This Person Is Wondering If They’re The A**Hole For Reclining Their Seat On A Long Flight

Recently, on the r/amitheasshole subreddit, a person went viral after asking whether or not it's okay to recline your airplane seat while on a flight.

User throwaway28r729e8r7 said in their post, "Last week, I was on a flight from Dallas to Paris (a 9-hour flight). My plan was to sleep as much as possible on the plane, as it was an overnight flight, and I was losing seven hours of sleep. After takeoff, I leaned back my seat to begin snoozing. Almost immediately, the girl behind me tapped on my shoulder and asked me to pull up my seat, which I did, but then asked why."

"So...after a few minutes, I leaned back my seat again and closed my eyes. She then got the attention of a flight attendant to tell me to pull up my seat. I put in my headphones, so the next part was relayed to me by my mom, who was sitting next to me. Apparently the flight attendant told her she couldn't do anything about it (what was she supposed to do, make everyone in front of her not lean their seats back)?"

"The girl then got the attention of two more flight attendants, who all said the same thing and offered the same seat I told her about. The thing is, we were in the window seat, and the girl complained that she picked that seat because it was the window seat, so she refused to move. Meanwhile, I pretended to sleep the whole time."

"I felt really bad for her. If it was me, I'd be complaining too. But I also didn't really care about the window and wouldn't have been bothered at all about moving, so in my mind, when I leaned back, I figured she could move if it really bothered her. I bet she really thought I was the asshole though. It was just a sucky situation. Am I the asshole?"

Some users felt that the original poster had done absolutely nothing wrong. User Shprintze613 said, "You are 100 percent always allowed to recline your seat, especially on transatlantic flights overnight."

"I have been on hundreds of them, and EVERYONE reclines. Not the asshole. No notes."

"Not the asshole," said user CommonSense07. "I'm not sure how a baby in a car seat behind her keeps her from reclining, so that seems like an excuse. It's a long flight; you're allowed to recline your seat."

User BigMax said, "Not the asshole. Planes suck. Having the seat in front of you down is a bummer. It's less of a bummer than not being able to put your own seat down, though. And if you weren't supposed to recline, the seats simply wouldn't recline. The airlines let you recline; it's part of the seat, part of your right."

"Think of it this way: If not being able to recline YOUR seat means the person in front of you isn't allowed to, that means the person in front of THEM isn't allowed to either. And then EVERY seat in front can't recline, right? What's worse? One seat that can't recline? Or that one seat forcing all 35 seats in front of it not to recline? Flying sucks. We need to all just accept that and not insist that everyone else is just as unhappy as the least happy person on the plane."

Many felt that the original poster wasn't at fault; the airline was. User Individual_Ad_9213 said, "Not an asshole; airline passenger seats have been designed without thinking through all the permutations on how people actually use them when flying. Being able to recline and sleep/rest is an acceptable activity when on a flight, especially when it's overnight and across the pond."

User ThePrefect0fWanganui said, "I’m 5’4" and tiny, and the last time I did a cross-country red-eye flight, I was shocked at how little room we had, even before the man in front of me reclined."

"My knees were actually touching the back of his seat, I definitely couldn’t use the seat back TV, and the tray table I had to set my laptop on to watch movies was basically pinning me against my seat. I used to be able to lean forward and sleep on my tray table — I can’t do it anymore on these newly configured planes. It was absolutely miserable, and I couldn’t sleep the whole flight. And no, I didn’t recline because I looked behind me and saw a pretty tall person in that seat. My rule is that I only recline if the seat behind me is empty or has a small child in it. The airlines are the assholes."

"Not the asshole," said user Railuki. "Planes aren’t built for comfort; they’re built to sardine in people and get them from A to B with as many extra charges as they can manage."

"I know airlines can’t replace all their planes at once, but there is no sign of them caring or it getting better. I know the issue of people’s weight and seat sizes can be divisive, but no one can argue that a tall person should just 'lose height' to be able to get their knees in. Long story short, if you’re flying economy, prepare to feel every discomfort. Not that many people can afford business or first class."

"Since airlines started to make the gaps between seats tiny in the early 1980s, it hasn't been possible to recline your seat without causing problems for others," said user fishywiki.

"The issue isn't you reclining, but rather the airlines' lack of care for their passengers. I'm reasonably tall, and my knees always touch the back of the seat in front — so any reclining will squash my knees, irrespective of what I do with my own seat. So the airline is the asshole, but you didn't show much compassion for the woman behind you. And she could have moved, so neither of you is squeaky clean here."

User MissionBeing8058 said, "The airline is the asshole. Less legroom and wide body planes that used to have nine seats across in economy mostly now have ten seats across."

Other commenters understood choosing to recline the seat but said it wasn't something they would have done themselves. User Glitchedme said, "Technically, no, it's the airline's fault. But let me ask you this: if the roles were reversed, and the person in front of you reclined but you couldn't, how would you feel?"

"If I recline the seat at all, I do it only a fraction, just so I'm not at a 90-degree angle, but the seat is basically still upright and not overly infringing on the person's space behind me. Airplanes are incredibly uncomfortable for everyone to begin with; I don't want to make the person behind me even more cramped and uncomfortable just to barely ease my discomfort. But to each their own."

"Not the asshole," said user patinum. "But personally I never recline. I feel like the small bit of comfort I gain is nothing compared to the amount of discomfort for the person behind me, not to mention the cascading effect it can have."

User Nervous-Ad292 said, "I think we need to accept that it's the way things are and attempt to be the bigger person. Every time I sit behind someone who immediately reclines their seat, it irritates me; even though I know it’s their right, as the person who has purchased their seat, to utilize every function on the seat if they wish, it still encroaches on my airspace, and makes the tray slant downwards, rendering it unusable."

"Or say I’m sitting next to a kid, yes it’s my right to watch whatever I want on the screen in front of me, but I don’t think an 8-year-old boy needs to watch Fifty Shades of Grey, so I’ll probably choose a more kid-friendly selection. I allow someone else’s kid to influence my choices because I consider how I would feel if the roles were reversed. I think if everyone would take a minute to reverse roles in airplane situations, everything would be easier."

Others felt that the original poster should have been more considerate. User GrannyMayJo said, "If one is thinking only of themselves, then technically whatever you do in the seat that you paid for, including reclining your seat, is within your rights, and any inconvenience for someone else is their problem, not yours."

"You're the asshole," said user wannabyte. "Is it illegal to recline your seat? No. Was it an asshole move to fully recline after agreeing not to, knowing that she couldn’t also recline, and then also not make use of her screen or tray? Yes."

"Airlines make seats that come with conflicting features. That makes them assholes. It is up to the passengers to negotiate some kind of reasonable compromise. You decided your comfort meant more than hers. Full stop. That’s an asshole move."

"Yes, you're the asshole," user Nynydancer said. "It’s really not fair to your fellow passengers."

"Tipping back a little is fine, but to the point someone can't see their screen is awful. I cannot stand people who do this. It’s only a rare few of you that are this selfish. Gross."

And finally, user Bumblebee7305 said, "You're the asshole. You were well within your rights to recline as a paying customer who is free to utilize all the amenities and functions of your seat. But you are an asshole when you disregard others’ comfort to the extent you did."

"Compromises could have been made. You could have worked out a partial recline angle that didn’t intrude on her space too much. Sure, it’s not as comfortable as reclining to the max, but it is considerate of the person behind you...So yes, you can recline. And yes, it does make you an asshole if you recline without considering how it affects others and seeing if you can compromise with them."

Now that you've read all this, I have to know — what do you think? Should you recline your seat on a flight or keep your seat fully upright? Does it depend on the length of the flight? Let us know in the comments.