Immobilized By A Reclining Seat

October 5, 2007

in Seat Stories

I was on a British Airways flight from Miami to London, and my friend was seated behind one of the most obnoxious passengers I have ever seen. He was somewhat surly when awake, but he almost immediately put his seat all the way back in her lap and did not move for the entire seven hour flight. The flight attendant made him get up for takeoff, but that was it. My friend could hardly even move to go to the lavatory. It was like she was strapped in.

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

md July 15, 2008 at 2:42 pm

Again….read the rest of stories about reclining seats. But, really, "reclined into her lap"? That's a major exaggeration. We all know seats don't recline that far.

And again….everyone else (including her) can recline their seats (except for exit row and the last row in the plane).

It's going to happen…the person is entitled to recline….and if your friend is so claustrophobic that a 4in recline towards him or her is going to cause such major tension…take a bus, train, or boat.

At the very least…ask the flight attendant if there is an open seat elsewhere.

Complaints without a suggestion of how to better the situation are worthless.

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Kyle March 31, 2011 at 5:40 am

I agree, its like the FA's are invisible, freaky isn't it?

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James February 19, 2009 at 10:40 am

I know the feeling! On a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco, the 2 people in front of me reclined their seats & they stayed like that for pretty much the whole 13 hrs. I was in window seat A & felt trapped but fortunately the seat beside me was empty & there was a guy in the aisle seat so I pretty much spread out into the middle seat; he didn't care as he was happy to sprawl into the aisle.

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Denim April 2, 2009 at 11:26 am

md, not every seat on every airline works that way.

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Anonymous April 2, 2009 at 1:01 pm

I still don't get why people complain about a passenger who reclines. F'n complain to the airline if they are allowing the seats to recline unreasonably. It's not the passenger's fault that they're trying to get comfortable when the airline packs too many seats into a plane.

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J April 2, 2009 at 1:42 pm

She should have reclined her own seat. Then she would've had exaclty as much room as she started with.

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Collin April 2, 2009 at 6:40 pm

If you pay for a seat, you can recline it. You are not being rude, and you are not being inconsiderate when you do so.

Get a clue, dude.

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Anonymous April 3, 2009 at 2:32 pm

md has never lost feeling in their legs do to the idiot in front of you reclining all the way back.

12 hours to New Zealand in coach with a smelly foot from the person behind you on your armrest and the seat in front of you reclined all the way back while being too dang tall so it's pressing on your knees…ugh. And the teenage girl behind me who had her smelly foot in my space beat my seat when I reclined only about two inches back!

Ugh.

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Kiri the Can Opener January 27, 2011 at 12:21 am

I had the smelly foot on a flight from Sydney to Hawaii a few years ago, the girl behind me had managed to squeeze her foot into the space between our seats. So, we ordered a can of coke each with a glass of ice to pour it in. We used the ice to cover her foot one cube at a time, it took her a while to feel it, but when she did she shrieked from the sensation – don't think she figured out what had happened. Her putrid foot didn't appear again.

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Flight Attendant April 3, 2009 at 11:08 pm

I am perplexed by this statement "the flight attendant made him get up for take off..".

What do you mean exactly? Made him get up and go where, and why?

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TravMD April 7, 2009 at 8:39 am

Actually, seats on BA do recline the farthest I've ever seen on any airline. They go way back. It's very nice, but means that everyone absolutely has to bring it forward when meals and drinks are served (and BA flight attendants will actually wake people up during the meal period to have them bring their seat forward).

Having said that, outside those periods if you don't like the seat reclined, fuck off. I was half asleep one time on a BA flight and heard the person behind me complain to the flight attendant that she couldn't do [whatever] because I had my seat reclined. The flight attendant said "outside of meal serving times he has to right to recline if he wishes." End of story.

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jenkins April 8, 2009 at 7:59 am

i'dda pissed on the head of this evil do-er

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funfish April 9, 2009 at 5:32 pm

People who recline their seats have no manners and obviously have no class. Recliners are RUDE.

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Mary July 24, 2009 at 3:21 pm

If you need to recline on an international flight that is one thing because the seats are further apart, but on intercontinental flights it is ridiculous to recline your seat into another person's space. It is not fair, it is not nice and it is not called for. I wish the airlines would remove the recline mechanisms in their seats. That would save a lot of heartache and broken knees to boot.

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