'She told me not to recline my seat on a red-eye because she was working'

The traveller accompanied her rant with a hilarious diagram of the incident that happened mid-flight in the middle of the night.

To recline or not to recline?

That’s the age-old question that has sparked many mid-flight arguments and internet debates. 

Personally, I believe that seats have that function for a reason and ‘proper etiquette’ shouldn’t even be a topic that’s discussed. 

You recline your seat, the person behind you reclines theirs and so on and so forth until the whole plane is like a line of fallen dominoes. 

But evidently, not everyone agrees with this approach. 

One Aussie traveller recently found herself trying to reason with the passenger behind her after she confronted her about reclining her seat in the middle of the night. 

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"I’m working on my laptop and I can’t open it if you recline your seat"

Posting to the Women Who Travel Facebook group, the anonymous woman explained that she and her friend were on a seven-hour red-eye flight.

“We both like the window seat (so I can lean and sleep) so we sat in separate rows,” she said. “I sat behind my friend. She’s pregnant, she reclined her seat. Once the lights were dimmed and people started sleeping, I reclined my seat. 

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She also pointed out that normally, she wouldn’t recline her seat (to avoid this exact scenario) but because it was a long flight and her friend was reclining in front of her, she needed to give herself space. 

“Suddenly, the person behind me taps me on the shoulder. She said, ‘Excuse me, can you not recline your seat? I’m working on my laptop and I can’t open it if you recline your seat.’

“I told her that I had to get some sleep on the flight, which is when she suggested I move to the empty middle seat next to me to sleep. The middle seat? To sleep? Next to a stranger? 

“So I said to her, can she move to the empty middle seat next to HER to continue working. I told her I paid for my specific seat so I could sleep and she responded that she also paid for her seat.”

The woman then asked her if she could “compromise” by not reclining “all the way” and eventually she did because she was tired of debating. 

She then concluded her post by asking, “On an overnight flight, where the entire cabin is sleeping, who if anyone, is in the right here?”

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Image: Facebook

"She was being difficult and entitled"

The 370+ comments all provided different opinions on the matter but the majority agreed that the other woman was being unreasonable. 

“The person who is reclining has the right. Seats recline because passengers have the right to recline them,” one of the top comments read. “Sucks for the person behind who gets less space but tough luck, that’s commercial flying.”

“In an overnight flight, I would say you are in the right. She could easily move to do her work. Perhaps next time you suggest to call the airline crew to confirm protocol and find a solution for her?” wrote another. 

“Person on the laptop could have moved over, it's not her office space, She was being difficult and entitled,” someone else offered up. 

Then this person pointed out, “Even if it were daytime and people were working on laptops that would be a big ask. As an overnight flight, that request is ridiculous.”

"Reclining is a jerk move"

But then the anti-seat recliners came out and said, “Personally I hate when people recline in front of me. There's so little space as it is, and a reclined seat totally encroaches on what tiny bit of space there is. I rarely recline because I don't want to take the space of the person behind me.”

Another wrote, “I never ever recline my seat and I think anyone who reclines their seat is, frankly, a selfish jerk. Why are you okay with making someone else uncomfortable? You are taking up their space in a situation where space is already SO limited. Unless you explicitly ask the person and they say it's okay, reclining is a jerk move.”

Then a third agreed, “It’s rude to ever recline on a plane, as we all know it makes the seat behind you extremely uncomfortable. It also doesn’t allow them to use their tray table fully or often even get something from the bag under the seat. The recline is minimal to the person reclining, so it’s not needed.”

Image: Facebook

A diagram for clarification

In a follow-up comment, the original poster provided clarification for a few people who didn’t understand how the incident played out.

She wrote: “Some of you are so funny not understanding the logistics of this so here’s my crappy illustration to demonstrate this 😂. Again, the flight left at 11 pm. Dinner service was long over, lights were out. Everyone was asleep.”

This is her diagram so you can decide for yourself who's in the wrong! 

This article was originally published in July 2023 and was updated in April 2024.

Originally published as 'She told me not to recline my seat on a red-eye because she was working'