Silly question. Sometimes I get to wondering about things.

Flying has become an ordeal rather than the pleasure it used to be, IMO, partly because you're jammed into the seats.

So, for flights of, say, four hours or less, if they had one section with the adjustable seat backs and another where the seats were all straight up or just one niche reclined, which would you pick?

(The tradeoff of not being able to recline would be that the person in front of you wouldn't be reclining into you.)

I'd pick that everyone has to sit straight up, period! Never fails, as soon as I sit down the person in front of me reclines and I can't get out of my seat without holding onto the back of their seat. They always turn around and glare at me but how about me having my meal tray titled and my food slipping all over the place. Last flight to CA DH thought we'd outfox them buy requesting the seats in the middle of the plane by the exit door. There used to be a wide space by that door so you could stretch out your legs. Well, that's gone as they put 2 staight up seats in that space and if we had an emergency I would have been the person to open the hatch and help everyone to get out. May in Jersey

I am so short that it isn't ever a problem. I do have to recline my seat for flights longer than an hour or I get horrible back aches. I have had the person behind me complain that he could not use his lap tray when my seat was reclined. I offered to put it up for an hour and back for an hour during the 4 1/2 hour flight. He said no, to just leave it up. So, I left it reclined and napped on and off during the flight. I figured that I was trying to be nice and accomodating but, A lap tray to me is just a luxury...someone else's physical ailments should come first. I do tell my seatmates to feel free to stretch their feet/legs over in front of me, as mine barely touch the ground lol... and many of them do and appreciate it too.
I had a business class seat once when I was bumped, I could have stretched my legs out fully and barely touched the wall in front of me... On many of the flights I have been on many of these have been empty.
I think that they cram you in like sardines...My complaint is not having enough elbow room if you get stuck in a middle seat. I only did that once and was elbowed from both sides the entire 4+ hour flight... Never again :roll:

I'd pick the straight-up seat because that's how I prefer to sit, also because I hate having people recline in front of me.

I wasn't suggesting reclining seats should be done away with, only thinking that maybe they could make one section of reclining seats and one of straight-up seats and let passengers choose, the way you can choose between window and aisle seats.

I just wondered what everyone would choose if they had the choice. Not out to blame people.

IMO, the real solution is to make seats larger and spaced farther apart. In the airport as well as on the plane.

I never recline because I feel like I'm stealing someone else's space. I tend to set huddled in my tiny little seat trying not to touch anyone else's space. I'd set in the window sill to keep from touching a stranger next to me if it were possible.

our next flight will be from new jersey to anchorage. it won't matter how i sit. i'll be folded like origami when i get there. i hope i don't have to pee. that's worse than sitting. AND have you ever noticed that you always get seated between two huge-shouldered people, so there's no room for you at all?

Having to sit straight up kills my back, so I am a recliner.

I like to sit up straight, but as I am rather large I need for the seat in front of me to be straight up also. Fortunately, I have not had any problems, but I would rather drive for a couple of days if I can rather than fly.

No doubt about it. No reclining seats. Either the person in front reclines and invades your space, or you feel like you can't recline for fear of doing the same to the person behind you.

To recline, or not, that is the question. I don't usually recline (and I've logged thousands of miles!). If I try to recline, I feel as if I'm going to slide out of the seat.

As for those who do recline, I'd like for them to spend some time in my seat...having to look at the top of their seat, 6" from my face. Furthermore, I don't need to be able to count the hairs comprising your comb-over, your bald spot, see the oil glisten off your hair, or have your dandruff flakes in the foreground.

I'm one of those who believes that all seats on the plane should be permanently locked in the upright position. I have spent too many hours with a seat back in my face to have any tolerance for reclining seats.

I never understood the actions of individuals who insist on leaving their seat all the way reclined, when they're eating a meal on their tray. (You can tell I've been flying for years as meals have become extinct in coach) That's just rude and certainly qualifies as encroachment onto the poor schlub behind them.

Here's a solution I've used, especially on transcontinental and flights to/ from Europe. You wanna recline so you can sleep? Well, get ready 'cause I'm going to have a very active bladder and I WILL use your seat back as a handle that I have to shake on my way to the toilet. Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Time for a potty break. Don't go back to sleep, either, cause I'll shake, rattle, and roll your seat back when I return. Guaranteed.

I've also been known to literally put my foot against the back of the seat in front of me. No way you're going to put that seat back in my face. I even had a arrogant, self-ablsorbed yahoo threaten to hit me if I didn't let his seat recline. I told him to go ahead. (He didn't scare me. I had confronted pickpockets in Rome on that trip and got my husband's wallet back! Some yahoo in a suit on a plane didn't intimidate me.) The flight attendant told him to sit down and be quiet. He did eventually recline, but I sure as H-E- ** made his trip miserable after he did, as we were flying from Rome to San Francisco.

...and don't even get me started on the behavior of people whose seat is further back in coach, but put their stuff (and I cleaned up that!), in the overhead bins at the front of the cabin and then head on to their seat. "We all have to share the space." First off, it shouldn't even be necessary to make that announcement! Second, all of those people should be seated next to an overflowing toilet or to another passenger who just came off a 3-day wilderness camping trip and was still in their hiking clothes and shoes. Or, one who is prone to prolonged bouts of air sickness whereby they use all those little bag...repeatedly. Sweet.

Solution to the problem: If you have the time and resources, make that 4-hour flight a road trip. You will be much happier...and, unless you're driving, you can recline the entire trip. %>)

If you do have to fly, just steel yourself for the trip and be sure to get an aisle seat!

Flying! Ugh to the max!! If I can, I get the aisle seat in the exit row so I can have the leg room. At 5'11", I need it. I recently flew jet Blue for the first time; their seats are necessarily wider but every row has a couple of inches more leg room. Makes a world of differnce!

That takes care of length but not width. I try VERY hard not to invade someone else's space but it is impossible if you weigh over 98 pounds dripping wet. Middle seat?!! I can't count the number of times I end up crossing my arms the whole trip because the two $#%$^&*&^&%%$'s on either side of me grab the arm rests for the whole trip.

No, flying is no longer any type of pleasure. Airlines wonder why they aren't doing the business they used to do. Guess what, numb numbs! Torture people and they won't come back!!

Meant to say that Jet Blue seats aren't necessarily wider but....

The reclining doesn't bother me (much) and I usually keep mine upright. One thing about flying really bothers me though... my legs are short and the hang off the seat front, causing the circulation to be impeded and my legs to swell. Cab anyone think of something I could take in my carryon that would act as foot rest and not cause an international incident?

If you look on-line for inflatable pillows / foot rests, you will surely find something. Check out Magellan's. They have all sorts of travel accessories.

This may be what you're seeking:

http://www.magellans.com/store/In_Fl...ot_Rests?Args=


Inflatable works on the plane.

Enjoy!

There's a line of carry on luggage that is hard-sided that could double as a foot rest whle being practical. They're a bit pricey ... I think I saw them at Brookstones?

Thinking about all you have to go through to get on a plane, then you're squished into a small seat with the person in front of you reclining the minute they get in their seat and you're served a soggy mini pizza mess with a brown salad and mini thing that I think was a brownie makes me think twice about visiting our son and his family in CA. DH wants to drive there instead. There a lots of parts of the US that we've never been to so that may not be a bad idea. May in Jersey.

I hope and pray that is a problem I never have to face. I am extremely terrified of flying. I never have and hope I never have to. LOL! My fear of heights is so bad that I evem have problems going up and down stairways.

I fly first class so most of my complaints are reclining seat related. I don't want to stare at the top of some dude's flaky scalped male patterned baldness and I don't like it when a recliner drops my TV screen down five inches.

TV complaints: Too much ESPN, CNBC and CNN content. Bad audio is frequent. The one channel you can put up with will be inaccessible. I hope you like The Real Housewives on Bravo because you're getting 8 hrs of it.

Sometimes sharing the rather large armrest is surprisingly awkward due to someone placing their life's trove upon it.

The armrest tray table likes to bite fingertips.

Getting rid of alcohol would be a bonus. Either that or allow me to hog tie the belligerent drunk behind me. I'll yeehaw and gallop around on an invisible pony for entertainment purposes. C'mon, don't arrest me. It'll be fun.

Oh, yeah the armrest thing. Would it kill them to put in separate armrests with a divider between them?

Yeah, me too, I have to recline.

Pookie Ookie, Your post had me laughing because it brings back memories (that seems to be my trigger for writing these days). We've flown all over the world in the days when flights could be exciting. On my very first airplane trip I stupidly wore a wig, one of those Dolly Parton platinum things that made my face resemble a pecan. After we were in the air I started to get a severe headache, and my husband suggested I remove my wig. But, you see, I couldn't do that because I was also wearing a "do-rag" or a cut-off stocking cap to keep my own hair in place. By the time we arrived to wherever, I was as limp as the roses in my arms. I am older (much) and wiser (not as much) these days.

Zoe, your post has ME laughing! Ah, the things we've all done in the name of fashion!! And, you're right about flying in the early days, it was fun most of the time. Now-a-days, it's nothing more than a cattle call. Don't the airlines get it?!!

A yoga block?

that is exactly why I upgrade as often as I can. And a window seat to boot.

I seldom fly and only if absolutely necessary but I have to have my seat reclined because of back pain. My husband is the opposite and can't understand why I can't sit up straight. I'd like him to experience my sore back for a day and he might not be so quick to judge. Driving isn't great for me either because I can't drive/ride only a couple hours at a time or I have a hard time getting out of the car.

I don't think I want to know what shape my back will be in 20 years from now.

I used to love to fly, but after a couple of really bad experiences I don't even like to think of it. I don't like to recline--for one thing, the seats don't really recline enough to get any rest. And I don't like to bother anyone behind me--I would be too self-conscious worrying about if I was in their space to be able to sleep...
What happened to make me so afraid of flying now? There was a flight I was on, where the take-off was delayed--of course, AFTER we were already aboard. There was something wrong with the plane, and all the power was shut off. That also meant that there was absolutely no air flow through the plane either. I was sitting between two great big guys, who may or may not have bathed before the flight, but were sweating nonetheless. The air quickly got stagnant and from there got downright unbreathable. I tend to be claustrophobic anyway, and without any airflow and being blocked in between two big guys, it was all I could do not to freak out! I remember just sitting there, counting to distract my mind, talking to myself to get through it all.
Another time, I had requested an aisle seat, because after the above experience, I figured that it would be easier to manage if I was on the aisle. There were no aisle seats left, and the ticket agent said it would be best if I could talk the person on the aisle seat into trading spaces with me. Well, I was in the window seat and I saw a slim, very attractive woman coming down the aisle. I was delighted that she sat next to me and then just about lost it when her husband came down the aisle after her. He must have weighed about 350 pounds. He filled up that seat and I couldn't even see past him. I kept looking out the window to keep myself under control. Fortunately, it was a short flight. Now if I HAVE to fly anywhere, I do it with medication. A very nice anti-anxiety medication gets me through, but then when I get to where I'm going, I am drowsy from the "rescue" drug... :cry:

I want to fly First Class or posh private jet or not at all! Sitting up straight - yucky; someone in front of me reclining ... much more yucky! Over the years, I've flown in everything from a 2-seater with no heater (froze my buns off) to a C-130 with cargo and basically standing room only (and a sick 18-month old son) all the way from the Azore Islands to New Jersey. I've been on lots of commercial flights (no First Class, regrettably) and they are just barely tolerable.

Actually, scratch that first sentence ... I'm not getting in any more flying machines. I'll bloody well walk first!

I did go all across Canada by passenger train, though, back in the days when that was a classy way to travel (and probably still is) and I'm here to tell you ... I had a super FINE time!