Should You Recline Your Seat on Flights?

The great debate on whether or not passengers should be able to recline seats has been going on for a long time. It’s caused more in-flight confrontations than any of us can probably count and has even given us inventions banned by some airlines.

But should you, as a reasonable and thoughtful passenger, ever feel okay with reclining your seat? Or is this a rude intrusion only practiced by inexperienced and uncourteous passengers?

In this article, I will take a look at both sides of the debate and try to make sense of how people feel about this touchy subject.

Let’s start off by looking at some of the common arguments made by people on both sides of this debate.

The argument in favor of reclining

The recline button exists for a reason

The biggest argument in favor of reclining your airplane seat is that the recline button is there for a reason (to be used). As a paying customer, you are entitled to take advantage of features you paid for.

Passengers can select seats with extra legroom if needed

People also argue that if someone is unhappy with the amount of legroom that they have, they have options like upgrading to economy plus or grabbing an emergency exit seat where they can have a few more inches of legroom.

Passengers could also purchase a first class ticket which will provide them with more than enough legroom in the event someone chooses to recline.

People need it to relieve pain or serious discomfort

Some people experience bad back pain when flying and being able to recline, even minor amounts, can allow them to adjust their position and alleviate some of that pain. On longer flights this is absolutely necessary, even for those without any kind of chronic pain conditions.

Reclining is virtually forced upon some passengers

Once a passenger sitting in front of someone decides to recline, that aft passenger is almost forced to recline in order to gain back the precious inches that they just lost. It’s hard to get upset at someone for reclining when they just had someone’s seatback drop into their personal space.

Unfortunately, this can have a domino effect that goes all the way to the passenger in the emergency exit row or back of the plane who may or may not be able to recline.

The argument against reclining

A lot of passengers are against reclining an economy seat and would bring up the following points.

Little comfort gained but lots of comfort lost

One of the main arguments is that by reclining your seat you only gain a very marginal amount of extra comfort but you cause a high degree of discomfort by shrinking the person’s leg room behind you.

This is especially true for tall people or for passengers trying to get work done with a laptop or even trying to enjoy a meal on the tray table. Reclining can show a real lack of consideration for these people, especially if it is done abruptly.

Makes it difficult to get in and out of seats

You can also make things a major challenge when middle seat or window seat passengers have to get up and head to the lavatory.

It’s not uncommon for passengers to take out their “vengeance” on a reclining passenger by giving the seat a shake of fury or even a Street Fighter knee-kick as they try to climb past them.

The unstated social contract

Although the recline button is there, there’s sort of an unstated social contract between seasoned passengers that you just don’t utilize the recline button — at least not on shorter flights.

Not necessary on short flights

If we’re talking about a flight of just a couple of hours, many believe that there is simply no need to recline because the flight is so short. These shorter flights also often have business travelers getting work done with laptops on tray tables so reclining is sort of a nuisance.

Some people might even argue that you should never recline even on longer flights although I find that to be a ridiculous position. At a certain point, you have to give people a break.

My thoughts on the great reclining debate

Passengers have a right to recline

Every passenger has a right to recline their seat, even if I don’t think it is necessary and I find it annoying. Remembering this is a good way to keep your knee-jerk reaction in check. Part of traveling is learning how to deal with discomfort anyway.

Don’t take it personal if somebody reclines

One of the reasons why reclining becomes an issue for some people is that they take it personally and that can amplify reactions.

It’s as if they imagine the person sitting in front of them deliberately plotting against their own comfort.

In most cases, the passenger in front of them just simply is not thinking about other passengers.

So try to not allow your blood to boil if a passenger reclines and violates your space. At worst, it’s probably just a lack of consideration directed at all passengers and not yourself individually.

With these things said, I do think passengers should keep the following two things in mind when reclining.

Don’t recline by default

Some passengers feel like they have to recline their seats or that it is the standard when the fasten seatbelt light goes off but that is not the case.

I would suggest only reclining your seat if you feel like you really need to in order to avoid discomfort. For many people, this probably won’t happen until at least a couple of hours into your flight.

Don’t recline on a tall passenger

If you noticed that you were seated in front of a particularly tall passenger, let’s say somebody 6’3″ or taller, I would recommend you to not recline.

That’s because you’re going to be ramming your seat into someone’s knee in most cases and it often results in this “push fest” between you and the other passenger. That’s certainly a recipe for an unwanted confrontation.

How to politely recline your seat

If you do choose to recline, then it needs to be done in the most respectful way possible.

I’ve shared some tips for doing this and they can be summarized as the following:

• Reconsider reclining when people are boarding — don’t get in the way of passengers trying to get seated by instantly reclining your seat when you sit down
• Take it nice and slow — Never slam your seat back all the way and instead gently recline it back
• Keep it up when meal service comes out — give your fellow passengers a little bit of elbow room whenever it is time for meals to come out
• Verify the person behind you is done — make sure the passenger behind you is finished with their meal before you take your seat back down
• Make up your mind — avoid reclining your seat and bringing it back up over and over again during the flight because this can be really annoying
• Ask for permission — While I don’t think you have to get permission from another passenger, it can be a way to diffuse tensions especially if you have a valid reason to ask for it such as to relieve your back pain.
• Choose a seat with extra legroom — choosing a seat with a few extra inches of legroom can prevent the issue in the first place or at least make it much less of a problem
• Only recline “one notch” — try to compromise and not fully recline your seat
• Be aware of broken recliners — avoid reclining a seat that is broken because you may be extending much further back than the seat is designed for

Final word

Ultimately, I think every passenger has a right to recline their seat. It’s not always the best thing to do based on the circumstances and so I think it should generally be avoided if possible.

If you do decide to recliner seat then consider some of the factors above and try to not cause any more discomfort to your fellow passengers than is necessary.