The magic phrase guaranteed to stop person in front from reclining their plane seat
THERE’S nothing worse than getting on board a plane for a long journey and the person in front of you decides to recline their seat for the whole trip.
Sadly, plane seats seem to be getting smaller, leaving us with less and less room to stretch out during flights.
This leads to an increase in the number of arguments people have over their seat space, especially when people recline.
One such person was a woman filmed arguing with the man behind her on an unknown flight.
In a video on Tiktok, she is seen shouting at the man and clearly says on more than one occasion: “I’m allowed to put my seat back.”
While the woman may be correct, there are ways in which passengers can get the flight attendants to intervene and either prevent the person in front from reclining, or move you to a comfier seat.
Sun Online Travel’s resident flight attendant explained that if you tell the cabin crew you need to stretch out for a medical condition, they will ask the people in front to put their seat back up, or move you elsewhere.
They said: “If there’s a medical reason why the person needs extra legroom, then we might be able to intervene.
“For example, if you tell us you’ve got a history of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) then we can ask the person in front to put their seat up.
“If it’s a big issue, we may even move you to a seat at the front of the row, or maybe even upgrade you, so you have more room to stretch your legs, or so you won’t have to deal with a recliner.”
However, if you don’t have a good enough reason, then the person in front is sadly well withing their rights to put their seat back.
It’s a function that every passenger on the plane has access to and so is able to use if they want to.
Julia Esteve Boyd, an etiquette coach and podcaster from Switzerland told the Points Guy: “It is completely reasonable to recline your seat if you want to.”
Nevertheless, she did stipulate one condition that must be met when putting your seat back.
She added: “Don’t recline the seat too quickly.”
There are also moments during flights when people should always have their seat upright.
According to Podcast host and etiquette expert Nick Leighton, passengers shouldn’t recline seats if the passenger behind is on their laptop.
Elsewhere, another etiquette expert Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, said mealtimes were another time when seats should be going back.
She added: “Avoid reclining when the majority of the passengers are enjoying their snack or meal.”
Meanwhile, this passenger resorted to punching the back of the person in front’s seat during a flight after they kept reclining.
And another person explained how they win reclining seat wars against other passengers.