<p>anxiousmom, be sure to see if they have any exit row seats available. I am only 5’-9" tall, but I have long legs, and that is the only row with enough room for me. Sometimes, there is enough room to sprawl as much as you want, even! I always fly economy. Except once, when I agreed to be bumped in exchange for first class seats from Houston to Boston. Wow!</p>
<p>Yes, generally folks in the exit row are supposed to be able-bodied ONLY, and no kids. That has been the rule on all the flights I’ve been on. Everyone in our nuclear family is between 5’2" and 5’7" so we fit pretty well in economy or economy plus seats. I can’t imagine how others significantly bigger than us can be sandwiched in those seats. We weigh between 100-135 pounds and find it comfortable enough but if we were another foot taller or another 50 pounds heavier, it think it would make for much more uncomfortable flights.</p>
<p>That’s one of my favorite things about Southwest: Seats don’t recline.</p>
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<p>You might think that is your personal space, but it isn’t. Reclining is part of the seat arrangement - the person in front can recline, you can too. You don’t get to decide who doesn’t recline, except for yourself.</p>
<p>Like HImom 99% of my flights are 5+ hours or longer and yes I do recline because that’s a more comfortable position for me for such long flights because I have chronic neck pain. At meal times (esp international flights) I don’t recline.
Cathay Pacific used to have non-reclining seats for their long-haul flights. Their seats just move forward and after a 14+ hour flight, I had neck and back pain for weeks. I need to recline for medical reasons.
Probably after numerous complaints, they changed their seats at great expense.The back of their seats recline a little and the seats move forward a little.</p>
<p>Southwest seats DO recline! A few of them don’t, but most do.</p>
<p>People are talking about meal times on domestic flights. “Meal times”? What is this phrase you are using? </p>
<p>Yes indeed Fang, I’m curious too. The “meal” on my flight the other day included an entrée of mini-pretzels. Oh now I get it. There were TWO packs of mini-pretzels and apparently that counted as a meal.</p>
<p>Let me make myself clear: you are entitled to fully recline your seat for the entire flight if that’s what you want to do. That doesn’t make it the kind or right thing to do, however. Honestly, if I ran an airline, I don’t know what I’d do about this issue. I guess I’d make seats that only recline a bit–assuming I couldn’t justify giving a decent amount of space for everyone in the first place.</p>
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Except for taxi, takeoff, and landing.</p>
<p>The seat WIDTH on the Virgin Atlantic flight to London was ridiculous. My BMI is 24, so I’m not tiny, but I’m not overweight, either! Before I said anything, the woman next to me brought it up. She WAS slender, and commented that she barely fit! I think a 200-pound person would have been extremely uncomfortable.</p>
<p>If you have a BMI of 24, you are a normal-weight person.</p>
<p>If the airlines are going to continue to make seats that some 50% of normal-sized people can’t fit in (honestly, if the seat is not wide enough for me, and I’m a normal-weight woman, it’s not wide enough for most men) then they’re going to continue to have squabbles and fights between people squeezed into areas that are too small for them.</p>
<p>Vuelta Airlines in Spain was the worst for space, for my family. Mr. Fang and I flew on them inside Spain a couple of years ago. I could fit my legs, barely, if I turned them sideways and they were pressed against the seat in front of me. There was no way Mr. Fang’s legs could fit; it was literally impossible. Fortunately he had an aisle seat and was able to put them in the aisle.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. I fly a lot, and never realized that reclining or not was an issue (but I am on the smaller side, so maybe that is why). However, one time upon reclining, the person behind me SLAMMED my seat, just like Lake Washington. I was shocked, as it was borderline battery. I contemplated reporting the person, but I didn’t want to stall the trip in any way for everyone else.</p>
<p>I am in agreement with Cardinal Fang on this. If the airlines provide reclining seats, then all passengers should board with the expectation that reclining may take place.</p>
<p>I used to get very upset about large people encroaching into my seat and floor space, until I read a newspaper travel editor’s analysis of the problem that makes sense to me: When you buy a ticket, the airline promises to get you to your destination. They do not promise to provide a certain square footage of unimpeded travel space or comfortable seating. This would include reclining, too.</p>
<p>The point of the story is, to me, that United does not allow you to attach things to their seats to prevent reclining. This guy was violating United’s rules. The other person reacted badly, but the flight might still have been diverted because this guy was refusing to follow instructions: when told to remove the seat arresters, he refused. He wasn’t arrested, but United may ban him from their planes. Forever. That’s the risk: if you break the airline rules, as a private company they have a right to ban you from their airline. I hope that happens to this guy because you can’t allow random passengers to start deciding which rules they want to follow and which they don’t. </p>
<p>Sometimes when passengers get unruly, they are met at their destination by police who arrest them. I wonder if the guy who refused to remove his seat arrester was committing a crime. There may be laws about following airline personnel’s requests in the air.</p>
<p>I’m am an unapologetic recliner. An upright airline seat hits my neck and back in just the right spot to ensure pain within 30 minutes. And, the person in front of me has every right to recline. If the front seat is reclined I can slouch down and rest brace my folded legs against the tray table (I am very cautious not to ‘kick’ the seat in the process). Even a slouched position is more comfortable than a frigging up right seat.</p>
<p>I wonder if the Knee Defender is sold in the SkyMall magazine that’s onboard the planes, ha. </p>
<p>I never recline my seat because if I do it, it creates a domino effect and everyone else on back through the plane has to do it until you get to the people who are in the rows that don’t recline. They are the ones who are then trapped. If the seat ahead of you is reclined, it’s difficult to get out of your row. Given that, I’m surprised that for safety reasons, the seats are allowed to recline.</p>
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Bring: eyeshade, neck pillow, earplugs and/or noise-canceling headphones.</p>
<p>I keep a stash of disposable foam earplugs in my backpack. On more than one occasion I’ve handed them out to my co-suffering seatmates in the dreaded tail section of MD90s where the engines are mounted right next to your ears! Bose noise-cancelling headphones are one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten. With those on, plus eyeshade & neck pillow, I can sleep anywhere (doesn’t hurt to knock down a couple of plastic cups of fine cheap box wine w dinner). </p>
<p>I’ve noticed that most people seem not to be aware on long-haul flight that the headrests in Coach have little side wings you can fold forward to keep your head from flopping over. I never see anyone but myself and kids bend them and use them. They’re a lifesaver when neck pillow gets left at home. </p>
<p>People reclining in front of me don’t bother me at all. But what I REALLY HATE are the people sitting behind me who use my headrest to pull themselves up from their seats, even when my seat is fully upright. Then there are the ones I REALLY REALLY HATE who grab my hair when they do it.</p>
<p>In view of the domino effect mentioned, I’m not sure that appealing to common sense and consideration addresses the real issue, which is the airlines stinginess with space to make money. Unfortunately, anything other than a clear expectation that people can recline or not and when will lead to more incidents of this type. In the absence of that, I think people just have to assume that they may not be able to use their laptop in coach and that , unfortunate as it may be, it is the person in front’s right to use all of their chair’s functions. </p>
<p>It’s just going to get worse: <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/07/14/airbus-wants-to-patent-the-most-uncomfortable-plane-seats-ever/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/07/14/airbus-wants-to-patent-the-most-uncomfortable-plane-seats-ever/</a>. 
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<p>Instead of the “my way or the highway” attitudes, why not split the difference and only recline half way?</p>