While this question has been doing the rounds for a very long time, few recorded incidents have ever put it in the spotlight like the recent incident on American Airlines that ‘went viral’ within hours. At the same time, I have seen few such incidents that have been quite as polarizing as this one.
Comments I’ve heard range from, “Good for him!” and “I’ve wanted to do that myself so many times,” to, “Disgusting behavior,” and “She had every right to put her seat back: He should be charged with harassment.”
It was intriguing to see Ed Bastian the CEO of Delta – not American – weighing into the fray saying, “I think customers have the right to recline, but I think the proper thing to do, if you’re going to recline into somebody, is that you ask if it’s OK first. If someone knows there’s a tall person behind them and they want to recline their seat, I think the polite thing would be to make certain it’s OK.”
To stir the pot just a little bit more, Mr. Bastian added, “When I travel in economy, I never recline.” It’s probably not unfair to surmise however that, as CEO, he may never have to make such chivalrous decisions from the front cabins of his or other airlines.
That said, I get where Mr. Bastian is coming from, but have to say that while asking if it’s “okay to recline” may be the polite thing to do, such a question might well precipitate exactly the kind of confrontation it was intended to avoid – especially when the answer is “no.”
For my part when traveling in a tight economy seat – which at 6’ 3” means most of them – I will seldom recline unless the person in front of me does. This can lead to the deadly domino effect that can rapidly run the length of the entire cabin! At such a time I have never actually gone so far as to ask permission, but I do try to be sensitive to the person behind. This will usually take the form of a very deliberate look over my shoulder followed by a very gentle recline. Now, lest you think what I nice guy I am for being so considerate, in the interests of full disclosure, I should add that when the person in front slams their seat back, I am not shy about rigidly keeping my k-nobbly k-nees pressed into their seatback until either they edge the seat up a tad or my knees lose all feeling: DVT is no fun.
I may have touched on this subject in previous columns, however I will restate that the best solution for this, “do as you would be done by” problem has surely got to be legislation that bans any kind of a recline on seats that have a pitch of less than 30 inches. In other words, such seats should be permanently locked in the upright position: Or as Spirit Airline once had the audacity to describe such seats, they should be “pre-reclined.”
It’s really not such a big deal, as let’s be honest, a paltry inch or two of recline does much more to add discomfort to the person behind than it does to add comfort for the person doing the reclining.
Needless to say, RyanAir was the first to move to non-recline seats as far back as 2004. At the time the airline claimed, “Seats will become non-adjustable to reduce the replacement parts needed for reclining models. Currently we have to fix scores of broken reclining seats every year in each of our planes.” So, improving the passenger’s lot had nothing to do with it. But take heed the seats can be the thin end of the wedge – at the same time, to reduce cleaning costs and speed turn times, RyanAir also stripped out all window blinds and seat pockets.
So, what do you think on the recline question? Which should be locked up first, the seats, or the guy on American doing the punching? ✕