Is it rude to recline?

Gregor Samsa · 05-09-2019 12:33AM

appledrop wrote: »

Well you must not fly a lot so. Of course the table moves. When someone reclines it slants back + things fly off it especially when dope in front does so with no warning.

All the planes I’ve been on with reclining seats, the table is attached to the base of the seat (that doesn’t move) via support arms, not the back of the seat that reclines. The reason for this is to allow the seat in front to recline without moving your table. The seat back reclines in between the table support arms. This is how those recline stopper devices work - they clamp onto the support arms of the table and stop the seat reclining inside them.

Maybe I’ve just got lucky. Ryanair’s tables are hinged on the seat back itself, but they don’t recline.

anacc · 05-09-2019 08:25AM

appledrop wrote: »

Well you must not fly a lot so. Of course the table moves. When someone reclines it slants back + things fly off it especially when dope in front does so with no warning.

I’m pretty sure I fly more than most on this thread. Have another 3 flights to take before the end of this week.

The table is attached to arms at the side of the seat near the back of the armrests. There is space in between the table and the seat for the seat to move back. The table does not move when the seat is reclined.

anacc · 05-09-2019 08:26AM

Abba987 wrote: »

Isnt it attached to the seat? Its bound to move alright

See my post just above this.

Feisar · 05-09-2019 09:16AM

I'm 6'3'' not that tall but if the person in front of me reclines I'm in for a ****ty time.

JohnnyFlash · 05-09-2019 09:28AM

Feisar wrote: »

I'm 6'3'' not that tall but if the person in front of me reclines I'm in for a ****ty time.

Why?

Stark · 05-09-2019 10:08AM

The recliner seats on Aer Lingus transatlantic are a disaster. Don't mind someone reclining a little but the AL transatlantic seats recline all the way to your face pretty much. Fine if it's in the middle of the night and people want to sleep but not so much if it's daytime.

B_ecke_r · 05-09-2019 10:10AM

unless there's no one behind me ( or a small child) I won't do it

Feisar · 05-09-2019 10:14AM

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Why?

I've to sit bolt upright or my knees are wedged against the back of the seat.

XsApollo · 05-09-2019 10:16AM

I check the person behind me , if they have reclined I whack mine back.
If they haven’t then I usually wait till well into the flight when everybody is bunking down and will give a heads up.

B_ecke_r · 05-09-2019 10:16AM

if I was any taller than I am I would definitely consider emergency exit seats all the time

Wabbit Ears · 05-09-2019 10:22AM

short haul should all be like ryanair and not be able to recline.

Long haul, you just gotta assume folk will recline and not put things in a position to be knocked.

Wabbit Ears · 05-09-2019 10:23AM

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I remember going on a plane with my little boy, his first time. He was only 5.
He was tapping the seat in front of him with his foot (not kicking it like a brat, more of a nervous twitch).
A woman turned around and aggressively told him to stop.
I could understand her annoyance but a little gentle 'hey, little guy will you stop your tapping?' would have been a better approach.
We were only going to London, so she wasn't stressed I should think.
He was really wounded and fell silent for the rest of the flight

you're literally the devil for thinking for a second that your kid wasn't being a brat and didn't deserve a stern telling off.

Bigbagofcans · 05-09-2019 10:24AM

Feisar wrote: »

I'm 6'3'' not that tall but if the person in front of me reclines I'm in for a ****ty time.

6'3 is tall! The average height of an Irish man (assuming you're male) is 5'10.

jiltloop · 05-09-2019 10:35AM

I'm 6ft 4" and flying short haul flights are generally very cramped for me, if someone in front decides to recline their seat my knees are usually getting crushed.

I've no problem with people reclining on long haul flights and there's generally more room on these planes to accommodate that. However on short haul flights there's just no need or room for it.

I blame the airlines more than the recliners though.

Sexual Chocolate · 05-09-2019 10:38AM

When I flew from Melbourne to Doha in March about 2/3 hours into the flight two blokes were only short of exchanging fists over this. Thought for a moment that we were going to be diverted to Perth.

This wasn't during meal service or anything, your man behind was the bigger sap though, he wanted the other man to not recline his seat for the entire 13 hours.

As someone else said the airlines are the biggest criminals here in my opinion.

Feisar · 05-09-2019 10:41AM

Bigbagofcans wrote: »

6'3 is tall! The average height of an Irish man (assuming you're male) is 5'10.

Ah yea but it's not unusually so or anything.

Padraig Mor · 05-09-2019 11:06AM

Fortunately I mostly travel Ryanair so don't have the problem but it boils my blood when someone reclines in front of me on short haul - I'd never do it with someone behind, it's just plain courtesy. Anyone who says it doesn't intrude into the space behind is just wrong. Was on a Tarom flight from Amsterdam to Bucharest in April - not long haul, but still ~3 hrs. Plane was ancient with 'thicker' seats than I've ever seen so I was already cramped when the wagon in front of me reclines immediately after take off and left it there for the whole flight, including food service. No amount of kicking or pushing knees into her chair would get her to move it forward. I literally had to skip the meal as the tray wouldn't sit down straight.

the14thwarrior · 05-09-2019 11:13AM

use the recline if you need to. i use when i need to. according to my needs, can't be figuring out the needs of people behind me I travel quite a bit. Usually after the meal cos i'd be eating the meal myself.

I was on a flight recently, after literally 12 hours travelling / waiting / etc. and i got on my flight (5.5 hours) and as soon as I could i reclined the seat, took more pain killers, put on my eye mask and neck pillow and settled down....... within one minute a very loud, very entitled young American lady started asking me in a very loud, entitled voice to be more considerate and stop reclining the seat. And poked me in the shoulder to boot.

I called the flight attendant over, and told the attendant she had put her hand on me (assault) was loud and agressive and i had concerns she would continue to harress me during the flight. which in fairness the flight attendant told her to allow me to do what i wished with my recline.
Christ on crutches.
i didn't do it on purpose to annoy her.
i just wanted to sleep in a comfortable position.

the beer revolu · 05-09-2019 11:21AM

Strange how people's perceptions differ depending on their opinion.

There are people who insist that it is extremely ignorant to recline your seat. For these people, the table tilts with the seat back and the leg room diminishes a lot.

Then there are people who maintain that it is perfectly acceptable to recline a reclineable seat. These people observe that the tray is not attached to the tilting part of the seat and they find that your knees are at the pivot level of the seat so that the reclining seat makes little difference to the available leg room.

I once got on a bus and deliberately chose a seat with no one behind it so that I could recline my seat fully without bothering anyone ( I have a bad back and reclining eases my discomfort). A woman got on the not full bus, sat behind me and asked me to put my seat forward. I politely told her that she could sit elsewhere but that my seat wasn't moving. I have no doubt that I would have compromised if the bus was full as on this bus the recline really did invade on the person's space.

Badly Drunk Boy · 05-09-2019 11:32AM

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

Obviously this is only an issue in cattle class, and not in business or first class. It’s always worth the extra money to upgrade to business class.

I've only flown business class once, and on that occasion, I had very little leg-room and my knees were constantly in contact with what was on front of me. I'm 6'5" so I'm not an out-and-out freak, just a regular freak. I think I was flying with British Midlands so could that explain it?

I never recline my seat and I'd prefer if others didn't do it 'to' me but I've never made an issue of it. Actually, I don't bother flying anymore if I can help it so it's not an issue at all these days.

Strumms · 05-09-2019 11:54AM

The problem is the ‘hard recliner’ usually the elderly or some fûckwit who instead of pressing the button and allowing gravity for a moment to gently take its course... presses it and uses their entire body weight to slam back into the seat usually a couple of times, thus sending most of the content on your tray, drink and all towards your lap... funnily enough, the people who designed the seat went to the thought and trouble of making it functional with the press of a button and the aid of gravity to achieve the recline position in a second so why you’d think you need to add 80 kgs of force to establish a natural recline position and a degree of comfort at the expense of my refreshments and the addition of expenses as in a dry cleaning bill is anyone’s guess.

BobMc · 05-09-2019 12:14PM

last time I flew long haul stewards insisted on no recline during meal service till trays got collected

if your up for a good laugh follow passenger shaming on insta, some of the carryon is priceless

Stark · 05-09-2019 12:37PM

BobMc wrote: »

if your up for a good laugh follow passenger shaming on insta, some of the carryon is priceless

Americans on planes...

While you do hear of some people getting unlucky with the stag party from hell on Ryanair, I've encountered none of the **** I routinely encounter on transatlantic when flying to Europe despite the latter being a far more frequent event.

lawred2 · 05-09-2019 12:39PM

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

I never recline my seat on a plane. And I don’t like it when the person in front of me does it.

That said, reclining is a legitimate feature of the seats, and passengers are entitled to use the feature provided. I don’t actually think someone should be expected to give a heads up that they’re going to do it. I really don’t like interacting with people on planes, and I’d be pissed off of someone made me take my headphones off just so they could tell me that they were going to tilt their seat back.

I do remember on a horrible Bus Eireann bus years ago, some sham in front of me reclined his seat right into my knees. I kicked the seat back upright without saying a word to him. He didn’t try it again. That’s a perfectly acceptable thing to do on a bus, though. I wouldn’t do that on a plane.

you'd be pissed off by some basic manners?

lawred2 · 05-09-2019 12:41PM

anacc wrote: »

Never once have I seen “stuff go flying” because someone in front reclined. The tray table doesn’t move when someone reclines and you’d want to be some clown to have your bottle or glass jammed up against the seat in front anyway. The way some people talk about it you’d think someone has turned around and smacked a glass out of your hand and gave a clatter across the face.

that isn't true

Boom_Bap · 05-09-2019 12:42PM

I guess it all depends on the situation and there are many factors that can come into play.

The only true rule is as follows.

Don't recline before the plane has even closed its doors. Don't be that jackas$

El_Duderino 09 · 05-09-2019 12:43PM

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

I really don’t like interacting with people on planes, and I’d be pissed off of someone made me take my headphones off just so they could tell me that they were going to tilt their seat back.

I do remember on a horrible Bus Eireann bus years ago, some sham in front of me reclined his seat right into my knees. I kicked the seat back upright without saying a word to him. He didn’t try it again. That’s a perfectly acceptable thing to do on a bus, though. I wouldn’t do that on a plane.

Im always amused by these threads. People make up a set of rules, known only to themselves and refuse to talk to anyone like an adult. Then get snippy when other people don’t follow the rules they invented.

Imagine kicking someone’s seat sooner than use your words like a grown up. Some people are very strange creatures.

lawred2 · 05-09-2019 12:46PM

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Im always amused by these threads. People make up a set of rules, known only to themselves and refuse to talk to anyone like an adult. Then get snippy when other people don’t follow the rules they invented.

Imagine kicking someone’s seat sooner than use your words like a grown up. Some people are very strange creatures.

perfectly acceptable

Canis Lupus · 05-09-2019 12:47PM

Does my seat recline? If yes then I'll recline it. I'm less inclined to do it on short haul because I'm on el cheapo airlines and the 1 cm recline I get isn't worth it. Long haul I'm reclining asap barring food service.

Edgware · 05-09-2019 01:35PM

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I remember going on a plane with my little boy, his first time. He was only 5.
He was tapping the seat in front of him with his foot (not kicking it like a brat, more of a nervous twitch).
A woman turned around and aggressively told him to stop.
I could understand her annoyance but a little gentle 'hey, little guy will you stop your tapping?' would have been a better approach.
We were only going to London, so she wasn't stressed I should think.
He was really wounded and fell silent for the rest of the flight

So the tough approach worked in the absence of you not getting him to behave

Is it rude to recline?

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