A woman with 1.5 million followers put her strategy for fighting back against seat recliners on display. She uses a Pringles can wedged between the tray table and its locking mechanism, effectively blocking the seat ahead from tilting backward.
@clareduggan1982 @Pringles #traveltiktok #traveltips #lifehacks #pringle ♬ original sound – clareduggan1982
Of course it’s taking up some of her tray table space, too. This is a do-it-yourself knee defender, a commercial product that stops the seat in front of you from reclining by bracing it into place.
Pringles were also a preferred strategy for circumventing inflight mask rules during the pandemic.
To be clear, you are allowed to recline if your seat reclines (except during takeoff and landing, when you’re instructed by crew to be in a full upright position for safety), and seat recline can be important for comfort especially on long flights with poorly-padded seats. (I wouldn’t be opposed to a petition banning Recaro seats.)
Recline works to distribute passenger weight and reduce back stress. Reclining is also a basic right when it’s a feature of your seat (certain airlines like Spirit and Frontier feature seats they call “pre-reclined” i.e. that do not recline).
- A passenger controls their own seat
- Airlines ban the Knee Defender device, which prevents recline – a device was designed to stop reclining. While their interest is prevent damage to the seat, they do not allow the passenger seated behind to interfere with the recline function
However, there is an etiquette to exercising your right to recline:
- Don’t recline during mealtime.
- Try not to recline unless it serves a real purpose (if it doesn’t actually benefit your comfort, don’t recline).
- Let them know you’re going to recline, and do it gently. That helps keep this from happening:
@Delta small note for the suggestion box, maybe have a little warning sign or someway to prevent my laptop from being destroyed when the person in front of me reclines their seat. pic.twitter.com/QHmphXiDhH
— Pat “Beave” Cassidy (@HardFactorPat) February 26, 2020
If you don’t want the passenger in front of you to recline, politely ask them not to. And if they want to recline and you don’t want them to, consider whether it’s worth your while to make not reclining worth their while. Many years ago all it took was $5 (offered with a parent’s permission) for me to convince a child seated in front of me not to recline so that I could work effectively on my laptop.
The product you’re buying in a standard coach seat usually does not offer very much space. Keep in mind that both Southwest Airlines and JetBlue offer more space than United, Delta, or American – but not for long. As both carriers add premium seats they will reduce the space of standard coach seats. Many international airlines offer more space in coach than U.S. airlines do.
If you don’t want seat recline, fly Spirit. Their seats don’t recline. The airline markets the seats as “pre-reclined” which is funny when you think about the seats being in a standard fixed position. But those who want reclined seats banned have a choice!
Ultimately you need to buy the space that you want, ask politely that passengers around you conform to norms, and if they don’t get a crewmember involved. You can also consider a Coasian solution: you each have an initial set of rights and they can impede on each other’s preferences, so find a (cash) bargain.
I am in agreement with all points except this one:
“ If you don’t want the passenger in front of you to recline, politely ask them not to.”
Nobody wants the passenger in front of them to recline. Asking them not to is selfish, entitled, and low class. A better approach – buy a seat behind the exit row that doesn’t recline.
There’s rarely a need to recline on your average do.estic trip. Most are under three hours, so you should be fine.
I was on a flight out of Fargo one day, happily seated in my exit row seat, knowing the tow in front of me was non-reclining. The woman in the window seat in that row tried to recline, even before takeoff. When it wouldn’t, she called a flight attendants to complain, thinking it was broken. The FA explained that it didn’t recline. The lady plays the “I’m old and have a bad back, so I absolutely can’t sit in this seat” card.
The FA smiled sweetly, told her it was a full flight, so they could let her off so she could be booked on a later flight.
Suddenly, she was able to fly the whole two hours without reclining, and walked off the plane without a problem.
Everyone should understand how cramped it is in human storage. Folks shouldn’t recline unless that are going to nap,
I fly Premium Economy and pay that difference to be more comfortable on a 10 hour flight.
YOU BET I’M GOING TO RECLINE after dinner, to get some sleep.Dpu
Porter Airlines flies turboprops (DH8-400s) with a minimum pitch of 32″. I really don’t mind if the person in front of me leans back if I have a 32″ pitch. Westjet and Air Canada fly the same plane with a smaller pitch, 30″ and 31″, respectively.
They get one polite request to remove the can, the crew gets notified to resolve, but if no resolution…. then….
That cardboard Pringles can would be crushed and the contents sent flying if the jerk behind me tries that stunt. It’s amazing what holding the seat recline button and slamming 240+ lbs into the seat can accomplish!
This won’t end until…
Tray tables and coach seats are not made for laptops and doing work on laptops. If you need/want space pay for premium and if your employer expects you to type away like you’re in a cubicle let them pay for premium.
Even in the good old days, before laptops, typing on a laptop would have been difficult, particularly if all three seats were filled.
That’s the reality of $99 coach fares.
If seat reclines, you are entitled to recline. Has always been this way. There are so many people out there who buy those seats because they need to reposition for various reasons.
Sad that the airlines reduced space and neglected to accommodate laptops. They have caused this issue, not the people who have and still do recline due to need to reposition. The irritated need to attack the airline, not people who do what they have been allowed to do for decades!
@Linda S Kremer you really need to speak for yourself and let others speak for themselves because you know borscht about seat recline and you clearly don’t have a bad back.
On flights longer than about 45 minutes, most of those with bad backs are in agony if the seat remains in the upright position.
The second I’m allowed, my seat is reclined. During meal service I bring it back up. I always recline slowly, but I recline.
If someone tries to prevent me from reclining, which has happened twice, I recline anyway. I removed the seat defender so fast that the guy behind me didn’t know what happened. The other time I removed the shoe jamming the seat and handed to the flight attendant.
@NSL14 You echo my sentiment. As the wheels leave the runway, I slowly recline my seat. I’m over 70, so the ability to attenuate some of that downward pressure on the lumbar spine definitely has a benefit. I almost got into a spat with the man behind me on a BA European flight, but I noticed empty seats in the cabin & just asked the FA if I could move.
You’re missing the point here. Blocking any design functionality is legally performing unauthorized maintenance and punishable with civil fines from the FAA. There are plenty of bored Aviation Safety Inspectors who will gladly write the violation against the idiot who thinks their space is more important than another’s comfort.
The fines aren’t small and easily enforced.
I paid for a reclining seat. You’re goddam right I will use it. Period.
When all common courtesy fails dealing with the recliner, grab the back of the reclined seat to pull yourself up. Then behave like a bull in a china shop trying to get to the aisle. Before you say that’s just not right, I agree. However it seems to be the way passengers sit and rise from the seats.
I can’t figure out how a laptop screen breaks just because the person in front reclines.
Are they wedging the screen under the tab that holds the tray table latched when upright so when the person in front reclines it bends the screen and breaks it?
Hey, One Trippe. Try that crap with me and we won’t be discussing my seat reclining because YOU will be the one that is reclining. In the aisle, after I knock you out, you idiot.
Nope. Just because the seat reclines doesn’t mean you should. Stop this horror. The logic of laptops is wrong. Maybe I don’t want to work but watch content. You have no right to be on my knees. The logic should be cheap flight= discomfort. If you need comfort, pay for business class or take a train.
CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s that United flies have a 32″ or 33″ pitch. And the 2-2 configuration means very little fighting over the armrest. I far prefer them the usual 737 or A320.
You’re more than welcome to recline your seat, just as I’m welcome to kick it and jam my water bottle in your back.
Yeah, I’d love to see you take me on, you reclining lazy fat pricks.
Why does the European budget airlines have so much leg room but the expensive US airlines are so tight? And why are you guys fighting and suggesting you will assault each other? We are not children, use your words effectively and communicate your issues.
“Why does [sic] the European budget airlines have so much leg room but the expensive US airlines are so tight?” EasyJet 29″ Ryanair 28″
Any other myths you want to spread?