Seat recliners on planes, now (some) airlines take action !

I'm surprised that you would accept the results of what looks like on paper a totally unscientific poll, In my example I'm pointing out that such an unscientific poll can easily be manipulated to get the figures you want. I would take the results of the sky scanner poll with a pinch of salt. This sentence alone in the survey points towards it been a meaningless survey " 91% of people who took part in our survey said short-haul flights should either ban or set times for seat reclining." So how many want a outright ban vs how many just want set times for reclining ?

 

Still stand by my point, if reclining seats is such a big issue for economy passenger why aren't more airlines out there offering non reclining seats. Surely it would be a huge selling point.Easyjet are currently running a TV ad campaign, they are making a big thing about been more punctual than BA, yet nothing about offering non reclining seats which is something BA offer. The way some are making things out to be this surely would be a huge selling point for Easyjet. Yet we get nothing, even on the website there is little to plug the fact they offer this wonderful benefit to it's passengers.

 

In the United States alone there are over 200,000 weekly commercial flights, I bet I could count on one hand the number of air rage incidents taking place weekly over reclining seats. My gut feeling is a lot of these people that moan about people recling seats infont of them would be unwilling to give up there ability to recline.

 

We are both in 2 opposite camps regarding seat reclining and it's something we are never going to agree on. Now until there is an total outright ban on reclining in economy it's just something your just going to have to put up with.

It's a simple online survey, nothing needs to be scientific about it whatsoever!! You go online, you vote!!

You show me a survey that states otherwise......mind you, I'd probably dismiss it as unscientific and carry on pretending that I'm right and you're wrong

There's plenty of good reasons (that you'll probably dismiss) as to why airlines still have reclining seats.

To name a couple. It would cost millions to replace them all. People who are on redeye flights or night flights should be able to recline for sleep.

 

To name a couple. It would cost millions to replace them all. People who are on redeye flights or night flights should be able to recline for sleep.

What if someone is just tired an an ordinary flight? Shouldn't they be able to recline?

I must admit that I find it annoying when people in front recline their seats.

I've got long legs that already push against the seat in front when in the normal position, and it becomes very uncomfortable when the seat is reclined.

I never complain, never think about using some sort of device to prevent it, but I can't help the fact that it becomes more uncomfortable so I don't like it. For the reason that I know I don't like it being done to me, I never recline my seat on others.

It often results in me having to swap places with another family member, but last year the whole family in front reclined their seats, even the two young kids. It would be nice if the people that wanted to recline their seats actually looked behind them, and if it was a tall person behind them change places with a family member themselves rather than force the person behind to.

What if someone is just tired an an ordinary flight? Shouldn't they be able to recline?

See milquetoast1's post. A bit of common courtesy wouldn't go a miss!

See milquetoast1's post. A bit of common courtesy wouldn't go a miss!

Would you refuse someone who asked you?

Would you refuse someone who asked you?

I've never been asked, but would be pleased if I was acknowledged and would never refuse.

What I might do, depending on the situation, is say something like "no problem but would you mind swapping with your wife so you're leaning back on my son rather than me".

As I said, I can't help being annoyed by the person in front if they recline their seat on me. If they were to ask, then the common courtesy offered would more than compensate for the slight discomfort if I couldn't change seats.

If you were being polite, wouldn't it be better if you swapped with your son rather than inconveniencing the person who wants to recline?

So it's the person who wants to recline his seat back onto the person's knees behind who's being inconvenienced then. I see.

Would you refuse someone who asked you?

Depends. I'd warn them that they might feel my knees behind them from time to time, it's something I genuinely can't help!

Also, if it was a long haul flight and it was in the middle of the day, I'd probably want to use my laptop so that would need taking into consideration too.

I'm sure you know it's quite easy to manipulate a poll to get the results you want.

 

Ask 100 people should recling seats be banned after they have got off a 1hr flight with a seat reclined in front of them will yield a totally different set of results to asking the same 100 people after they have spent 12hrs in the upright position on a overnight flight from Asia.

 

Using the result for the 1hrs flight you may have a headline of 90% of people want recling seat banned in economy. Use the results for the 10hr flight and you may have a headline of 90% of people don't want recling seats banned.

I`m sure no manipulation has taken place. It`s absolutely obvious that the vast majority of people aren`t happy to have a chunk of their already meagre space taken away, why would they be ? This really is arguing about motherhood and apple pie, it`s the kind of argument you`d never have in the real world with anyone face to face because there is no argument.

The seat recline on long haul was to limit it to certain times, like when the cabin lights go out, not ban it all together.

---------- Post added 25-10-2014 at 14:15 ----------

If you were being polite, wouldn't it be better if you swapped with your son rather than inconveniencing the person who wants to recline?

If you don't believe me that the great majority think seat recliners are selfish, read that survey. Having said that I doubt it`ll change your mind anyway because you don`t want it to, there are none do blind...... The next time you recline your seat on a plane just don`t pretend you don`t know that the person behind is probably unhappy about it. Whether you care about that is down to your personality which nobody can change, but just don't claim you don`t know you`re upsetting people

Well I had a very interesting chat with a couple of the flight crew on the Jet 2 plane we flew on last week. The plane was a 737-800 and the seats didn`t recline. I was very happy about this for two reasons, not only was there no danger of the passenger in front reclining their seat into my face but, because the seats don`t need to recline they can be made thinner which meant a very useful increase in leg room. My knees were pressed into the seat back on the Thomas Cook flight we made last year but on this Jet 2 flight there was actually a gap which makes a hell of a difference in how comfortable you feel.

Anyway, back to what the Jet 2 cabin staff said, apparently Jet 2 got rid of seat recline about 6 years ago because of the amount of aggravation it caused. Since they introduced fixed back seats their "disruptive passenger reports" have dropped by three quarters ! The stewardesses both said it was not unknown to see passengers squaring up to each other and the implication was that the airline got rid of seat recline to reduce their employees stress. Though I have to say I`m more than happy about it.

Well I had a very interesting chat with a couple of the flight crew on the Jet 2 plane we flew on last week. The plane was a 737-800 and the seats didn`t recline. I was very happy about this for two reasons, not only was there no danger of the passenger in front reclining their seat into my face but, because the seats don`t need to recline they can be made thinner which meant a very useful increase in leg room. My knees were pressed into the seat back on the Thomas Cook flight we made last year but on this Jet 2 flight there was actually a gap which makes a hell of a difference in how comfortable you feel.

Anyway, back to what the Jet 2 cabin staff said, apparently Jet 2 got rid of seat recline about 6 years ago because of the amount of aggravation it caused. Since they introduced fixed back seats their "disruptive passenger reports" have dropped by three quarters ! The stewardesses both said it was not unknown to see passengers squaring up to each other and the implication was that the airline got rid of seat recline to reduce their employees stress. Though I have to say I`m more than happy about it.

I've come across the thin upright seats on many short haul flights. Whether they catch on on the long haul is another matter.