Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

mobile.nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 62 posts

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#11

Post by 67726e »

crazypyro wrote: post #6
67726e wrote: post #4

How about you pay me to recline into my lap. I'm a tall guy. Each and every time I take a flight someone tries to recline because my lap is a seemingly good spot to rest. However given my stature I can just push their right back up into it's upright position with my knees. There isn't much to be done about that, is there?

The reclining feature doesn't go "into" your lap. No need for a ridiculous hyperbole. Either way, the person paid for that seat and if the airlines choose to put in a reclining feature, your anger should be directed at them and not attempting to harass the person merely trying to use the seat they paid for.

Actually, I'm pretty tall. It is at the least awkward, if not very uncomfortable for someone to recline. It depends on the plane, but those interstate mosquitoes you get on flights between small cities are the absolute worst.

I know it's en vogue to treat everything as an economic exercise to show off that business course you took for your undergrad, but some things are really a matter of being a decent person. I've asked people to please not recline when it's a problem. Usually people are cool with it on the short flights where it really is a problem. Of course you sometimes get an indignant person who needs their 30 minutes of "relaxation" and that's when I push them up. If they prioritize their comfort over mine, why shouldn't I do the same.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#12

Post by robotresearcher »

67726e wrote: post #4

How about you pay me to recline into my lap. I'm a tall guy. Each and every time I take a flight someone tries to recline because my lap is a seemingly good spot to rest. However given my stature I can just push their right back up into it's upright position with my knees. There isn't much to be done about that, is there?

You paid for the recline space behind you. The person in front paid for the space in front of your face. That's obviously the deal. If you hassle the person in front, you are the problem.

You can choose to pay extra for the bulkhead/exit row if you want or need a different deal.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#14

Post by randallsquared »

The real problem, then, is that the airline seems to be selling the right to sit with unsquashed knees and the right to recline your seat into someone else's knees, and since it rarely comes to an argument, they can get away with double-dipping.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#16

Post by crazypyro »

mischanix wrote: post #10
crazypyro wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reclining feature doesn't go "into" your lap. No need for a ridiculous hyperbole. Either way, the person paid for that seat and if the airlines choose to put in a reclining feature, your anger should be directed at them and not attempting to harass the person merely trying to use the seat they paid for.

> The reclining feature doesn't go into your lap. As a tall person, especially on regional jets: yes, yes it does.

Okay, if that's how you feel, there are plenty of options. Choose a different airline, take your chances that someone reclines in their seat, sit in the front row, check in earlier or pay more money. Those are all valid options.

The idea that you somehow control the right of the person in front of you to recline (a right which they actually paid money to use) is rather selfish and not a valid option.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#17

Post by [deleted] »

antihero wrote: post #7

> Tall people earn more money than short people, an average of $789 per inch per year, according to a 2004 paper in the Journal of Applied Psychology. What an absurdly childish argument. Just because on average tall people earn more, it doesn't follow that every tall person on a flight would be able to afford to pay someone not to put them in an uncomfortable situation. He's talking about effectively exploiting someo…

[deleted]

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#18

Post by sswaner »

wj wrote: post #8
67726e wrote: post #4

How about you pay me to recline into my lap. I'm a tall guy. Each and every time I take a flight someone tries to recline because my lap is a seemingly good spot to rest. However given my stature I can just push their right back up into it's upright position with my knees. There isn't much to be done about that, is there?

If you don't want to sit behind a seat that reclines you can pay extra for the first row. Or on Southwest pay extra for boarding group A. Regardless, when you bought your ticket you buy it with the knowledge that there is a seat in front of you that reclines.

Yes, I buy a seat knowing that when I sit in the seat my knees will be up against the seat in front of me. The seat in front of me has nowhere to recline. My knees have become used to the pressure over the course of hundreds of flights. At my height (2 meters) there is little alternative. Passengers in front of me have asked me to move seats, avoid air travel and invited me to go to hell.

In my opinion, your 'right' to recline ends where my kneecaps begin.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#19

Post by 67726e »

crazypyro wrote: post #16
mischanix wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reclining feature doesn't go into your lap. As a tall person, especially on regional jets: yes, yes it does.

Okay, if that's how you feel, there are plenty of options. Choose a different airline, take your chances that someone reclines in their seat, sit in the front row, check in earlier or pay more money. Those are all valid options. The idea that you somehow control the right of the person in front of you to recline (a right which they actually paid money to use) is rather selfish and not a valid option.

The idea that someone gets to invade my personal space is rather selfish and not a valid option. If I don't want you imposing on me, then I will make sure that damn well doesn't happen.

Re: Don’t Want Me to Recline My Airline Seat? You Can Pay Me

#20

Post by crazypyro »

67726e wrote: post #11
crazypyro wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reclining feature doesn't go "into" your lap. No need for a ridiculous hyperbole. Either way, the person paid for that seat and if the airlines choose to put in a reclining feature, your anger should be directed at them and not attempting to harass the person merely trying to use the seat they paid for.

Actually, I'm pretty tall. It is at the least awkward, if not very uncomfortable for someone to recline. It depends on the plane, but those interstate mosquitoes you get on flights between small cities are the absolute worst. I know it's en vogue to treat everything as an economic exercise to show off that business course you took for your undergrad, but some things are really a matter of being a decent person. I've…

Okay, in the same vein, maybe that person isn't a decent person. You still don't have the right to force them to not recline and calling them "indignant" shows the same kind of attitude, albeit a lesser scale, that caused the Newerk-Denver incident.
Post reply on HN