Silent Seat War

March 31, 2010

in Seat Stories

It was a thirteen and a half hour flight from LAX to Brisbane. The 747 was pretty full, and I was seated in the middle. The flight was fairly uneventful until I decided to get some rest after the meal service. I reclined my seat, as any passenger would be entitled to do, and was shocked to find my seat promptly returned to its original upright position by the guy behind me. Without a word being said. I tried to recline a second time, and the same thing happened. And a third.

I am not the confrontational sort and the last thing I wanted was to create a scene (especially when the lights were off and other passengers were already sleeping). So I reclined my seat again and propped my foot against the metal anchor in front so that I could not be pushed forward again. This I had to do for the rest of the flight because every time I tried to recline my seat without doing so, the same thing would happen. And without a word. I would have been happy to accommodate the fellow behind had he been courteous enough to ask, but since he chose to be rude and simply push back on my seat each time, I didn’t feel the need to. And, of course, he made sure that I could feel every knee bump and jerk behind me.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

AKM April 1, 2010 at 3:02 am

Sounds like you're a selfish and petty person. He won't speak up, so you just keep pushing your seat back into his space? You could have been the bigger person and initiated the conversation.

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Fran April 1, 2010 at 5:21 am

AKM, the poster had it correct when they stated that they were entitled to recline their seat. Everyone on every flight in every seat has that right, if the seat actually reclines. If the person behind a reclined seat has a specific reason for not wanting the seat reclined (such as a leg room issue) it would behoove them to open their mouths and communicate with the person seated in front of them.

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meme April 1, 2010 at 7:12 am

Communicate People! Poster, You should hare discussed this with the person behind you after the first time. Yes, that person was beyond rude, but you should have proved yourself to be the adult and politely ask him to stop. If no response, talk to FA. I personally don't recline, cause I hate them pushed back in my space,but that is every fliers right.

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Darryl April 1, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Aaah ! The old reclining seat conumdrum, not quiet as controversial as the overhead luggage space problem but I fear it poses a greater risk of inflight violence. Both could be fixed by airlines providing more space but that isn`t going to happen. So maybe if airlines enforced carry-on baggage limits and made seats that did not recline so far back all could be resolved. I`d put my money on the Palestinian conflict being fixed first.

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Karl April 3, 2010 at 3:10 am

I had a similar situation a few years back. I reclined my seat only to hear a man behind me complaining that he can't read his book. So I said: Well, don't blame me for dropping out of elementary school.

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