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An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

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Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#11

Post by cbanek »

tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

I don't like people that recline (or planes for that matter), but I'm also pretty tall (6') and long legged. It's already painful to squeeze into the seat, and I either have to move my feet all the way under the seat in front of me (I kick the little footstand a few times), or I have my feet flat on the floor, and my knees get stuck behind someone reclining.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#13

Post by woliveirajr »

If you suffer from lumbar (or any other region) pain in your column, reclining or not is a huge difference. I never had problems about knees getting closer or not, etc., but having suffered from lumbar pain for a part of my life, I can assure you that reclining or not has a big impact.

No, it doesn't mean that pain -> need to recline. Sometimes it gets better keeping it straight, sometimes you get relief when you recline.

The advantage was to have the option to choose it at every travel, or during the travel.

As options get limited, so was my pleasure getting lower.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#14

Post by WkndTriathlete »

alistairSH wrote: post #7
tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

Agreed. Except for the VERY long-legged, a reclined seat-back in front doesn't remove leg space. It pivots at/above knee level and simply pivots marginally closer to me. I have never had a reclined seat obstruct my view of the entertainment screen or make me tray unusable. On the other side, I don't recline the seat to create more space for myself. I recline it to alleviate discomfort from the absurdly upright defaul…

What? The seat pivots below knee level by definition, unless you've found a plane where the base of the seat slopes down from the back to the front.

(Since the seat is level or slopes slightly upward from back to front then the pivot point is at the back of the base of the seat. Since the legs are sitting on - i.e. above - the seat, then the knees have to be above the pivot point and reclining does indeed remove leg space.)

Disclaimer: I'm over 6' with long femurs and have had exactly this situation happen to me on a flight. When the person in front of me reclines my legs do not fit in the remaining space, even if I'm sitting all the way back in my seat.

I understand the economic rationale airlines have for separate seat classes, but at the same time that rationale irritates me because I end up having to pay more for something that is entirely out of my control (genetics).

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#15

Post by tsm »

tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

I support reclining, but almost had the screen of my Thinkpad mangled when someone reclined and the tray table hook caught the top of my screen and started forcing it downwards in a way it shouldn't go. I was fast enough to scoop the laptop out of the way, but it sure was scary.

It also made positioning the laptop a little trickier, but it was totally manageable and just a price you pay on an airplane.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#16

Post by supergeek133 »

tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

Depending on the airplane/seat, it actually makes my legs have a tighter fit. I'm 6'2".

Whenever I fly for work I usually pay the extra money for a better seat personally.

I typically don't recline my seat on a plane, because in most cases it makes my ride less comfortable to be behind someone who reclines.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#17

Post by caseysoftware »

tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

Laptops are my concern.

In fact, with my MBP sitting on the tray when someone declines, the top gets caught where the tray fits into. I have seen my screen bend slightly when someone reclines quickly. I expect to get a laptop destroyed that way at some point.

Even when I do recline (not often), I do it slowly so if the person behind me is using their laptop, they're not surprised.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#18

Post by tutufan »

braymundo wrote: post #12

Flying without reclining my seat is pure torture to me. I find the default vertical position of the seats deeply uncomfortable. What if all seats had a slightly reclined angle already?

Flying in a reclined seat is pure torture to me.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#19

Post by sbov »

WkndTriathlete wrote: post #14
alistairSH wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Except for the VERY long-legged, a reclined seat-back in front doesn't remove leg space. It pivots at/above knee level and simply pivots marginally closer to me. I have never had a reclined seat obstruct my view of the entertainment screen or make me tray unusable. On the other side, I don't recline the seat to create more space for myself. I recline it to alleviate discomfort from the absurdly upright defaul…

What? The seat pivots below knee level by definition, unless you've found a plane where the base of the seat slopes down from the back to the front. (Since the seat is level or slopes slightly upward from back to front then the pivot point is at the back of the base of the seat. Since the legs are sitting on - i.e. above - the seat, then the knees have to be above the pivot point and reclining does indeed remove leg…

Same for me. On Southwest, my knees fit exactly (slightly touching) without the person infront of me reclining. Luckily I'm fairly wiry and usually angle my butt to the left of the chair, and knees on the right (or vice versa). Or I can put my feet and shins under the seat infront of me.

But a normal "feet on ground" sitting position doesn't work if someone infront of me reclines their seat.

Re: An investigation into the economics of airplane seat reclining

#20

Post by tutufan »

tgb wrote: post #5

For anyone who dislikes recliners - in what manner does it inconvenience you? For me, it's not useful space that is taken up, except perhaps transiently as I squeeze past my neighbours to get to the aisle. My knees are below the point that reclines. Are laptops the problem?

For me, it's very uncomfortable. There's a reason why office chairs are not all fixed in a reclined position.
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