There’s long been a debate about whether or not airline passengers should recline their seat. I will give you my opinion and that of a flight attendant shortly, but common sense tells you that if there’s a recline button, then there’s no problem. However, if you recline, you should always look back to either make sure the passenger behind you isn’t working on their laptop, eating or drinking a hot beverage. If they are, either wait or just kindly give them a heads up you’re about to recline so their laptop doesn’t get crushed or their beverages spill.
For basic common courtesy, never just forcibly recline your seat without warning. This just happened yesterday on a United flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Orlando (MCO), as a passenger posted on a thread on Reddit titled: Throwing seat backs violently – caused coffee burn and near miss on laptop destruction.
User @technical-mind4300 had some choice words which I will omit for the person seated in 7F on a United Airlines 737-MAX-9, but he wrote: “Flew today and was a long flight. I just got a cup of coffee and was working on my Surface laptop. In the middle of the flight the rather large guy in front of me decided to recline his seat, but instead of gently lowering it, he did it very aggressively and abruptly. New cup of coffee went all over my laptop and leg, burning my leg. The back of the seat squished against my screen, which activated the power off button (luckily I didn’t lose my work), but I genuinely am surprised it didn’t crack my screen.”
He then followed up with: “Main moral of the story – when reclining seat please do it slowly and gently ideally with some warning.”
To give you an idea how tight airlines have made their seating configurations, 7F is in Economy Plus and has four extra inches of legroom according to SeatGuru. So imagine what it’s like with just 31 inches of pitch in regular economy.
I experienced a similar situation a couple of weeks ago flying from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) as I was in Main Cabin Extra and the passenger behind me kept putting his seat upright (to eat and use the bathroom) and reclining. Each time, he came so close to smashing my laptop and I was being careful.
Over the years, I’ve learned to be careful after seeing screens break or drinks spill. So now I’m hypersensitive when working or when I recline. I always leave at least an inch between my screen and the seatback if they’re not reclined, and if I’m reclining, I always look back to either tell the person or see if they’re sleeping.
I try not to recline, but it’s almost impossible to work without reclining my seat—especially if the person in front of me has reclined. Heather Poole penned an opinion piece for CNN titled I’m a flight attendant. You need to get over your reclining seat rage. She writes: “After 28 years in the job, I’ve found there’s some basic reclining etiquette that makes for a smoother flight for everyone. A reminder: chances are the person in front of you has no idea they’ve crossed that mental barrier between you and the rest of the world. You can’t kick them or scream at them, but you can politely ask if they’d mind putting their seat back up. I bet if you ask nicely, they’ll do it. If you’re a passenger who likes to recline, it’s always a good idea to be mindful of the situation that we are all collectively in, and do so slowly. Yanking the seat back too quickly could make a mess if the person behind you has their tray table down.”
Heather also says, “The heart of the problem is that airlines are packing too many seats too closely together into a tight space,” which I agree. Let’s hope airlines will do what Air New Zealand is doing with their new 787-9, where at least the Premium Economy seats have a fixed outer shell so that passengers can recline their seats without disturbing the person behind them. But for now, just follow the basic etiquette rules.
