Plane etiquette: To recline or not to recline your seat

It is one of the most frequently debated plane acts and while most Aussies refuse to do it, don’t expect the same from Americans.

It’s one of the most debated plane acts of all time — to recline or not to recline.

For years, passengers have argued over whether it is acceptable to recline your seat, with some branding it “annoying”.

The Great Recline Debate is one that has vexed regular travellers since that little silver button first appeared and according to a recent survey by travelsearch engine Kayak, 88 per cent think the button is there for a reason, and will happily engage in the act.

The survey was conducted from June 7 to June 12 this year and took place online, with a cross-section of 1000 adults from the US and Canada aged 18 and over, who’ve travelled by air in the past three years.

It comes after a video posted to TikTok, and then to X, formerly Twitter, went viral online after one passenger reclined their seat.

In the clip, two American passengers could be seen engaging in a heated argument upon landing after a frustrated woman claimed another passenger had pushed her seat the entire flight.

The button that is often the cause of most flight arguments. Picture: iStock

“The whole trip she pushed my seat,” the fed-up American woman told a male passenger in the row behind. “You seen it. You know she did.”

Rising from her seat, the woman yelled repeatedly: “I’m allowed to put my seat back.”

Ian Miles Cheong, who posted the video to the platform, wrote: “She’s allowed to put her seat back. You don’t get to kick it repeatedly just because you want more space.”

Many praised the woman for standing her ground.

“If the seat is reclinable, recline it,” one person wrote.

“You are allowed! Period! You want space in front of you instead of pushing the seat, buy a seat with extra space or get your ass to business class. Reclining was put there for a reason,” another said.

That traveller added: “She was patient enough to wait till flight landed”.

But others claimed there was an unwritten rule that you should not recline your seat, especially on a short-haul flight.

Some travellers blamed the airlines and said they should scrap the ability to recline altogether.

“Putting your seat back in coach is an unspoken thing most people don’t do. It’s really the airline’s fault because they’ve made coach so cramped and tight that putting the seat back shouldn’t even be an option,” one person wrote.

If you were to ask an Aussie, 41.1 per cent have a problem with it and surprisingly, it’s something many Aussies refuse to do.

According to one survey, 54.2 per cent of Aussie travellers won’t recline their plane seat, and according to another, 88 per cent of passengers from the US and Canada will engage in the act.

According to recent research conducted by Compare the Market, 54.2 per cent of Aussie travellers said they won’t recline their own seat., while it was a little lower in Canada at 47.6 per cent and in the States it was 46.5 per cent.

In Australia, just over half the people surveyed claimed to avoid reclining their seats to respect other passengers.

But, there’s still a chunk of Aussies (29.2 per cent) who would still recline their seats – dirty looks or not.

While it is what they are designed to do, a fivethirtyeight poll showed that four in 10 people think it’s “rude”.

A clip went viral last week of a woman in a heated argument with the person behind them after she reclined her seat. Picture: X

Meanwhile, the survey also touched on the dreaded middle seat – and the great armrest debate.

It revealed 67.7 per cent of flyers say passengers in the middle seat should get one armrest.

It was a similar verdict from the Kayak survey, with 57 per cent of travellers agreeing you are not allowed to claim both armrests just because you’re seated in the middle.

However, according to a news.com.au poll, 69 per cent (of 13005 voters) agreed middle seat passengers should be entitled to both armrests.

Earlier this year, one woman sparked a heated debate when she revealed a passenger wasn’t impressed when she reclined her seat as it meant she couldn’t use her laptop.

She took to TikTok to share her story while on a six-hour flight.

“So I recline my seat and the girl behind me IMMEDIATELY tells me that she can’t use her laptop if I recline, didn’t ask me to unrecline – more of a statement with the expectation,” the woman said.

“So I put the seat back to normal although I want it reclined for this six-hour flight. Let it go?”

The clip was viewed by more than 620,000 with users divided about who was in the right.

In August, a passenger on a 12-hour flight refused to let the woman in front of her recline her seat — telling her to “respect the person behind you”.

Last year, another woman went viral after she told the Fitzy & Wippa radio show she finds the move “inconsiderate” and immediately exacts revenge by facing all the vents in her fellow passenger’s direction.