I deliberately ordered curry which someone might be offended by.
I’m not telling you to write letters. I’m telling you if you can’t be arsed to speak up and to write letters seeking change, then no one need take you seriously.
You want change to occur because you behave like fussy children, and act out to other passengers? How is that in any way mature or reasonable?
I’m telling you to look around and see how the vast majority of adults you’re sharing your plane with are behaving, and consider taking a clue from them.
I thinks that’s fine. They have identified a niche market that doesn’t want to recline, and doesn’t want anyone else to either. I am free to fly on another airline that offers the amenities I desire. I certainly wouldn’t fly on that airline and then bitch about not being able to recline.
Say you’re at the theater, and the person in front of you is wearing a tall hat, blocking your view. It’s her right, because she paid for the seat, and nobody can tell her what to wear. And you’re a bully if you ask her to remove the hat. Is that correct?
Discussing this in public forums can be helpful to effect change as well. It can help create support for the cause more than writing a single letter to the airline, who will likely do nothing with it. But discussing this in public can cause it to show up more in searches, be more on people’s minds, write articles about it, etc.
Debating like this also helps frame the issue better. I suspect most people are not upset about the concept of reclining seats in itself. Rather, they are upset about the amount of recline enabled in the seats. Discussions like this can help determine the optimal recline setting to best ensure overall happiness and least dissatisfaction.
And discussing can also help the person understand if it’s just them who has a problem with it or if other people do as well. Clearly in this thread it is evident there are many opinions. By having this public discussion first, it will aid the OP if he ever decides to contact the airline. He will be better prepared and informed of many of the issues around seat reclining and be able to make more constructive suggestions to the airline.
My mistake. How in the world did I get that impression, I wonder?
Does the theater supply the hat in the cost of the ticket?
In a theater, you are paying for a seat with a view of the screen.
In a coach seat, you are NOT paying for extra legroom. You know how they have those advertisements for premium seating touting all of the extra legroom? That’s because THOSE are the tickets with the extra legroom.
Now look at your coach ticket. Is it a premium ticket? No. Thus, you are not entitled to premium features, like extra legroom, even if you be much more comfortable with them and really really want them. It’s just not a part of your ticket. It’s not about the other person being considerate or inconsiderate. That space was never on the table for you. Maybe you’ll have blind luck and the other person won’t use it-- like how you sometimes have an empty seat next to you-- but it’s never been a part of your package.
I’m not a jerk for eating my mashed potatoes. Even if you are at the table next to me, have a high metabolism, and are REALLY hungry. Even if you think I’m skinny and don’t need the food like you do. It’s not yours. Your options are to buy an appetizer or complain to management about the portion sizes. You don’t get to throw a fit because I’m not giving you a part of my dinner.
I’m not buying that, at all, sorry.
It’s no good complaining to people who cannot implement change. It’s like bitching at the server for the price of the food.
When 99% of the adults around you are fine with it, maybe the problem is your expectations.
And when you’re argument is basically, ‘yes, the seat reclines, yes, you paid for a seat that reclines, yes, I knew your seat could recline, but you ought not to so I can be more comfortable, (though I chose not to pay for more comfortable seats)’, then you’re kinda behaving like a fussy child, in my opinion. On a flight of 90 minute duration no one need take you seriously, at all!
Surprisingly, I have a very high tolerance for fussy children, especially on airplanes! I am never pissed over a crying child, not even on long haul. I find I am less tolerant with fussy adults, acting out.
- one million
Special snowflakes piss me off.
The theater belongs to the theater owner, who sets policy on what sort of customer conduct is permissible in that space, and that includes attire. The theater owner can (and probably does) have a policy that says no stovepipe hats allowed; paying for a seat in the theater does not, in this case, include the privilege of wearing a stovepipe hat.
The airplane belongs to the airplane owner, who sets policy on what sort of customer conduct is permissible in that space, and that includes reclining seats. The airplane owner can (and typically does) have a policy that says you may recline your seat (provided the aircraft is at cruise altitude and you are not directly in front of an exit row). Paying for a seat on the plane includes the privilege of reclining your seat (subject to the aforementioned FAA-imposed safety restrictions), regardless of whether or not the person behind you has unrealistic expectations of personal space while flying.
I fly all the time (well, used to), have been in hundreds of airplanes. And my reaction is “deal with it.”
On the other hand, I see this topic has gone from 0-120 posts in about 27 hours so I don’t know if anybody cares about the OP any more. 
99%, eh? Do you have, you know, a cite for anything you’ve posted in this thread?
I’ve already shown my cite showing that 91% would rather have seats that do not recline. I’m looking forward to your cite that indicates that 99% of adults are fine with it.
There was no acting out. You are deliberately inventing scenarios. Please read the OP:
My 375lb 5’11 self was actually quite comfortable on a PAL 737-300ER, they also run a configuration with 2" wider seats in coach and a hair more legroom on those planes. Most of their flights are 14 hour shots across the pacific so I guess they figured the lack of bitching from passengers was worth it.
So…won’t speak up in the moment it would count, to those who could actually create change…but just want to winge about it endlessly afterward. Got it!
Why, in this very thread, 99 people have spoken in favor of reclining for every person who is troubled by it. Didn’t you notice?
I see the reclining seat feature as shared space, like the arm rest. Either party can use that space if the other doesn’t want it (or isn’t there). But if there are two people vying for that space, they should each be polite to each other.
And as I’ve said a few times, I mostly hold it against the airline if the passenger in front of me reclines, but I completely and totally hold it against the bastard in front of me if he slams his seat back quickly, and jams my knees.
(And no, elbows, I don’t write to airlines about it. But when I have a choice, I vote with my pocketbook for airlines where I am less likely to be assaulted.)
I commend you for it! Well done!
But as you can see, you’re the exception, not the rule. Voting with your pocket book is the most effective way to send your message. But, again, most of the complainers here aren’t interested in putting their money where their mouth is. (The company mightn’t spring for better seats but the individual always has the option to!)
Myself, I can’t afford that option. So I suck it up like everyone else.
I had an idea of how this could work. By default, a seat would only recline a small amount (2"). But there could be a latch added to the back of the seat which would allow it to recline a lot (5"). The latch would be in a position where the person in front couldn’t access it. If there was no one behind you, you could ask an attendant or someone else in that row to release the latch and you could lay the seat far back.
The initial recline is set to minimize the dissatisfaction of both passengers. Obviously you can’t make both passengers happy, but there should be a recline setting where there is reasonable consideration for the desires of each one. But then when there is no one behind you, you get to recline the seat much more than would be appropriate if there’s someone behind you.
I think something like this would make most people happy. This way you would sometimes get to fully recline and you wouldn’t have to deal with the impolite people fully reclining into you.
I’m curious as to how you think you could possibly know this.
When you continually make assumptions you undermine your credibility.
mmm