather then the rule when it comes to interior spec. (Most airlines are doing for a high density layout with standard seats)
 

Lrd

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Someone correct me if Im wrong, but I think 1st class seats on cl171s (maybe 170s as well) recline.
Pretty much all first class seats do so more than likely.
 

ainsworth74

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Someone correct me if Im wrong, but I think 1st class seats on cl171s (maybe 170s as well) recline.

It would be quicker to name the types of stock where first class seats don't recline ;)
 

Lrd

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I'll rephrase what I said, most first class seats where it's worthwhile being in first class, normally recline.
 

LE Greys

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Fine~ :lol:

Southerns 377s and Southeasterns 375/465s don't. Have no idea about FCC's 365s but I guess they might not...

Not 365s, or any of the MkIII-based EMUs. But they are actually the arm-rest version of IC-70 seats, as found in HST TS's.
 

radamfi

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The fact that Ryanair seats don't recline is one of the reasons why I like Ryanair! I don't have long legs but the rest of my body is long (29 inch inside leg but 5 foot 10 tall!) so I need to sit upright or else I would get a bad back if I reclined.
 
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