Hell, I’d ALWAYS welcome the person in front of me reclining if I didn’t need to be within 5 rows in any direction of a child! 
I tend to recline, but only a small amount - 1 or 2 degrees at most. It does make it more comfortable for me, but I’m not willing to put my comfort at a higher premium than those around me. If the seats are super squished, I likely won’t recline at all.
My husband’s super tall (he’s 6’6"), so I’m aware of the issues facing taller and bigger passengers. When I fly with him, he always puts our armrest up so as to be more comfortable. Now that I think about it, I’m probably more cramped flying with him than when I fly by myself.
By myself, I prefer the armrest down, but if you asked I’d let you put it up - it really doesn’t concern me too much. The asking, however, is essential - I’d give you a funny look if you just did it without asking.
A surprising thread. I am tall and I suffer when the person in front of me reclines, but I would never even consider asking them not to. The seat does it and it is fair game to do it.
I prefer to go upright myself, but if the person in front reclines, then I recline also. Tough nuggets for the person behind. I have never been asked to straighten my seat, but I don’t think I would if asked. At least not without the person behind me negotiating the issue with the person ahead of me.
And there is no way in heaven or hell I am going to spend hours rubbing my butt against a stranger with a piece of metal on my shoulder. The armrest stays down.
Well, if the stranger were a nubile young blonde …
I recline only a tiny bit if someone is behind me, and then usually only if I’m trying to sleep. I’m 6’2", so I’m another whose needs hit the seatback because of lack of space. I must admit that if someone reclines his seat into my lap, I might get coughing or sneezing fits.
And LionelHutz405, you just gave me value for my subscription. I don’t fly much any more, but if I started to again I’d so buy that.
I’m glad that other people are supporting the idea that reclining is a lot more comfortable. I don’t want the guy behind me to be miserable, but I don’t want to be miserable myself as a trade off, and I am definitely unhappy sitting upright (almost forward as others have said) for hours. I’m thinking especially of long haul flights - I’m probably going to sleep at some point in a 8 or 9 hour flight, and there is no way I can sleep with the seat in the upright position.
I guess what surprises me is that I’m supposed to accept that you are uncomfortable back there, when from a lot of people here there is no accepting that I am uncomfortable up here in front of you. And what of the issue when someone in front of me reclines, but I’m not supposed to, leaving me a tiny sliver of room?
As for all the passive aggressive nonsense of pushing back on the seat, kicking, moaning, pointing the air nozzle at their head, putting a newspaper on their head, etc. What the hell? Is that how you act in everyday life too? If you are a grown adult, you should use your words to ask politely. If someone asked, and I could see that they were in fact tall, I would consider putting the seat up or reclining less.
I don’t think reclining the seat is rude, exactly, but I think it shows a lack of awareness of the discomfort level of the person behind you. Of course, I have resigned myself to experiencing air travel as excruciatingly uncomfortable and stressful anyway, so if the person in front of me is reclining, it’s just part and parcel of the fact that air travel is something to be endured until it’s over. With my MP3 player, a book, and some booze, I just try to make it something to be suffered through rather than something to actively fight against.
I never recline my seat unless the seat behind me is empty.
Yeah, most of my flights are of the 1 hour or less variety. yes, everyone works very hard and needs to sneak in a little shut-eye whenever they can. But I think a good many more folk recline on short hops out of selfishness/cluelessness/lack of consideration/sense of entitlement/what have you, than out of any real need or discomfort. Just my opinion.
And just a minor one of the LONG list of reasons why I hate flying.
Maybe it’s worth asking if the ‘absolutely no reclining’ crowd here usually flies short hops, like under 1 hour. I can’t remember the last flight I was on that was less than about 3 hours, and many have been at least 5, and up to 14. There is just no way I’m going to sit in one position for 14 hours straight.
Thank God for people like you. We did the family trip to Orlando this past June, and on the way back the person in front of me reclined all the way. I was obviously holding a one year old boy and doing my best (sucesfully I might add) to keep him from kicking the seat. Then you promptly shove your seat back to literally within 4 inches of him. At that point all bets are off pal, hope you enjoy that “massaging” action from his feet.
I’m sorry, but everyone saying that it’s rude because it jostles the person’s tray behind you is just wrong. On every flight I’ve ever taken, the tray is attached to the actual base of the seat, NOT the reclining part - so the tray’s position is static regardless of whether the person is reclining or not. If they recline, they’re just increasing the distance between them and the tray, NOT between the tray and the person using the tray.
Yeah, I was going to say pretty much the same thing. Having been the kickee on flights in the past, I go to great lengths to make sure my kids’ feet never come into contact with the seats in front of them on airplane flights. On one memorable trip, we brought Whatsit Jr.'s carseat on board, installed it in the seat, and strapped him into it. He kept desperately trying to kick the seat in front of him, but it was almost out of reach, and I was able to stop him by restraining his legs with my arm. Not really all that fun for me, but the right thing to do in the situation.
Then the assplunge sitting in front of him reclined his seat all the way back. His head was practically in the car seat, and the seat back was now WELL within kicking range. I promptly ceased all kick restraint activities and went back to doing the crossword puzzle.
I never recline my seat on airplanes. For the person behind me, it makes an already-unpleasant situation even more uncomfortable and unpleasant. Not worth it for a very, very, very small increase in comfort for me.
IMO, it’s not rude at all, that’s what the seat is designed to do. I always go full-recline for the duration of the flight, it’s more comfortable and otherwise my back gets sore.
The expectation that one expects to travel in society without any human contact or intrusion into their space buffer for the duration and placing the blame on others who are simply trying to make their way through the same experience, to me, is what’s rude.
Damn right I recline! The seat I payed for has that option, so I’ll use it if I damn well want to. Your either too tall to ride in coach or too cheap to ride in first class, which is it? Either way I’m not about to be uncomfortable so you don’t have to be.
I don’t get the armrest thing up either, unless I know the person next to me (even then, I’d prefer to have it up.) It’s just a little too intimate for me. Looking at some of the other posts, I don’t think that I’m alone. If someone sat down next to me and put the armrest up, I would not like it at all. I would feel like I was being forced to scootch down into my repective corner. It just feels physically awkward to me, not to have that physical boundary of MY SPACE.
I think this is correct.
I’m 6’4”. 205 pounds. I don’t recline but maybe a little if there isn’t a big person behind me.
If the seat in front of me is reclined, it’s nearly impossible for me to get out. Heck it’s hard when the seat isn’t reclined. I think that that is one of the reasons that they must be up right during landing. Safety. Evacuation.
My Wife is pretty small. 5’2” and 110 lbs. She has no problems at all. We are on opposite ends of the spectrum for healthy full size adults. She sees me deal with this every time we fly.
Exit rows are always the first to go. I rarely get one. We then opt for two aisle seats (across from each other). Or a middle and an aisle.
Also, I discovered on my last flight that the aisle arm does go up. It has a hidden button. If I can get the aisle arm to go up, I can slide out and then stand.
In the 14 flights I’ve taken in the last year, 2 have been under 1 hour. The rest have been between 1.5 hours and 3.5. I reclined my seat on none of the flights. I did, however, sleep on all of them.
And, again, I am not ‘pushing back on the seat’. Your seat is hitting my knees. Big difference.
Oh please, get off your high horse. As much as I would love to fly first class, thats not possible for a full time student. And I am not tall for coach, as long as you don’t put the seat down. Attitudes like yours are what make flying miserable for lots of people.
How can you not even put the seat down one or two clicks? I could NOT fly that way. When the seat is fully upright, I feel like I’m in a concave position. I don’t think that I’ve ever fully reclined, but I’ve got to at least get it out of that upright position!
You’re the one on the high horse! Am I forcing you to stay in school full time instead of earning a wage? NO! So don’t bitch to me about what you can and can’t afford. Just because you want to stay in school for the rest of your life the rest of us should cow-tow to your needs? Puhleaze!!!
Don’t fly until you can afford a seat with more leg room or until the airlines change the seats so they don’t recline. Did it ever occur to you that the upright position is not all that comfortable for me? No, of course not! It’s all about you isn’t it?
It’s extremely rare that the person in front of me doesn’t recline. In fact, it’s their reclining that usually reminds me that it’s ok to take my seat out of take-off mode.
Perhaps the seats in different airlines operate differently. I have never once sat next to anyone whose knees touched the seat in front of them, although I have witnessed several people who were too wide for their seats. I’ve never seen them move more than a little bit, except for the one time my seat was broken. This talk of heads in laps is completely foreign to me.