I’m in an airplane right now, soaring above the clouds, achieving a millenia-old dream of humankind, and yet all I can think about is what a sack of crap the person in front of me seems to be. Now, I’m basing this on just one solitary metric that perhaps really can’t be used to evaluate the worth of a human, but at this moment, that’s what I’m inclined – sort of literally – to do. That one metric? They’re reclining their seat back, in the economy cabin of an airplane. All the way.
Now, maybe you’ve done this yourself, and if so, I hope you’ll hear me out and not take this as an indictment of your own character, unless you happen to be the guy in front of me, in which case it is absolutely an indictment of your character. Which is garbage, you monster.
I know this topic has come up multiple times before in all sorts of online discourse, but seeing as how it is affecting me at precisely this very moment, I feel like the world can deal with one more take on this surprisingly divisive subject.
First, let’s establish what happens when you’re in an airplane seat and the person in front of you reclines their seat as much as they can. They can’t recline all that far, but that can recline enough to make a significant difference in the space and experience of the person sitting behind them. Look at this:
Look how much less room I now have compared to the seat next to me! that’s like 4 inches, measured from tray edge to tray edge. it’s a significant amount of space, and if you want to actually use that tray to eat or draw or work on a laptop or build a Lego spaceship, this distance is a big deal. It’s not like there’s much space to start with, after all.
Look, you can see just how far the seatback intrudes onto one’s space here:
The span from the edge of the reclined seat in front of me compared to the un-reclined seat in front of the person next to me is the full span of my hand, from fingertip to mid-that-meaty-part-of-the-palm-below-your-thumb.
The reclined seat also forces one’s laptop screen to be at a hard-to-see, forward-leaning angle, like this:
It sucks, all of it. And I’m short as hell! This isn’t even a legroom issue, but I imagine someone taller than me, very likely almost everyone reading this outside of a daycare, will have even more discomfort than I have.
I suppose one could recline their own seat if faced with a reclining seat in front of them, in an attempt to reclaim some of this space; I can’t, because my back is literally up against the wall:
I think reclining your seat back on a domestic flight, in economy class, is actually ethically wrong, and I’ll explain why.
Reclining one’s seat in this context isn’t something that comes free; the space isn’t magically generated from some quirk of quantum physics. It’s taken from the person behind you, without their input in the matter at all. It’s stolen space.
Now, we’re not talking about stealing living space on par with, you know, anything like Choctaw lands or something actually real, but it sucks nevertheless. And, the more you think about it, the shittier it is, because you’re still taking extra comfort at the expense of someone else.
Now, I could bitch about it and suggest there’s genuine philosophical issues at play here, or I could solve it. Which is what I’m gonna do, right now.
You see, I get that there may be times and situations where one really needs to recline; the issue comes from the unilateral taking of that space from the poor bastard stuck behind you. But what if that space was freely given? Then there’s no ethical issue! So, all we have to do is move the ability to recline one’s seat to the person behind you.
Essentially, the seat recline button should work for the seat in front of you. Yes, I get that mechanically this complicates things, but aircraft engineers are smart, they’ll figure it out.
In this setup, you have to actually ask the person behind you if it is okay for you to recline. If they agree, they push the button, and back you go. They have freely gifted you that space, and you can thank them for their generosity and relax.
If they say no, then that’s it; you can’t recline, and you just need to deal with that like an adult. I believe in you, you can do it.
I think this could solve everything!
I just did a little experiment. When the guy went to the bathroom, I pushed the button on his armrest and moved the seat back to the normal, ethical position. It feels so good. I can see my laptop screen more easily. My arms are less cramped. It’s glorious.
He’s coming back; will he recline his seat again? Let’s see! So far so good! We’re coming in for a landing, so maybe I can get away with this!
Nope. Motherfucker.
Top graphic image: depositphotos.com
I don’t recline, as I’ve suffered far too many times from people in front of me reclining. There’s already enough people being entitled jerks about anything and everything, so I don’t need to make it worse.
After having flown more than a million air miles mostly in coach and being 6’3″, it becomes a game with the people in front and around you. It also depends on the time in the air. If it’s a long overseas flight, then yes, recline, because I will too, as will most passengers. But if it’s a short flight, there is no way I am letting the forward seat to fully recline, my legs will block that action (sometimes painfully). You can recline a little, but that’s it.
Gave up trying to work on a laptop regardless of seat positions, view angle is bad from this height, especially with the required polarized screen filter.
Hard disagree.
I’m 6’3 and I get serious back pain if I can’t recline my seat. If I want to not recline my seat, I’d fly Spirit airlines, but since I paid extra to fly Delta/United/American, I will definitely recline my seat.
Don’t like it? You’re free to recline your seat as well, which if everyone does it, means everyone gets to lean back a bit. Oh, you’re in the last row? You obviously didn’t plan very far ahead for this trip or go to the trouble to reserve a non-crappy seat, so now you’re in the worst seat on the plane. Not my fault.
And fair is fair, this applies to everyone, not just me. That means that I tolerate people in front of me also reclining their seat and literally jamming the back of their seat into my knees. At a minimum, I always reserve an isle seat so that I can hang one of my legs in the isle and/or sleep with my knees pointed to the side to accommodate this.
Economy class is unpleasant for everyone, and much more miserable for someone 6’3 like me than for someone Torch’s height. Flying is very much a pick-your-comfort-level based on how much you are willing to pay. Isle seats, exit rows, premium economy, the solutions to these problems exist, you just need to be willing to pay for them.
I mean this genuinely in a non-offensive kind of way: if being stuck in the very worst seat on the plane was so unpleasant for you, maybe ask David to allow you to spring for something not in the very back of the plane next time. Your unpreparedness and the Autopian’s stinginess in travel allowance isn’t the fault of the person in front of you.
This is not a cool thing to do either:
Also, aisle.
Until the day I can physically remove my legs and put them in the overhead bin, one is going in the aisle.
I am very conscious of people in the aisle, and the drink cart, and I do try my best to not inconvenience anyone.
Technically, all you need is the ability to remove *one* leg.
Or don’t pay for the comfort and just make it everyone else’s problem.
I completely agree. I’m 6’6.
Know your seating. Never get a seat in front of the bathrooms or in front of an exit row; they don’t recline.
I also go for an aisle seat. I need space for at least one knee.
100% disagree. Airplane seats are designed to be reclined, so if everybody just reclined, we’d be good. Except the emergency exits, but they’ve got more legroom so screw them.
Also, to paraphrase a certain canceled comedian, “you’re sitting in a chair IN THE SKY using your computer. It’s miraculous!” So quitcherbitchin.
When I see a famous person in public I always leave them alone as I’m sure the last thing they want is talk to a random fan (although I shared an elevator with Al Pacino and told him I was a big fan and he said thanks).
Are we allowed to say hi if we run into Jason, David, Mercedes, etc. on an airplane? Or best to say nothing?
Always say hi! I’d be delighted!
Being roughly two Torches wide and at least 1.5 Torches thick, I gave up on the reclining issue a long time ago (for the odd occasion I got stuck in steerage). Headphones, seat upright, eyes shut, dark glasses, AC on the scalp, try to relax. The proximity of the seat ahead of me isn’t as annoying if I don’t see it.
I was going to frame this whole kerfuffle in a snarky way, like “everyone can recline row by row and be happy, except the people in the last row: they get it in the shorts. Oh, well”.
But that was before I learned you were the one taking it in the flightpants. 🙁
I used to recline my seat slightly but at some point I realized that it was just as uncomfortable no matter the angle the seat back so now I just leave it completely upright to give the passenger behind me a little more space.
Unfortunately I have to fly too much for my liking. Flying used to be ok like in the 70s and 80s, pax were more civilized, as a kid it was great. Today nobody is courteous, nobody is civilized, everybody is 100% egocentric and if I politely request to upright the seat in front during meal service most people react the equivalent of giving the finger. If its a little kid then the parents get incensed. Way tooo many Karens/entitled flying around. Plus its our own fault for wanting cheap tickets. A sign of the times.
This is the truth. If you always choose the cheapest flight, then, well, don’t be surprised when the airlines deliver exactly what you are asking for.
First of all, only a psychopath opens a full size laptop in economy and expects that to work. You’re going to force the hapless person in front of you into an uncomfortable bolt upright position, meanwhile elbowing the poor bastard next to you in the ribs, so you can do some BS multi-tasking because you planned poorly and because you’re soooooo important! Shame!
May a highly conductive sugary beverage spill on your keyboard and short it out!
Also: try checking a bag for a change and stop taking up all the overhead luggage space with your tchotchkes!
Just want to weigh in to say that *this* is the kind of bullshit Americans should be arguing about instead of tearing each other apart over their political grievances.
Funny you should bring this up now. I just returned to Austin from the UK last Saturday. On the way there, no issues with the person in front of me reclining on either of my two flights. I was especially worried on the flight from London to Glasgow as I was in the last, i.e., non-reclining row. Fortunately, the person in front of me was a fine upstanding person. On the way back, we got rerouted through Amsterdam and on the Amsterdam to Austin flight, the woman in front of me reclined for most of the flight. I did notice that the person in front of her reclined first, and she subsequently reclined with a huff and in a very abrupt manner (thank God I did not have my laptop open or I’d be staring at a cracked screen right now). So I blame the first guy, who was in a bulkhead seat with no one in front of him. So he’s the asshole in my book.
I did get one brief moment of joy at the meal service when the rather sturdy Dutch flight attendant (KLM Airlines) was raising everyone’s seatbacks without asking by pushing the button for them and rather abruptly forcing the seatbacks upright! Ah, the little joys in life!
Torch, one thing I noticed, you have the built-in entertainment touchscreen in front of you on the monster’s seatback. On the flights I had, those screens had games. Games that require tapping the screen. From my experience, you can tap pretty hard without breaking them. heh, heh, heh…
It’s not the passengers fault. It’s the businesses. And I don’t blame the airline.
If I traveling on my own, I’ll pay $20 a flight to have more space in the coach select or whatever seats. However, corporate policy for the last 4 companies I’ve worked is that if you pay for extra on a flight you pay for the entire flight ticket. This moves people that used to pay for business class to the back. This has encouraged the airlines to really pack the back.
You can’t just book the flight on the company dime, then go onto the airline’s website a day or a week later and change your seat to an upgrade (and pay for that upgrade)? That’s what I do. Just yesterday, I paid for an upgrade to Delta Comfort using miles from my Skymiles account.
My employer always requires the cheapest seats unless it’s an international flight. If I upgrade, I not only have to pay for it myself, I have to do a bunch of paperwork to justify it because they’re afraid of “public perception” Flying on my own dime, I choose the best I can afford, but let’s be honest, unless you’re going business or first, it sucks, and those upgrades for an infrequent flyer are generally cost prohibitive.
Edit: I’m not saying someone shouldn’t recline. It sucks for the person behind, but it’s just how it is.
As someone who is kinda tall, and has flown a bunch for work for decades, here is what I think the rules should be.
Regular/shitty economy on United, etc.: Only recline as much as needed for flights longer than 4 hours
Economy plus on United, etc: recline away for whatever flight.
Side note: middle seat travelers have first refusal on BOTH armrests.
I fly Economy Plus all the time on United. I recline at my leisure.
I also normally take the furthest back aisle seat on the port (left) side of the plane. So the poor sack behind me has the normal seat.
I do believe if the airline includes the feature, it’s a benefit you pay for and should have access to if you want it.
The way I see it, now that there are multiple tiers of seating that are priced based on how much space you get, I can honestly say that I *paid* for this space, and if the person in front of me reclines they are literally *stealing* what I paid for.
So I think the lockout button should actually be a keypad where I can enter the price for that person in front of me to make a market-based decision to pay me for my space. You short fuckers can set the price to zero and feel all magnanimous about it. At 6’3” I am setting that price at roughly the full price of my ticket.
Lord I love this idea…
A market-based solution! Amazing.
So now there will be trading and arbitrage. Someone smaller than Jason could sell their reclining allotment for a profit.
100% agree. Have some consideration for your fellow passengers, don’t recline.
“Oh I’ll suffer some nebulous ill effect if I don’t recline”
So it’s ok to inflict suffering on someone else? No way.
Newsflash, were all suffering. Nobody wants to be on this cramped tube full of self-indulgent jackasses. Take your lumps like everyone else. Do. Not. Recline.
Unless you are independently wealthy and can afford business class or better, flying is simply the worst way to travel. I spent the better part of my 20s crammed into economy seats galavanting across the country for my job, and I will NEVER take another job that requires travel unless my employer decides not to be a cheapskate and actually puts their employees on business class.
Depends on the flight. Short trips of 30 to 45 minutes and its a very dick move. Longer flights I will not bother. Just being six feet.
HOWEVER, rest assured if I am not in the aisle seat I will be jostling that seatback twice as hard as I head to the restroom. Leaving and coming back…unless my row compatriots decide to get up to allow ingress and egress easier like I would.
I always look at the person behind me to see if they are reclining before I recline .
If they are then I do , If they aren’t then I don’t .
The person in front of me I have no control over , I don’t want to be a dick to someone behind me though.
i spent 40 plus years as a airline pilot , and commuted to and from work on a plane so I have spent way more than the average amount of time in flying sewer pipes.
If the person in front of you is a jerk a well placed knee in the seat back of most seats will cause discomfort for them .
This is the way.
I hate being on a plane. I am 6 feet, 235. I can buy a comfortable chair at Ikea for $100. I can barely feel my coccyx after being on a plane for 4 hours. Ironically, the most comfortable seats I’ve sat in on a plane were very thin, almost mesh seats on Avelo. I think it’s a discount carrier and it was all I could get out of MHT. We were packed in like sardines. I think the design was that the seat was 1-2 inches thick instead of 6 but by chance were very comfortable. If the seat in front of me was not touching my nose it would be even better. I’ve never been so comfortable on a plane. I don’t think they reclined.
Edit: maybe not mesh. I think I told my friends it felt like what I’d imagine the carbon fiber seat on a Porsche GT3 would feel like. Not cushy, thinly padded, but much more comfortable than every single plane I’ve ever been on. Like a hard shell with a thin pad.
Preach. I’m 6’4” and having someone that close to my face drives me nuts. God forbid I have to do any work: I call it chipmunk hands when I try to actually fit my arms in front of me. That said, by now it’s impossible for the person in front of me to lean back, my legs won’t allow it. I already touch the seat, on the tight flights, no way you’re leaning back even further. There was that time the guy in front of me got so pissed about this he nearly got thrown off the plane. Ah, plane travel.
Nope, sorry, I spent seven years traveling weekly for work, and I simply cannot sleep bolt-upright. I’m always careful about sliding back and mindful of the person behind me, but I couldn’t have survived without reclining the seat.
Thankfully during most of that time, the amount I flew meant I was often not in economy, but some flights had so many people with status that I still was in the back.
The solution is the newer seats where the reclining person’s seat bottom slides forward.
I only recline a short bit to be comfortable. I don’t want to be THAT guy (the one in front of you). And I have news for you – it’s no different in first/business class.
That is not true, especially on international flights (no business class in CONUS) where each person has an independent pod and the seat can transform into a bed.
I recline to the mid position otherwise my back will explode.
Preach, brother.
Maybe the actual recline button doesn’t have to be in the seat behind you.
We could just add a lock-out controlled by the person behind? Probably a lot easier to implement something like that.
People have tried that: there was a gadget for sale about 10-15 years ago that was supposed to clip on to the hinge mechanism of the seat in front of you to stop that person reclining.
I don’t remember if airlines banned them or if something else happened, but I haven’t heard about them in a long time.