S/o of airline seat reclining...(rant)

If your little precious kiddo is kicking my seat, I might have to toss my drink behind me.

I give people a pass on this. It is not easy to stand straight up in the narrow space, especially if the seat in front of you is reclined. As long as it is not a constant thing, I am okay with it. I just don’t want constant banging or motion.

I completely agree with you - however watching some people on flights I realize how difficult it is for some people to get up out of these cramped seats

Tall people upgrade to Premier or exit aisle (if 1st class is too expensive). That's what we did on our recent Alaska trip. My DH is 6'7" so, it was necessary.

Flying is pretty miserable for everyone. I am small and fully mobile, so I do not have as many issues as other people might have, and I will tell you, I still think that airline seats are cramped. We also do not always have the ability to upgrade -- yes, it costs more, and some of us travel for work and do not necessarily control what kinds of seats our employers permit us to get. The main thing I end up with is -- because I am small -- often a person in an adjacent seat will literally hang over the side of the arm rest into my seat area. I've even had people put up the arm rest entirely so that they can better access the area assigned to me. I do politely ask them not to -- it's uncomfortable having a person's elbow in your side no matter how much you are trying to make the best of things -- and, so far, I've never had someone refuse.

Anyhow, my general position is that as long as everyone is trying, I'm going to try not to let things bother me. Babies are going to scream. Someone is going to bring smelly food, or won't have showered, or will be wearing overpowering cologne. Someone will get drunk and fall asleep in an aisle seat and people will have trouble getting out to access the bathroom. Probably that person will also snore. People are going to recline seats. Someone definitely is going to pull on the back of my seat at some point to get up, and it is, based on what I have observed, and consistent with what others have said, generally because some combination of their size and their mobility issues makes it difficult to get up otherwise.

My husband struggles with it between his height (6'6") and failed back surgeries. We always get the extra legroom or premium seats but it's still hard for him to lift himself out of the seat sometimes.  

I am short and can put my bag in the overhead and take it out. What is hard for me is reaching the handle to open the bin! Lol! Especially on the larger planes that have overhead bins that open downward. I can never reach the handle to open those.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm happy to help people who need help. I don't blame people for not wanting to check their bag - it's an extra expense and lost/delayed luggage SUCKS. 

Last time my 6' DS flew home, he helped a little old lady put her luggage in and out of the overhead compartment. He was laughing because she gave him a drink coupon on JetBlue, and said she keeps a pack of them for the tall, handsome young men she asks for help when she flies.

We flew home last fall with my elderly parents from Rome to Munich and then to Denver. My husband and I spent hours researching all the airplanes because my mother had a fear of having to crawl over someone to get to the aisle. We were stuck on our choices for the first leg of the flight, but we discovered the longest leg (Munich to Denver) had a section near the back of the plane where there were just two seats on each side, rather than 3. This was perfect! My husband and I took the aisle right after them so I could make sure no one would kick my dad's seat (major pet peeve of his). 

So I couldn't believe it when we're finally in the air and the captain turns off the seat belt sign, my husband reclines his seat and gets an immediate tap on his shoulder from the guy behind him. The guy tells him "don't recline", so at first we thought we weren't allowed to yet so my husband put his seat back up. Then we noticed that most people were reclining, so he reclined his seat. Again, a tap on the shoulder and the guy says "don't recline". I felt bad because he was the last row against the "wall" and couldn't recline, but sorry, we did our research for this 10+ hour flight and we needed to rest. We were polite when food was served and put the seats up, but darn it, we weren't going to suffer along with that guy for the whole flight. 

I've never flown and probably never will. These stories make it sound just miserable.

I don’t love to fly, but I love to travel.  The inconveniences of air travel are worth it to me to get to and from my destination. 

I guess I'm lucky because I have never had that happen. LOL Just an occasional grab of the seat.