Nobody enjoys being in this situation! — AFP
There's the space-hogging passenger in the neighbouring seat, the one who drapes him or herself well over the armrest. Then there’s the chatty seatmate, who wants to make conversation at every occasion.
And then there’s that traveller who thinks it’s okay to put their feet up on the seat in front of them.
These are just some of airline passengers’ pet peeves, as revealed by separate studies carried out by online tour operator Opodo and flight comparison site Kayak. However, among the myriad of behaviours that air plane passengers find annoying, there’s one that stands out, so much so that it generates debate: Is it acceptable to recline one’s seat or not? On one hand, some passengers feel that “if there’s a button, it’s OK to use it”. Other passengers, however, consider it a common courtesy for everyone’s comfort to maintain the default seat position, and therefore preferable not to push their seat back, especially when the person sitting behind you is sipping hot coffee or is stuck nose-to-nose with their laptop screen.
In fact, it’s a situation that can sometimes be so contentious that it ends up generating conflict between multiple passengers. One need only look at a petition launched in the United States in November to understand just how much trouble reclining seats can cause and the extent of travellers’ passionate feelings about the subject matter. Accompanied by an explanatory video produced by La-Z-Boy, a brand of recliners (for the home, that is!), the petition has already attracted more than 186,000 signatures – all from passengers who want to end the ambiguity by eliminating the possibility of tilting a seat back on an aeroplane.
Spotted by CNBC, this petition, which was initiated as part of an advertising campaign with the tagline “Do the upright thing”, highlights a crucial aspect of air travel comfort that a considerable number of travellers have a strong opinion about. According to the website hosting the petition online, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.
In June 2024, a YouGov study showed that reclining one’s seat was considered unacceptable by 26% of Americans. On a global scale, this behaviour is considered unacceptable by 53% of respondents.
While the question may inspire passionate opinions among a large number of travellers, it is likely to be asked less and less. Some low-cost airlines have already done away with the famous armrest button, not for the general comfort of all, but rather as part of cabin designs intended to fit in as many seats as possible.
In early 2024, CNN delved into the various issues behind this shift, highlighting both the cost and weight of seats that are able to recline. “In the late 2000s, a new generation of highly engineered super-lightweight seats started to break into the market, and part of what made them super-lightweight was that there was no recline function. Some marketing genius thought of calling them ‘pre-reclined,’ fixing the backrest at an angle somewhere between fully upright and slightly reclined,” reported the American news channel. – AFP Relaxnews
