SHE’S ‘LEAN’ & MEAN
Flight reclined-seat battle caught on camera
Fury is flying once again over reclining airplane seats — and this time, one passenger is fighting for her airline-given rights.
Footage from an unknown flight shows an unidentified woman tearing into another passenger who allegedly spent the whole trip trying to push her seat upright.
‘I’m allowed!’
“The whole trip she pushin’ my seat!” the woman said in a heavy Southern accent to the couple sitting behind her, who put their hands up in defense of their actions.
“Both of y’all was doing the same thing,” the man tried to tell the woman.
Eyes wide with anger, the woman rose to her feet and shouted down the protestations of the alleged pusher.
“No, you seen it! You know she did! I’m allowed to put my seat back! I’m allowed to put my seat back!” she shouted, pounding her chest.
“I’m allowed. To. Put. My. Seat. Back!” she finally declared before turning around as the video cut out.
The usual debate was unleashed in the comments.
“It can be annoying sometimes to be behind someone with their seat all the way, but if the airlines didn’t want to allow that, it wouldn’t happen,” wrote one man, John Hawkins, on X. “You don’t kick the seat like a baby. Blame the airline, not the person doing what the airline says is fine.”
Another commenter wrote, “I mean if she wasn’t allowed to put her seat back then why was the seat adjustable??”
In a ‘tight’ spot
The showdown was a strike-back for pro-recliners, who suffered a blow in August when a woman was filmed successfully battling back a recliner by holding the seat in front of her upright with her hands on a trans-Atlantic flight.
“Respect the person behind you,” the anti-reclining passenger repeated four times in patronizing tones as the woman ahead of her politely asked what was going on.
Experts remain divided on the reclining debate.
Diane Gottsman, an etiquette professional with The Protocol School of Texas, said reclining is rude “unless you were sitting in a seat with extra legroom, or in first class,” according to USA Today.
“Space is tight, and it’s common knowledge and no surprise that you will be sitting in tight quarters,” Gottsman added.
Julia Esteve Boyd, an etiquette coach from Switzerland, disagreed.
“It can be irritating or uncomfortable for the person seated behind. However, it is completely reasonable to recline your seat if you want to,” Boyd told The Points Guy.
Boyd noted that one should be mindful of what their rear-seatmate is doing before raising or lowering their seat.