Plane 2 (The real conundrum)

Flew to Dubai a few years ago. Lunchtime flight. Guy in front of me reclines straight away. Doesn't bother asking me. I asked him politely to put his seat back up, he refuses. I say "look, i don't mind you reclining after a meal or at night time, but doing it at 12 noon is plain selfish". Argument ensues. Stewardess comes over, sympathises, but says she can't make him put his seat up. She says I can recline if I want to, but that's just passing the problem on to the person behind me.

So I'm stuck with this guy's seat in my face for the entire duration of a 7.5 hour flight. I get some kind of childish revenge by using a bit more than the necessary force to play with the touchscreen in the back of his chair from time to time, just to annoy him.

So I'm pissed off, he's pissed off and my missus sat beside me is also pissed off. You can see how air rage incidents happen.

The answer is to bring in some kind of technology that only allows the seats to recline at certain times eg after dinner or at night.
 
rudebhoy said:
Flew to Dubai a few years ago. Lunchtime flight. Guy in front of me reclines straight away. Doesn't bother asking me. I asked him politely to put his seat back up, he refuses. I say "look, i don't mind you reclining after a meal or at night time, but doing it at 12 noon is plain selfish". Argument ensues. Stewardess comes over, sympathises, but says she can't make him put his seat up. She says I can recline if I want to, but that's just passing the problem on to the person behind me.

So I'm stuck with this guy's seat in my face for the entire duration of a 7.5 hour flight. I get some kind of childish revenge by using a bit more than the necessary force to play with the touchscreen in the back of his chair from time to time, just to annoy him.

So I'm pissed off, he's pissed off and my missus sat beside me is also pissed off. You can see how air rage incidents happen.

The answer is to bring in some kind of technology that only allows the seats to recline at certain times eg after dinner or at night.
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Had very similar when I flew last year. You know they can do it to you but you hope they won't choose to

My childish revenge was to use the only leverage possible in such a confined space to get in/out of my seat... his headrest... I may have used a bit more leverage than required & got up once or twice more than I really needed to
 
rudebhoy said:
Flew to Dubai a few years ago. Lunchtime flight. Guy in front of me reclines straight away. Doesn't bother asking me. I asked him politely to put his seat back up, he refuses. I say "look, i don't mind you reclining after a meal or at night time, but doing it at 12 noon is plain selfish". Argument ensues. Stewardess comes over, sympathises, but says she can't make him put his seat up. She says I can recline if I want to, but that's just passing the problem on to the person behind me.

So I'm stuck with this guy's seat in my face for the entire duration of a 7.5 hour flight. I get some kind of childish revenge by using a bit more than the necessary force to play with the touchscreen in the back of his chair from time to time, just to annoy him.

So I'm pissed off, he's pissed off and my missus sat beside me is also pissed off. You can see how air rage incidents happen.

The answer is to bring in some kind of technology that only allows the seats to recline at certain times eg after dinner or at night.
Click to expand...
Sorry but I don't see what it has to do with you. If someone has a problem with a seat in front of them reclined, they have to take it up with the airline and not the person in front.

It doesn't matter what time it is in your world, if he has a seat that has the function to recline he is perfectly entitled to use it and it's nothing to do with you, me or anyone else sitting behind him unless it is actually meal time or during take off and landing.

12 midday for you or me is quite often the middle of the night for someone flying from another part of the world.
 
Eesat 90210 said:
What has that got to do with anything?
All seats have to be in the upright position for take off and landing, that's not optional. The cabin crew have to waste time before take off getting those with seats not in the upright position to adjust them.
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Whilst I agree with you in principle, this is usually done when checking everyone has their seatbelt on, so in reality it doesn’t really waste much of their time does it.
 
SteveW86 said:
Whilst I agree with you in principle, this is usually done when checking everyone has their seatbelt on, so in reality it doesn’t really waste much of their time does it.
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Yes you're correct in reality, just a flippant remark by me.
In the grand scheme of things it's no time at all, but you do see the crew having to spend some time with certain individuals to "persuade" them.
 
Eesat 90210 said:
Sorry but I don't see what it has to do with you. If someone has a problem with a seat in front of them reclined, they have to take it up with the airline and not the person in front.
Click to expand...

Of course it's got something to do with me. I'm the one person on the flight who is directly impacted by his actions. And as I found out, the airline staff aren't going to do anything.
Eesat 90210 said:
It doesn't matter what time it is in your world, if he has a seat that has the function to recline he is perfectly entitled to use it and it's nothing to do with you, me or anyone else sitting behind him unless it is actually meal time or during take off and landing.

12 midday for you or me is quite often the middle of the night for someone flying from another part of the world.
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In this case he was a Geordie flying from Newcastle to Dubai, I'm pretty certain he wasn't catching a connecting flight in Newcastle. But if he was, then the polite course of action would be to ask the person behind you if they minded, explaining the circumstances if needs be.
 
rudebhoy said:
Of course it's got something to do with me. I'm the one person on the flight who is directly impacted by his actions. And as I found out, the airline staff aren't going to do anything.


In this case he was a Geordie flying from Newcastle to Dubai, I'm pretty certain he wasn't catching a connecting flight in Newcastle. But if he was, then the polite course of action would be to ask the person behind you if they minded, explaining the circumstances if needs be.
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I agree with you on the irritation, BUT:

His seat space is allocated as is mine, he has every right to sit anywhere from fully upright to fully reclined when it is permitted.

When I buy a seat, it does not come with the proviso that I hold power to give the person in front permission to recline, it's totally up to them what they do.

Whether I mind mind or not is completely irrelevant, as is the time of day, that space belongs to the seat in front and I have absolutely no input into where he puts it, to expect to be asked permission is just wrong as the airline staff have demonstrated.
 
Eesat 90210 said:
I agree with you on the irritation, BUT:

His seat space is allocated as is mine, he has every right to sit anywhere from fully upright to fully reclined when it is permitted.

When I buy a seat, it does not come with the proviso that I hold power to give the person in front permission to recline, it's totally up to them what they do.

Whether I mind mind or not is completely irrelevant, as is the time of day, that space belongs to the seat in front and I have absolutely no input into where he puts it, to expect to be asked permission is just wrong as the airline staff have demonstrated.
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Jeez, hope I don't get seated behind you on a long haul flight :oops:
 
rudebhoy said:
Jeez, hope I don't get seated behind you on a long haul flight :oops:
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That would be rather coincidental :ROFLMAO:

With respect I think you need to change your expectations. The seats are there to be reclined, to think that someone needs permission is just bonkers.
 
In the grand scheme of things it's not really an issue. Economy seats only have a few inches of recline so not really imposing on the person behind. Premium economy has loads of space so the only real issue is the person behind might have to tilt their TV a bit. Business you get a separate pod anyway. First (where I like to fly) is usually a private suite.
But yes it makes sense not to recline until after the meal service.
 
I was once on a flight to America and the man Infront fully reclined his seat the second he sat in it. He then started complaining quite aggressively that my knees were digging in his back, I'm quite tall and couldn't do anything about it. I suggested that he lifted his seat back a bit but he wouldn't have it. I called a steward over and explained what was going on but he wouldn't put his seat up and still insisted I was making him uncomfortable. The steward asked me to collect my overhead bag and follow him, he took me to business class and gave me a seat. What a result 🙂
 
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Apart from the parts of the flight where the seats should be in the upright position (takeoff and landing) whoever is sat in them has the right to do what they want, regardless of meal time etc.
 
Hxck said:
Apart from the parts of the flight where the seats should be in the upright position (takeoff and landing) whoever is sat in them has the right to do what they want, regardless of meal time etc.
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Not meal times, seats must be up for that.
You can't have your food on the tray 6 inches from your face.
 
Hxck said:
Yes you can, there's no 'rule' that seats have to be up for mealtime, it's just made up etiquette.
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If the airline staff tell you to do it, it's a rule.
They always announce it on long haul when meals are served, please put seats upright.
 
Eesat 90210 said:
If the airline staff tell you to do it, it's a rule.
They always announce it on long haul when meals are served, please put seats upright.
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It's usually a request not a rule. Upright during takeoff and landing are rules for safety reasons, upright during meal time is a request. Subtle difference. Maybe it's different in some airlines though.

I'm lucky enough to fly in business/first but if I was on a red-eye and was told I couldn't put my seat back until the person behind me had eaten their meal at midnight I'd probably have something to say about it 😂

I don't disagree that it's the polite thing to do, but the thought that one passenger can dictate to another what they can/can't do with their seat is baloney.
 
Hxck said:
It's usually a request not a rule. Upright during takeoff and landing are rules for safety reasons, upright during meal time is a request. Subtle difference. Maybe it's different in some airlines though.

I'm lucky enough to fly in business/first but if I was on a red-eye and was told I couldn't put my seat back until the person behind me had eaten their meal at midnight I'd probably have something to say about it 😂

I don't disagree that it's the polite thing to do, but the thought that one passenger can dictate to another what they can/can't do with their seat is baloney.
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Well I can assure you that for us plebs in cattle class :ROFLMAO: our seats are much closer to the person behind us so it certainly seems like a rule that any decent person wouldn't question. Sitting there doing nothing is different to meal times, you can't expect someone's meal tray to be 6 inches in front of their face.
I agree with your general sentiment though, but for us at the back it's take off, meals and landing.
 
Irrespective of whatever "rules" an airline has, the idea of reclining your seat fully without checking if it's going to inconvenience the person behind you is the equivalent of refusing to let the following group through when you're holding them up on the golf course. Just plain selfish.
 
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