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Comment by gusmd | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a tall person, but I also agree with you. It is very uncomfortable to go through a long flight on an upright seat.

I can not believe people think they have the prerogative to stop other people from reclining. It is intended functionality and we have certainly paid for that.

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> I can not believe people think they have the prerogative to stop other people from reclining. It is intended functionality and we have certainly paid for that.

Well I guess that is the question: What did we pay for?

Did we pay for comfort? Reclining does seem to offer that.

Did we pay for discomfort? Not reclining may be a cause of mild discomfort. Who would pay for that?

Did we pay for actual physical pain and significant discomfort? Hell no, but if you are tall and the person in front does recline then this is a reality.

I can't believe people think that have the prerogative to cause other people actual pain. I'm really not convinced you or I paid for that.

The space you pay for is your seat plus space gained from reclining your seat minus space lost from person in front of you reclining.

Why would you think otherwise? If you can't fit in the space designed then pay for a seat with more leg room or try suing.

In my case, on the last flight I was on, when sitting bolt upgright and with my butt as far back in my seat as possible, there was maybe an inch between my knees and the seat in front of me. The tray table didn't come all the way down either.

Its not a case of thinking I have some sort of privilege that would be infringed by the person in front of me reclining their seat - it simply didn't work. the seat in front of me reclined ~ 1/3rd of its normal distance before hitting my knees, and there was no way to get my knees out of the way. In that case I apologise to the elderly gentleman in the seat in-front, and after he glanced at my knees he (very considerately) concurred that getting the full recline out of his seat was 'unlikely to work'.

Sometimes I try to pay extra and reserve an exit row seat, sometimes they aren't available. The last time I got one I ended up wedged between a rugby player and an obese person for ~12 hours, It's not always an improvement, nor is it necessarily cheap.

And like the poster somewhere up-thread, I don't like being a hypocrite, I try to recline my own seat as little as possible.

The problem is you, like an overweight person, think that you can get by with an economy ticket. I feel bad for your knees, but I'm reclining because I paid for the ability to recline even if it's only a few inches. If you are uncomfortable in your seat, fly a different airline or upgrade.

You sound like a pleasant person.

I honestly wonder if those measurements get adjusted over time or if the baseline of "average human height" (which I hope was factored into the calculation) was taken in the 50s? 60s? (when was commercial flight "mainstreamed"?) - as various studies show that it's been going up.

Will our ancestors (again +10cm[0]) in 100 years still mutter about reclining seats? :)

[0]: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/3780/20130902/averag...

i know the airlines here in Europe have reduced the space quite a lot to fit extra rows, basically forcing tall people into upgrading their seats.

Do you have a source for that?

I fly a lot within Europe (granted, with a limited selection of airlines) since 2006 and never noticed a decline of space during this time.

Except for the super discount carriers (I rarely fly Easy Jet and never flew Ryanair, so I can't really comment on that) the seat pitch seems around 31" in economy for most flights I ever took.

This is about what most airlines offer on long haul flights (in cattle class) and is certainly tolerable for short hops of less than two hours.

Perhaps our descendants will.

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