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Comment by Facemelters | Hacker News Reader

Yes, because it is rude. The marginal increase in comfort does not outweigh the massive impact it has on the quality of life of the individual behind.

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As someone with lower back pain, for whom 1-2 inches back is a huge improvement, I'm not sure why you'd privilege the person in back, while saying the one in front is required to suffer. The person in back may find it harder use a laptop, but I'd save "quality of life" for talking about genuine pain, not moderate inconveniences.

That being said, this is pitting two victims of an airline's policy against each other, not particularly constructive.

First off, nobody is using a laptop in economy regardless of recline. The keyboard is too close to use well. Tablets work fine, laptops are more business or first class conveniences.

Secondly: If the person behind you has long legs it damn right hurts when the person in front reclines. As in "popping painkillers" level of pain. When you recline, their knees have nowhere to go, so they end up being compressed between the back of your seat and the cushion of their seat. Oh and every time you move your seat bounces up and down, straight onto their knees pressed firmly against your seat back.

So to be entirely clear we're talking about "genuine pain, not moderate inconveniences" for the person behind you. I take extra strong painkillers onto flights so that the 5' person in front of me can feel mildly more comfortable.

I have both problems, actually, long legs so the knees take it, and then the back. So I sympathize. But I won't call the person in front "rude" and the person behind "right". And I certainly wouldn't presume to judge whether the person in front "doesn't deserve" the space based on, say, them being 5'. You could just as easily call the person in back rude for having the temerity to have long knees poking into the seat back.

> You could just as easily call the person in back rude for having the temerity to have long knees poking into the seat back.

Darn them for having the audacity of being born with long legs... The nerve of some people...

>You could just as easily call the person in back rude for having the temerity to have long knees poking into the seat back.

Given that it doesn't hurt the person in front of them, no, you couldn't.

Sounds like both of you are describing 'genuine pain' so who's the winner in this case exactly?

If the seats recline, then the person in the seat should be able to recline without judgement. If you have a problem with a reclining seat in from of you, choose an airline without reclining seats or upgrade to a seat with more leg room.

> If you have a problem with a reclining seat in from of you, choose an airline without reclining seats or upgrade to a seat with more leg room.

Airlines don't offer rows where the seats in front don't recline as a feature (although rarely the seats in wing exit rows don't recline).

And, yes, if everyone could just upgrade at 300x the cost then all of the issues would be solved. Next let's just give everyone $1,000,000 so that poverty is solved! That will work, why did nobody suggest that?!

> Airlines don't offer rows where the seats in front don't recline as a feature (although rarely the seats in wing exit rows don't recline).

They often do: bulkhead seats. However, these have other tradeoffs. [0]

[0] For a quick rundown: http://www.seatguru.com/articles/bulkheads.php

Bulkheads are tricky. Many airlines reserve them for disabled passengers and statusholders in their frequent-flier programs, which makes them more difficult to book in advance (I know at least one major airline had a policy of not releasing the coach bulkhead rows until control of the flight transferred to the gate, just to make sure no special-needs passengers would require a bulkhead seat).

I wasn't referring to special seats without a recline in front of them, even though those exists due to other constraints. I was referring to flying a carrier that doesn't have reclining seats at all.

I fly Delta a lot and their economy comfort is not 300x the price. It's a fraction of the ticket price. You could turn it around and demand the reclining passenger move to economy comfort. Fair enough, but what of the passenger directly behind their row?

In the end it comes back to what the airline is offering the passenger. If they didn't want/expect passengers to recline they would remove reclinable seats.

I'll say this again like I say in every discussion about reclining seats. Most Delta flights I've been on lately use a different recline system. The seat recline pivot seems to be near the arm rest and the seat bottom slides forward. I usually have MORE knee room if people recline. Sure, I lose space from the waist up, but I can live with that.

In the end, I'm also tall and the knee room is important to me but the recline is more important.

> I fly Delta a lot and their economy comfort is not 300x the price. It's a fraction of the ticket price.

I just checked, the cheapest I can find is 200x the ticket price (e.g. $500 Vs. $1000 for economy Vs. comfort+). 300x is definitely common too depending on how popular the flight is (e.g. $500 Vs. $1500).

> Most Delta flights I've been on lately use a different recline system. The seat recline pivot seems to be near the arm rest and the seat bottom slides forward.

It depends how high the person behind knees are. If you're cramped into the seat, your knees have to go higher to fit at all. The design you're talking about only works when the seats aren't too close together, once they get that close it still impedes leg/knee room.

I've been on Delta flights a lot, they suck.

Nobody? I use my laptop every time. Sure, it's a little less comfortable, but it's also one of the few places where I can do undistracted work.

Just sayin'

No, it is not rude. The seats were made to recline and I have never heard any flight attendants asking not to do it. You just take advantage of the comforts (mediocre, but still), offered to you.

isn't it a marginal discomfort as well

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