Anonymous wrote:I found out about 10 years ago on facebook that there are very clearly two camps of people - those that feel a seat should NEVER be reclined, and those that can't imagine NOT reclining their seats. It seems to split partially along lines of height. Men over 6 feet appear to believe it is against the law to recline seats because it "hits their knees" and people under 6 feet typically believe seats that are not reclined are too hard on your back (which is true).
My position is that seats are extremely uncomfortable and reclining them makes it slightly better. I have some shoulder tendon problems that reclining makes better. It is a feature of the seat that I'm paying for, and I should be able to recline it. What the anti-recliner folks seem to not realize is that if seats did NOT recline, the airlines would just pack the seats another inch or two closer together and they would just lose the legroom they feel entitled to, because it is just an artificial byproduct of the fact that reclining seats require an extra coupe of inches in between.
If you truly can't fit in a seat, either widthwise because you are too fat or lengthwise because you are too tall, then you should purchase an economy plus or business class seat. When I want more space or fly on a long flight, I fly business. It should not be my job to accommodate you by neglecting to use a feature that I purchased just because you do not fit in your own seat.
I agree with this.
I also believe that grown people who behave like petulant children are only embarrassing themselves.