Oprah’s Ethicists Debate How Far You Should Recline in an Airline Seat

I’m polite enough to rarely have reclined my seat unless given permission by the passenger behind me or unless they’ve reclined theirs.

But I’m stubborn enough to have spent a good portion of more than one flight with my knee rammed into the middle of the seat ahead of me to keep a 5-foot nothing passenger from lying in my lap.

Karmically speaking, I think the behaviors balance one another. At least I hope so.

In all my years of flying I’ve never had the person in front of me even look behind them before reclining, let alone ask me if I’m OK.

When it comes to airline comfortability it’s do or die, you have to play the game or you’re gonna get burnt. Speak up, don’t expect people to be cordial on their own accord. Everyone is stressed, tired and doesn’t want to be there so you have to stake your own.

That’s all there is to it.

We have got to stop blaming each other for badly designed interior spaces on airplanes. If the airline crams an extra row or three of seats in there, it means a shortage of reclining space for EVERYONE.  If the seats are badly designed, it means a lack of comfort, sometimes on very long flights, for EVERYONE.

Instead of badgering the person in front of you, why not complain to the airlines? Yeah, I get that it gets you next to nothing, but what does being a surly neighbor get you? Remember, the person in front of you is also trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Mike, are those your knees in the picture? If so, you keep a messy seat pocket, sir.

A few words:  Exit Row Seats!  If you’re taller than average make it a point to request them.  Not only will you have the leg room, but the row in front of the exit row doesn’t recline.

Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s a touchy subject, obviously.

I try to get the exit row, Kris, or find the seats with the optimum leg room. Alas, it’s not always possible. Some airlines hold the seats for their frequent customers or charge a fee. On long flights, I sometimes pay the fee for extra legroom. On short flights, I usually just suck it up.

Yes, TambourineMan, those are my knees. And that’s just a folded magazine. I can’t put anything substantial in there when I’m flying. Books go on the floor.

We flew from Newark to SFO after connecting from Geneva.  As soon as we were in the air the two young women in front of us reclined all the way into our laps and stayed that way the whole 5 hours.  To get out of my seat I actually had to lean on the woman’s seat to get out and let me tell you I leaned on it hard.  When we arrived in San Francisco, my husband walked three steps out of the plane and collapsed with a blood clot to the lungs.  He was intensive care for a week.  DVT is a complicated affliction but I feel that the rudeness of the self serving women in front of us certainly contributed to the problem. My husband didn’t want to disturb them by getting up and stayed in his seat the duration of the flight. I did not hold Continental airlines responsible but I wrote them a letter complaining about the seat problem and they told me it was the responsiblity of the passengers to discuss the reclining of seats with the offending passenger.  Yah, right!  With “air rage” filling the skys, I would really do that.  These passengers feel they are entitled to be comfortable and they don’t care about courtesy.  We now fly business class or first class or not at all! At least there is a little more room between the seats.

I think tipping the chair back slightly to get out of that upright, back never been so straight position is okay.

I tend to agree with Michael that nobody’s comfort on the plane should come at the expense of another’s. We need to get back to the days when my rights end when they adversely affect someone else. A little courtesy doesn’t hurt. Yes, on 8- or 9- hour flights (or longer), the seats on a plane can become very uncomfortable. Why make it even more so for the person behind you?

But some people find find discomfort a little too easily. if ya know what i mean

Sometimes those seat backs are very uncomfortable for short people as well, as in they force your head foward in a hunched over position. So no, tall people do not have the right to push my seat forward because I’m smaller. I actually had a guy ask my husband if he could push my seat forward while I was in the bathroom. My husband, of course replied that was up to me. When he told me in a very arrogant and self-entitled manner that I should put my seat up, I declined. The guy in the aisle offered him his seat, but no, he wouldn’t dream of inconveniencing the male passenger next to him.