Do you put your seat back on flights?

bohsboy

Slunk wrote: »

Can't believe the amount of childish idiots who kick and poke at reclined seats. They are made to ****ing recline. Your seat does the exact same so quit whingeing. Should have a few rows at the back without reclining seats for the idiots that whinge. Hard plastic seats at that.

Sigh...obvious case of small man syndrome.

Mickey H

If you want to recline your seat on a flight, there's no law against it. However, you should be considerate to your fellow travellers and always ask the person behind you if they mind. They're probably going to say "No problem, go ahead" out of politeness, but at least you had the common decency to ask.

If you're flying cattle economy class, you're got very little room in the first place and if there's a really tall fella (or lady) behind you, just don't recline as you're going to make it needlessly uncomfortable for them.

averageperson

It is ok to move it back a little, and maybe first a polite "Do you mind if I...?" to show some consideration...but to move it back all the way, as a french chappy did on the flight I took a few weeks back, makes it incredibly uncomfortable for the passenger behind. Luckily, the hostess made him put it back up during take-off and I made sure my knees were pressed against the seat from then on, so he was unable to recline. The seats beside me were vacant, so I turned the air-con up full on all three nozzles and pointed them all towards him. That is quite a "mistral" of cold, recycled farts that he had to endure for two hours. I also took off my shoes and plonked my sweaty feet right up the side of his seat towards his face. I only wish I'd had some chewing gum to leave in his silly little hipster hair-do, but I think he got the point.
So there are my tips, folks - push back with the knees, point the air-con at full blast and unleash the feet.

Eriopis

Mickey H wrote: »

If you want to recline your seat on a flight, there's no law against it. However, you should be considerate to your fellow travellers and always ask the person behind you if they mind. They're probably going to say "No problem, go ahead" out of politeness, but at least you had the common decency to ask.

If you're flying cattle economy class, you're got very little room in the first place and if there's a really tall fella (or lady) behind you, just don't recline as you're going to make it needlessly uncomfortable for them.

Agree fully - I'm a very tall woman, the number of times I've been near knee-capped on flights by the selfishly reclining is ridiculous. I would understand better if they were long haul flights and yer man needed his kip, but when it's just a couple of hours to Berlin, what's the point, beyond leaving me limping all afternoon with the Sky Cafe menu permanently embossed on my knees?

bohsboy

averageperson wrote: »

It is ok to move it back a little, and maybe first a polite "Do you mind if I...?" to show some consideration...but to move it back all the way, as a french chappy did on the flight I took a few weeks back, makes it incredibly uncomfortable for the passenger behind. Luckily, the hostess made him put it back up during take-off and I made sure my knees were pressed against the seat from then on, so he was unable to recline. The seats beside me were vacant, so I turned the air-con up full on all three nozzles and pointed them all towards him. That is quite a "mistral" of cold, recycled farts that he had to endure for two hours. I also took off my shoes and plonked my sweaty feet right up the side of his seat towards his face. I only wish I'd had some chewing gum to leave in his silly little hipster hair-do, but I think he got the point.
So there are my tips, folks - push back with the knees, point the air-con at full blast and unleash the feet.

Nice first post!

Krooger

I find EVERYONE on delta flight to ny/atlanta and back does this, I just follow a simple rule: if the person in front of me reclines , I do too , if not , I don't.

A simple and fair system that results in me always having the exact same amount of space.

splendid101

I'm glad to read all the people saying they don't decline.

I'm over six foot and it's extremely uncomfortable to fly. I've been on planes where the seat reclines and the back of it is inches from your face. It's terrible. It's also squashes your knees and moves the tray.

Planes all tend to be different, but I've been on ones where I can barely fit out of the seat with the one in front of me reclined.

Thankfully I normally get emergency exit seat which eases the discomfort somewhat.

I feel sorry for people who are even taller than me.

Motorist

It's inconsiderate and only a dlck would recline a seat into the person behind. I only do it if the seat behind is vacant.

Worse than recline though is when you get stuck beside a morbidly obese person.
I had to sit beside this woman on an 8 hour flight. I literally had a layer of arm fat encroach my personal space and was covering my right leg. I had to sit with my two arms out over the left arm rest. People like this should be forced to buy two seats.

http://thisorthat.com/blog-images/fat-dude-on-plane.jpg

Mint Sauce

Dont fly Ryanair, so yes.

kieran26

as i'm 6' 3'' it is not usually possible for folk in front of me to recline! they soon find that out if they try!

Eriopis

splendid101 wrote: »

I'm glad to read all the people saying they don't decline.

I'm over six foot and it's extremely uncomfortable to fly. I've been on planes where the seat reclines and the back of it is inches from your face. It's terrible. It's also squashes your knees and moves the tray.

Planes all tend to be different, but I've been on ones where I can barely fit out of the seat with the one in front of me reclined.

Thankfully I normally get emergency exit seat which eases the discomfort somewhat.

I feel sorry for people who are even taller than me.

One of my friends is 6 ft 9in. I can only assume that his legs are detachable, flying must be practically impossible otherwise.

PandaX9

Am I the only one who doesn't know how to recline? I couldn't recline even if I wanted to, I fly on average about 15 times a year and I simply cannot work the chairs on any airplane I've ever been on, mostly Lufthansa flights. Or maybe I have reclined before but it was such a tiny difference that I didn't actually notice? Either way, I have no need of reclining as I sleep on planes in a very weird way that ensures that the people behind me aren't uncomfortable and that the person in front of me doesn't try to crush me to death:

Ever since I was about 5, I've been putting the tray in front of me down, resting my elbows in on it and sleeping with my face in my hands. Usually looks like a 5 hour long face palm. Comfortable and my superior head strength stops the person in front of me leaning back and stealing my space.

And hey, two birds with one stone, I am sleeping comfortably and openly disappointed by those who wish to lean back on me.

Yamanoto

Motorist wrote: »

Worse than recline though is when you get stuck beside a morbidly obese person.
I had to sit beside this woman on an 8 hour flight. I literally had a layer of arm fat encroach my personal space and was covering my right leg. I had to sit with my two arms out over the left arm rest.

Yep, far more irritating imo. I've only had the misfortune to suffer similar once, earlier this year. A 'bingo wing' pinning me toward the window.

Personally I'll recline my seat slowly and only part of the way back. But I wouldn't engage in petty shenanigans in retribution against those in front who choose to recline - it's their seat. I'd just hope they wouldn't be a dick about it.

tempura

Entire thread is the best example of a first world problem EVER !

66dunaras

only way i can sleep on a plane is by sleeping face-down on the table in front of me - try having your head squashed by someone putting their seat back when your sleeping in this position!! Would give anyone claustrophobia!

looksee

Hmmm. I am flying long haul next week and have paid a significant premium to get an exit seat, for leg room and lack of seat in face (I am tall). Also aisle seat so I am not mashed between large body and window. So what else can go wrong? :eek:

Tea-a-Maria

averageperson wrote: »

It is ok to move it back a little, and maybe first a polite "Do you mind if I...?" to show some consideration...but to move it back all the way, as a french chappy did on the flight I took a few weeks back, makes it incredibly uncomfortable for the passenger behind. Luckily, the hostess made him put it back up during take-off and I made sure my knees were pressed against the seat from then on, so he was unable to recline. The seats beside me were vacant, so I turned the air-con up full on all three nozzles and pointed them all towards him. That is quite a "mistral" of cold, recycled farts that he had to endure for two hours. I also took off my shoes and plonked my sweaty feet right up the side of his seat towards his face. I only wish I'd had some chewing gum to leave in his silly little hipster hair-do, but I think he got the point.
So there are my tips, folks - push back with the knees, point the air-con at full blast and unleash the feet.

You sound like a charming individual.:rolleyes:

I don't recline unless the person behind me has reclined too.On long haul flights overnight,they dim the lights and give you blankets,so most people try to sleep at the same time.It makes sense to recline.

ProudDUB

I don't like to recline my seat as my back gets sore if I spend the flight slouched in the reclined position. However, if someone in front of me reclines their seat, then yeah, I'll probably recline mine. I'll have zero space if I don't. If there is a tall person behind me, well I feel bad for them, but I'm not going to sit cooped up like a rabbit in a hutch when the airline have given me the ability to alieviate the situation.

Airlines are not stupid. I imagine the ability to recline ones seat is there because the airlines know their customers want it. Seats that recline cost more to produce and install and take up more room. I bet they'd be only to happy to use that extra space to install more seats that don't recline. They haven't, so the reclining seats have stayed put. I am a fan of their doing that which the majority of air travelers favour. They can't keep everybody happy all of the time.

Let the abuse commence !

the_syco

No, because most of the time I can't; I usually book the emergency exit rows for the extra leg room, as I'm 6 foot 6", and the people in front can't put their seat back even if they wanted to :P

Bonavox

bohsboy wrote: »

Pure ignorance. Just the type of person's seat id enjoy kicking for the entire flight and never get tired.

Happened before. Quick word with the air hostess, she gave him a warning and it stopped right away.

paudgenator

Yes, I recline outside of meal times. If the person in front has reclined while the meal is served,I ask them to please sit up for the meal..never had an issue to date.

languagenerd

I generally fly short-haul (have only flown long-haul twice), so no.

I hate when people do it when sitting in front of me. I know people say "Everyone's entitled to do it", but it's really annoying if you're trying to use the tray table for something. Like one of the posters above, I find it really hard to sleep on planes and usually put my head down on the table. Twice I've gotten a hard whack on the head when the person in front reclined their chair while I had my head on the table. I'm also fairly tall, so my knees get jammed between their seat and mine. I should just recline my chair when they do, but I feel bad about the person behind me and don't

Was on a 4-hour bus journey in Spain in July and the guy in front of us leaned his chair back so far that he was essentially on my friend's knees (I think he may have forced the chair further than it was supposed to go). She genuinely couldn't lift her knee more than 5cm without banging into his chair. The worst bit was he didn't even sleep - after leaning it back that far, he took a phone call and sat up shouting into his phone. He got off an hour before us and didn't lift the chair back before getting off :mad: I had to lean over and ended up smacking the chair against my ribcage as I tried to pull it back up from behind. D*ckhead!

up for anything

What's the point of sitting virtually bolt upright if the seat reclines even a few inches. I can't understand the griping about it.

Sykk

seven_eleven wrote: »

Yes, I do. Because everyone is entitled to do it, and besides it only goes back about 2 inches at most. It doesnt compromise the legroom of the passenger behind you and it doesnt move the tray at all on the back of your seat (despite what every eejit thinks)

If you have a problem with people doing this then you need to calm down.

BS. If you're 6.1", or have long legs you're absolutely bet into the seat..

I don't have a problem with people trying to be more comfortable. But you're not allowed be more comfortable while making me even less comfortable and knee capped. :mad:

beks101

seven_eleven wrote: »

Yes, I do. Because everyone is entitled to do it, and besides it only goes back about 2 inches at most. It doesnt compromise the legroom of the passenger behind you and it doesnt move the tray at all on the back of your seat (despite what every eejit thinks)

If you have a problem with people doing this then you need to calm down.

This is precisely how I expected a chronic flight seat-backer to respond.

I bet you also hog the armrest because you're 'entitled' to do it and probably also put your bag on the seat beside you on buses/trains to prevent anyone from sitting beside you.

Petty crimes perhaps, but a fucking blight on the world of public transport that makes travel infuriatingly unconfortable for other passengers who actually have consideration for the people around them.

Manic Moran

For those of you travelling on more recently furnished aircraft, you will note that the trays now hinge on long arms and are no longer affixed to the seat backs: They do not recline with the seat.

Yes, seats are made to recline: I use the feature whenever there is nobody behind me. It happens. When someone in front tries to recline, he doesn't get very far before he hits my knees, I'm 2m tall.

As to the individual suggesting that people recline in order to make up for the lack of space caused by the individual reclining, this is total logic fail. Your legs don't get shorter or move when you recline the seat back, the only thing that happens is that your back reclines a few inches hinging around the hip. The horizontal thigh length from arse to knee remains constant.

up for anything

Sykk wrote: »

BS. If you're 6.1", or have long legs you're absolutely bet into the seat..

Ha! For once I win - I spend boring long haul flights in the reclining position taking up my jeans - it's a complete pain in the ass having to take them up because they're made allowing for a much longer leg length even in the petite ranges.

You win some, you lose some. :D

Turquoise Lagoon

Nope because I'd be pissed if the person in front of me did it, so I can't really be a hypocrite and put my own seat back

dave3004

No I don't. Should only be business class folk allowed to recline.

If the person in front of you reclines, you have less knee space.

If the person in front of you reclines, your tray is no longer flat. It is at a slight angle and thus harder to eat efficiently.

If the person in front of you reclines, you should legally be allowed smear your unused fruit salad in and around their face !

Carson10

Yes, i fly first class. I pray though for those economy folk who cant recline.

Einhard

I really don't see the problem. It's very uncomfortable to sit in a bolt upright position for 5-8 hours on a long haul flight. All the seats are made to recline, and if everyone does it, then nobody should lose out on any room. Instead of demanding everyone sit upright and be uncomfortable, why doesn't everyone simply recline, have the same amount of room, and be comfortable?

Einhard

Manic Moran wrote: »

As to the individual suggesting that people recline in order to make up for the lack of space caused by the individual reclining, this is total logic fail. Your legs don't get shorter or move when you recline the seat back, the only thing that happens is that your back reclines a few inches hinging around the hip. The horizontal thigh length from arse to knee remains constant.

Yes, but doesn't the angle of the reclined seat allow you to stretch your legs under the seat in front?

TheChizler

What happened to being able to nicely ask the person in front that they don't recline if they're making you uncomfortable? Instead of making yourself miserable for the flight? I'm sure close to noone does it out of spite, can't see a problem with it to be honest unless you're really tall. Which most people aren't.

green123

reclining a seat makes almost no difference to the person behinds knee room.
so there is no need to be kicking the seat in front or pushing your knees into it.

the biggest difference is that the head rest is closer to the person behind and the head rest doesnt affect your knees

SoulTrader

I generally don't as I think it's considerate not to impinge on someone else's space.

I'm 6'3" and I fly economy sometimes and find it incredibly annoying when someone reclines their seat into me. It's nearly always smaller people - they're either oblivious or don't give a crap about taller people because as far as they're concerned, the seats are quite roomy. I've sat behind people on a long haul flight who reclined their seats for the duration of the flight, and they were so small their feet couldn't even touch the floor. (They were called children, and that was only one of their annoying inflight behaviours). As soon as we reached cruising altitude, their father shoved all their chairs back as far as possible.

What I should do in future though, is find out if the person behind me has reclined. If they have, then they're obviously ok with the whole reclining thing, so I will then recline right back into their space.

TheChizler

SoulTrader wrote: »

What I should do in future though, is find out if the person behind me has reclined. If they have, then they're obviously ok with the whole reclining thing, so I will then recline right back into their space.

Making assumptions about people based on the past actions of others, I like it!

AngryHippie

Some people are total arseholes about it

My worst flying experience ever:
I'd been home with the Mrs to travel around Europe for 3 weeks and had been on every form of public transport along the way, at a little over 6tf 1, public transport was taking its toll, by the time I got to the end of the trip, I was having major problems with the SI joint in my Back/Hip. This was causing constant discomfort and occasionally stabbing pains down the back of my legs and in my groin.
I was lucky while travelling around Europe, we went to Spain for a trip to Barca and I got some good pills from one of the legendary Spanish Pharmacies. They ran out before the long haul back to Oz.
Flew Dublin->Heathrow->KL was on final leg of journey to Oz, almost a 10 hour flight after 24 hours on the go. When reserving seats for the final leg, we deliberately checked into seats with nobody behind us, so that we could sleep our way to oz and wake up when we were landing around 9am.
So we get on the plane, get in our seats, all good.
Plane takes off, once the lights go off, I let my seat back and get the blankets and pillows set up for the two of us to get some kip.

Lo and behold, two old cockney crones who had been sitting in the center of the middle row get up and decide they want to sit behind us. All well and good. they ask me to put my seat up !
I explain that i have a back problem and don't mind sitting up during meals, but the rest of the time will only be comfortable with the seat back.
No this isn't good enough for these two old hags, and they decide to have a go about it being rude. I figure at this point that having been polite and reasonable, I have done enough for them to get over it.
NEGATORY!

For the remainder of the flight, the sat behind me talking loudly about how rude young people are and how their son would never do that and who do I think I am and how dare I, how I have no respect for my elders. This was interspersed with bouts of kicking the back of my seat, poking me in the back and hassling the stewardesses about how small the seats were that they had commandeered. They started getting into the red wine about 2 hours in and were getting farily rowdy by meal time.
I put my seat up, had a bite to eat with the OH, we both had a drink and once all the trays were cleared away, I went to the bathroom.
Then I came back, I sat back down and my OH was a bit edgy looking, she whispered to me that they had a go at her while I was in the bathroom.
I told her to go to the toilet so she didn't see what came next.
once she was out of earshot, I turned to the two crones, and promised them that if they kept that **** up, I would report them upon arrival as having threatened an Australian citizen and "you two old tarts deported back to eastenders" this was met with a stunned silence. Until the OH got back and then the loud conversations about young peoples lack of manners started again.
I excused myself, put my earphones in, reclined the chair and went back to sleep. I was woken 15 minutes later by another bout of chair kicking and abuse. I pinged the stewardess and explained that the two "ladies" behind had been harassing us non-stop. She offered them alternative seating which they refused!!!!!

what a pair of Cnuts

Neither of these two ladies was an inch over 5 foot two and both had stumpy little legs I might add...

Was I delighted to see their bags being torn apart for all the booze they hadn't declared at customs while I went through with my tea bags and irish chocolate !
b1tches:mad:

GaryIrv93

I appreciate that the seats are built to recline and as paying passengers, everyone technically has a right to use them whenever they like. However with leg space already horribly limited on most airliners especially for taller people, I can hardly blame anyone for getting annoyed with the passenger in front of them who reclines their seat. It would p*ss anyone off to have their leg space reduced even further as well as a seat reclined into their faces. It seems selfish and very inconsiderate to do especially on the longer flights. I've heard quite a few stories like this one about some passengers getting into arguments even fights over reclined seats, which doesn't surprise me in the least: http://joe.ie/news-politics/world-affairs/row-over-reclined-airplane-seat-forces-emergency-landing-0012727-1 I'd gladly however have a passenger in front with back problems such as AngryHippie above recline their seats as they please, and would have no problem whatsoever with them doing so. To compensate a bit, I'd politely ask the passenger behind me if they would be ok with me reclinnig my own seat a little.

This little device called the 'Knee Defender' looks handy although it's apparently been banned by many airlines.

mauzo

Flew on Saturday, with my knees in my mouth nearly....

Never put my seat back, never sleep on flights anyway. 8 hours of torture that was....but they were old so I didn't mind too much

ArseBurger

mauzo wrote: »

Flew on Saturday, with my knees in my mouth nearly....

Never put my seat back, never sleep on flights anyway. 8 hours of torture that was....but they were old so I didn't mind too much

You should have put your seat back, got that little bit of extra stretch that the diagonal gives and had a kip.

mauzo

ArseBurger wrote: »

mauzo wrote: »

Flew on Saturday, with my knees in my mouth nearly....

Never put my seat back, never sleep on flights anyway. 8 hours of torture that was....but they were old so I didn't mind too much

You should have put your seat back, got that little bit of extra stretch that the diagonal gives and had a kip.

I sit on planes and don't move for 8 hours, I do be terrified!

The lady behind me had a toddler, as did I, and I couldn't do that to her. I'm almost 6ft and had a 2 year old, bit of consideration would have been nice. The flight attendant told them to put their seats back for landing, after the pilot saying it numerous times...she asked did they not hear the pilots instructions and the lady said oh I tried but it wouldn't budge. So the flight attendant just said funny how it worked so easily now :P

Sure tis only 8 hours.

SusieBlue

No I don't, because it makes little to no difference and sleeping on planes is highly uncomfortable in the first place so I don't know why anyone would bother trying. :pac:

Manic Moran

Einhard wrote: »

Yes, but doesn't the angle of the reclined seat allow you to stretch your legs under the seat in front?

No, it doesn't, for two reasons.

Firstly, the ability to stretch your legs under the seat in front suffers several limitations.

1) If, God forbid, you bring a second carry-on like a laptop to avoid those extra fees for checking the first bag, that's your footroom gone to begin with.
2) Even if you don't bring a second bag, the limitation on stretching your leg is defined by a line which goes from your knee to the base of the seatback in front of you. Anything 'forward' of that line under the seat in front is useless, as your lower leg doesn't bend forwards, and the top of the seat in front moving to the rear doesn't move the bottom of the seat any further forwards (see exception at the bottom of this post). It just brings the seat back closer to you knees, if it's not already impacting them.

reclining a seat makes almost no difference to the person behinds knee room.
so there is no need to be kicking the seat in front or pushing your knees into it.

the biggest difference is that the head rest is closer to the person behind and the head rest doesnt affect your knees

Utterly wrong, and evidently spoken by someone who doesn't suffer long-leg syndrome. If I sit down, the distance from the back of my hip to the front of my knee is 31" (I just measured it) The average seat pitch in economy is 30-32"

http://www.seatguru.com/ shows, for example, that Aer Lingus is running at a 30" or 31" seat pitch for short-haul economy class, depending on aircraft type. Knock off two inches for the thickness of the seat itself, and you can see, I'm already running a deficit which requires that my legs be angled in order to fit in the seat to begin with. You can imagine the problem if the recline in front knocks off even 'only' one inch from my legroom.

The only exceptions to this are the absolute latest seats which have no cross-bar under the seat back and which slides forward at the base, and they're not common yet, and even at that it depends on where the hinge point is. If it's less than 26" from the floor (The distance from my shoe sole to the top of my knee), it doesn't do any good for me anyway.

NTM

AngryHippie

I don't recline on short haul, no sleep no need.

Helix

green123 wrote: »

reclining a seat makes almost no difference to the person behinds knee room.

absolute BS

im 6'5 and i can absolutely guarantee you that if you try to move your seat into the reclined position all you're going to do is end up with my knees in your back, because when your seat is upright, my knees are still in the back of your chair regardless

on occasion someone tries to recline in front of me, and they very quickly realise that it's not happening. i'd love to let them move the seat back, but it's physically impossible and bloody painful for both of us

Mellor

Yamanoto wrote: »

Aer Lingus are one of the few operators who specifically request folks to place their seats upright during mealtimes.

Qantas, American Airlines, Air Canada and Emirites all so too. I've flown with them all in the last month.

mauzo wrote: »

Sure tis only 8 hours.

Fair enough on short flights (say ryan aer), the seat reclines on top of the person behind and theres no need to sleep any way.

What if it was a longer flight. Say 24 hours (with a refuel stop obv) like Dublin to Sydney, people want to sleep at some point.
On the newer long haul planes like the A380 and the new 747s. The seat in front reclining doesn't make much difference imo. When you recline, the your arse move forward a little so there's about the same knee room for the person behind and obviously the the screen is now closer to them. This is far better than simply tipping back on the person behind. The new carbon-fibre seats are much thinner so give you more room to begin with a lot of the time.

The tray mechanism is attached to the the seat base not the seat back, so it stays more or less level when the seat reclined.

I flew a lot in august, maybe 50 hours in flight. On any of the larger planes (10 seats wide), seat in front reclining was never and issue. It was on the mid size and small planes (4 or 6 wide) that is was a bit annoying. The reverse is true for seat width though.

johnwest288

If its a long haul and my back is at me or I want to try get shut eye, Ill normally have a look back to see what the person behind me is doing.
If they have their seat reclined, Ill recline mine.
Im allways sure if i hear them foostering or its coming to meal time ill throw my seat forward. I wouldnt put my seat back in their face if they were sitting up reading the paper. If i REALLY had to I would ask them if they minded first

Cork24

One guy did it to me so i kept moving my legs hitting the back of his chair,

He had the cheek to turn around and ask me what my problem was... Let me guess .....


how about my legs being Crushed!


for long flights they should have every Second Row of Seat taken out, more leg room

AngryHippie

yeah, and just double the price of flights !

Cork24

AngryHippie wrote: »

yeah, and just double the price of flights !

So your ok for a 8 hour flight to have some one lying on your lap then ?