<p>Lol, a United flight was diverted over 2 pax fighting over seat recline:
<a href=“http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AIRPLANE_SEAT_RECLINE_FIGHT?hSITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-25-16-57-42”>http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AIRPLANE_SEAT_RECLINE_FIGHT?hSITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-25-16-57-42</a></p>
<p>It got pretty nasty:
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<p>Both pax were seated in economy-comfort w an addl 4" of legroom.</p>
<p>Wow–this sounds like things are really getting out of control on flights! Have never had any experience like this on any of my flights. I like economy-plus, as the regular economy seats are really getting smaller & smaller!</p>
<p>We’ve had this discussion before. Some people (I am one) say that passengers buy reclining seats so they can recline them. Others say that even though reclining seats recline, passengers should not recline them when they have people behind them (which, in today’s world, is always). </p>
<p>Passengers should not have to negotiate this. Airlines should clarify what they are selling here. Who did they sell that reclining space to, the person in front, or the person in back?</p>
<p>I think if people were just considerate to each other, most everything could be worked out. Don’t recline fully if there is no room for the person behind you, particularly if they are large. Be careful and do it slowly, if you must. Maybe take a look at the person behind you and if they’re really tall, don’t recline. Funny how some people are enraged when others recline in front of them, yet feel free to recline their own seats.</p>
<p>Just be nice, no matter where you’re sitting. Seems easy enough.</p>
<p>I don’t see how it could be worked out. If I want to recline my seat, and you don’t want me to recline it, there is no compromise that will satisfy both of us. You believe that you have the right to make me (as the potential seat-recliner) less comfortable, and I believe I have the right to make you (as the person behind) less comfortable. If I believe that I have the right to recline, and you believe that you have the right to stop me from reclining, one of us is wrong. </p>
<p>All you’re saying, busdriver, is that people should not recline their seats if other people don’t want them to. But why not, people should recline their seats, and people behind them (who knew that they were getting on a plane with reclining seats) should shut up? Why are you giving the right to the person in back, rather than the person who bought and paid for a seat that reclines, and now wants to be comfortable by reclining so they can sleep?</p>
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<p>Excellent. So your advice, then, is that the person behind me should be nice, and let me recline my seat?</p>
<p>On my few flights around south east asia (China, Thailand, Hong Kong) passengers are not supposed to recline their seats even though the seats do recline and they are using Airbus A320 planes as in the US. These A320s have the larger leg room than the ultra economy section of US commuter planes and the size of the Asian people are generally smaller in frame and girth. When I tried to recline my seat (as a US born Asian person), I was told by flight attendant that they must stay upright.</p>
<p>There should be a airline enforced policy that either
<p>Exactly, YoHoYoHo. United bans the use of the Knee Defender, so we can assume their policy is that all may recline.</p>
<p>I can’t think of a flight I have taken where I have been asked NOT to recline. I can think of very few flights I’ve ever taken when I haven’t reclined my seat, for at least a portion (often much) of the flight. I can rarely think of any flights where the person in front of me didn’t recline their seats as well.</p>
<p>I’ve been told NOT to recline on flights in China and Thailand on Dragon Air and China Airlines last year and this year. I looked around the plane. Not a single chair was reclined.</p>
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<p>Or install seats where reclining also pushes your seat bottom forward, so that you lose your own legroom, rather than reducing someone else’s legroom.</p>
<p>If the airline does not want anyone to recline the seats, it should just install seats that do not recline.</p>
<p>I have been on Asian regional flights a lot, and have never been asked not to recline. But sometimes the seats are fixed so you cannot recline.</p>
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<p>Airlines in the US are perfectly fine with people reclining. It’s just that some people in the US want to prevent others from exercising their right to recline the reclining seat they bought into the space they bought the right to recline in.</p>
<p>Notice that the forward passenger was thrown off the plane for throwing water in the man’s face. But the rear passenger was thrown off the plane for preventing her from reclining.</p>
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<p>Great sentence! Too complex for Google translate to cope with.</p>
<p>Not my greatest writing. Possibly Google Translate got confused by “bought… into.” </p>
<p>I never recline my seat, and I hate it when someone in front of me does. The seat goes right in your face, and it’s very claustrophobic. Everyone has different bodies and finds different positions comfortable. I never thought of asking the person in front of me not to recline. I might try to get a seat away from the crowd, I suppose. Or eventually just try not to fly! </p>
<p>My flights are generally 5+ hours up to 10+ hours non-stop. NOT reclining the seat and trying to sleep or relax is really not pleasant. I am glad that this has never been an issue in any of the flights I have taken. It is true I have sat in seats that are broken and always recline or never recline, but I don’t THINK they were because of anything the passenger behind me was doing.</p>
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Then just recline your own seat</p>
<p>I want to fly everywhere with Cardinal Fang sitting behind me! :)</p>
<p>Look around the plane next time. Very few people recline. On one recent flight, I had the pleasure of an encroaching seat. I gave that person a few “knees in the back”. I couldn’t cross my legs without kneeing him/her. That usually takes care of the problem. Oh well!</p>