‘Plane passenger demanded I put my seat upright – | Travel News

A woman has ignited a discussion after that she maintained her airplane seat in a reclined position, knowing it was causing discomfort to another passenger. She recounted her experience on a nine-hour flight from Dallas to Paris with her mother, during which she planned to sleep.

To facilitate this, she reclined her seat, put on headphones, and closed her eyes. However, the woman seated behind her soon interrupted her rest, requesting that she return her seat to an upright position.

The woman shared her story on Reddit: “After take off, I lean back my seat to begin snoozing. Almost immediately, the girl behind me taps on my shoulder and asks me to pull up my seat, which I do, but then asked why.

“She said there was a baby in a car seat right behind her, so she couldn’t recline, and if I leaned my seat back, she can’t really see the TV screen on the back of my seat.

“I was like, OK, but a few minutes in I realised I really needed to lean my seat back if I was gonna sleep (it just made a huge difference for me).”

Noticing an unoccupied seat in another row, she suggested the woman move there so she could continue watching her movie while she reclined and rested. However, the woman refused.

She added: “I figured, since there was an empty seat in the middle section just a few rows back, if it really bothered her, she could move there. I had even told her as much.

“So, after a few minutes, I leaned back my seat again and close my eyes. She then gets the attention of a flight attendant to tell me to pull up my seat. I put in my headphones.”

The woman, clearly irritated, summoned a flight attendant and detailed her predicament, only to be told that there was nothing that could be done. “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. Thing is, we were in the window seat, and the girl complained that she picked that seat because it’s the window seat so she refused to move. Meanwhile, I pretended to sleep the whole time.”

In seeking opinions on whether her refusal to adjust her seat was justified, she expressed: “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 a***hole though. It was just a sucky situation.”

One user remarked on her post: “I’d love for airline seats to slide forward to recline. Want to recline? Lose a couple inches of legroom but not inconvenience the person behind you.”

Another chimed in with criticism about seat design, saying: “Airline passenger seats have been designed without thinking through all the permutation on how people actually use them when flying.”

A third weighed in on the issue of safety and convenience, stating: “Car seats are required to be in the window seat so as to not block other passengers if there is an emergency. So the only real solution was for the girl to move.”