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29th April 2023
04:06pm BST

The man was clear that he did not check if the flight had any extra emergency exit seats, as, usually, “I do not often run into issues with seats beside me, although this issue with people in front of me not being able to recline has occurred before, though not always, and has earned me some dirty looks from those in front of me in the past”.
He concluded the post by saying: “So, am I the a******? Should I pay extra for seats with more legroom so that people in front of me can recline even though this is not always a problem?”
It prompted more than 3,000 comments.
And people were divided.
One wrote: “As a frequent traveller on 14-hour flights and short enough that I can stretch my legs out in economy, I will say that people who recline are a*******.”
“Someone almost snapped my laptop because it was on the tray table and I had to slam it shut before they reclined. I don’t know why you’d design them that way but honestly, between being kicked by kids behind and having a seat slammed into my face if I try to lean forward to stretch my back, there’s never a time where reclining is more comfortable than the inconvenience they cause.”
Another said: “Unpopular opinion but reclining the seat full-back is just rude these days. The lack of space between seats these days is appalling. I’ll try to get one with more leg room but it’s not always possible.”
But lots of people said they needed to recline seats for their health.
One person wrote: “Some of us have medical issues (scoliosis in my case) that make it unbearable to sit fully upright for long spans of time. It takes several days of pain for my back and neck to recover to their normal pain level after travelling and being unable to recline the seat.”
Another added: “I need to recline in any flight that’s more than 4 hrs or I won’t be able to walk straight for 2 days after the flight, there are some airlines I won’t take because the seats recline too little to avoid my back pain.”
The original poster later wrote in the comments: “I might be the a****** because I realise that people ordinarily have some room to recline on flights and that if they get me behind them, then they are just unlucky and they can’t. I worry that I am the a******, in other words, because my being behind people effectively takes away their ability to recline, which they normally would have.”