Woman reveals how to win ‘seat recline wars’ on flights after passenger fight

A WOMAN has explained how she “won the seat reclining war” during a flight following an annoyed passenger behind her.

Rachel Thomas, from Wellington, revealed her tactics during a long-haul flight from New Zealand to Europe.

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Despite the 12-hour overnight flight, she said she still faced problems with reclining her seat from other passengers.

She wrote on Stuff.nz: “Whenever I reclined my seat and shut my eyes, I would open them minutes later to see my seat in line with the empty one next to me.

“The passenger behind me was un-reclining my seat.”

She turned around and saw a woman in her early 50s, “no more than 1.6m tall”.

She also had her knees pressed to the back of Rachel’s seat – and refused to move them when she asked.

They continued to argue, with the stranger telling Rachel she was “only meant to recline when she was sleeping” – to which Rachel said she couldn’t because of her knees.

When the other woman pretended she couldn’t hear Rachel, she said she took drastic measures – and told the flight attendant.

Rachel explained: “A flight attendant materialised to have an almost identical (albeit more polite) discussion with her, explaining “seat-ramming” is not allowed.

“Eventually the flight attendant moved her to the back of the plane, apologised profusely to me, then moved me to premium economy, saying ‘I think she might strangle you’.”

Bizarrely, it happened on Rachel’s returning flight as well – where another woman said she “almost broke her neck “when she reclined her seat.

People were divided in the comments, however.

One person said: “When you pay for your seat you are buying the space you recline into, it isn’t the person behind’s space.”

However, someone else didn’t agree, saying: “I’m tall, but I never put my seat in recline as I think it unfair on the passenger behind. Airlines should remove that function.”

Seat reclining on flights often causes debate online.

A man was called a “jerk” for reclining his seat during a long haul flight.

And another woman said she had an “evil” way to stop people reclining.

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