Age Old Question: Should You Recline Your Airplane Seat?

a woman pointing at a finger on a seat

There are some debates in life that will never be settled.  Chicken?  Egg?  If a tree falls in the forest….?  Paper or plastic?

What about airplane seats?

Do you think you should be able to recline?

Is it more acceptable to recline if you’re seated in first class as opposed to economy?

What if you’re in a “more legroom” economy seat, like Economy Plus?

If you’re taller, does that give you more “right” to recline or ask someone else not to?  What if you’re short?

If you do recline your seat and someone asks you to move it upright, should you?

Don’t ask me why I’m fascinated with the subject today.  But, it’s on my mind.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Please VOTE in my Twitter poll.

a man and woman sitting in a plane

The post Age Old Question: Should You Recline Your Airplane Seat? was published first on Pizza in Motion

21 Comments

  1. Always ok in First Class. In Economy only if overnight flight like West Coast to Europe where you are encouraged to sleep. Never on standard domestic or short haul flights.

  2. Seats recline by design, and therefore, by intent of design, it is the right of each passenger to recline his/her seat. The person sitting behind has the right to recline his/her seat too. Passengers must set that expectation that the passenger directly in front may be in a reclined seat. It would be appropriate though to put seats upright in economy class for a period during meal time.

    1. agree. this seems to be an issue for discussion only in the US – everywhere else i’ve flown, it’s assumed that passengers will recline their seats except during meals/drinks.

  3. I fly a lot both international and domestic in the US and I have no problem reclining in economy. The person in front almost always recline. To give myself room, I recline as well although very slowly and politely giving time for the person in back to adjust.

      1. For the same reason as there are ashtrays on airplanes. Remnants of years gone by. In 1980 it was fine to smoke and recline on a plane. Not in 2018, in IMHO.

        I never recline in Y, even if the guy in front of me does. I also rarely ever use the FA call button

        1. But…the law says that you cannot smoke onboard but there is no law that says you cannot recline so it’s up to the discretion of the passenger to recline or not.

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