The age-old debate of whether to recline one’s seat or not while flying may finally be settled.
While there are some passengers who insist on reclining their seat each flight and jamming it into the knees of the passenger behind them – and the furious travelers who became irate (and even aggressive) at those who do…
… the latest move from airlines may just eliminate the option to recline altogether.
To start – we know airlines don’t care about the comfort of their passengers.
Their goal is to make as much money as possible – and they are more than happy to make the seats smaller and smaller and cramp as many passengers as possible onto their planes to increase their revenue.
And the newest way they’ve schemed up to save money is by eliminating reclining seats.
But why?
Well, there are a variety of reasons.
Seats that recline have more gadgets and features that are prone to break… which means airlines would have to repair them.
This of course takes time and money – and airlines hate spending money fixing things that will make your flight more comfortable (hence why the earphone jacks never seem to work) or the “broken” charging outlets.
And of course, the obvious – non-reclining seats take up less weight on the plane and are cheaper to make – and will hopefully likely lead to less angry passengers who hate seat recliners.
MSN reported:
“For airlines, this represents a cost, firstly from maintenance: any kind of mechanism is prone to breaking, whether from normal wear and tear or because passengers don’t treat airplanes gently.
Secondly, it’s a weight cost, because these mechanisms can quickly add up. Most modern and lightweight airplane seats are somewhere between seven and 10 kilograms (15-22 pounds) per passenger today. Any weight that can be saved means reducing the fuel needed to carry it.
And thirdly – and in some ways most importantly – it’s a disruption cost, because if passengers are fighting with each other over seat reclining etiquette, then flight attendants have to play schoolyard monitor.”
I’m actually excited about this latest change – as I believe seat recliners are rude – and entitled.
Seats are small enough as it is and having the passenger in front of me recline their seat back and cramp my already tight space is infuriating.
Our previous editor – and multimillion-mile traveler agrees – and wrote a strong-worded piece about this very topic.
And you might want to check out an “entitled millennial’s response” to the reclining debate to see how millennials really think.
In summary – seat recliners don’t care if you are uncomfortable, just that they are comfortable.
The good news is – whether you love to recline your seat or hate those who do – the current trend shows these reclining seats are finally starting to go away.
And it can’t happen soon enough!
But I’m sure entitled passengers will still find other obnoxious ways to make the flight miserable for everyone else.
Do you think passengers should recline their seats while flying?
What’s your take on airlines eliminating reclining seats?
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