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A video on the social media platform Xiaohongshu captured part of the confrontation and has sparked a debate about traveller etiquette.
What’s the deal with putting your seat back? Is there a particular time you can’t recline? What about on short flights? Is it good manners to ask first?
What are your passenger rights on reclining?
Flight Centre NZ general manager Heidi Walker says apart from meal times, take-off and landing or specific instruction from the crew, passengers are entitled to recline their seat whenever they like.
“In regards to the terms and conditions, there is nothing that is directly associated with reclining your seat, so that being able to recline your seat is absolutely a functionality of a seat and something that can be done.
Flight Centre New Zealand general manager Heidi Walker: "The basic expectation is that you don’t recline your seat during meal service." Photo / Dean Purcell
“What is mentioned is in regards to behaviour on the aircraft and that behaviour is to adhere to instructions from the cabin crew or pilot, and also to have good etiquette with other travellers and that’s about making sure that the whole aircraft is in a space which is safe and fair everybody.
“And from what I have read about the example with the Cathay Pacific flight, I think it’s more the behaviour of the passengers [who sat behind the person reclining their seat].”
The terms and conditions are fairly standard among airlines, Walker says. Those who don’t adhere face consequences, which could include having their passport taken or even calling in the police.
“The basic expectation is that you don’t recline your seat during meal service and that goes all the way to sharing your space considerately with others, and that can be about armrests and all sorts of things from, you know, tapping on the back of seats etc.”
‘We try and listen and be empathetic’ — former flight attendant Kim Eagle
“Meal service is the tricky one where you’ve got your meal in your lap, someone puts their seat back, you’ve got your drink, very little room, and it can probably get a little bit frustrating at that point,” says NZ School of Tourism tutor Kim Eagle.
The former flight attendant says she trains students to make a blanket announcement before food service, kindly asking people to put their seat upright.
Travel writer Katherine Leamy says she isn’t bothered about people reclining their seats, but it depends on physical comfort. Photo / Supplied
Most passengers comply. If they don’t, flight attendants are taught to hear the passenger out in case they have a health problem, did not hear the instructions or couldn’t understand the language spoken, Eagle says.
“We try and listen and be empathetic to the passenger as much as we can ... If there’s absolutely no way that they’re going to listen to you, we train our students and say ‘Okay at that point in time, tag it with another flight attendant and get a more senior crew member to come in’.
“The senior crew member would be a little bit firmer and advise them too that we do ask them to comply and there’s consequences if they don’t as such, which you don’t like doing — it’s a very last resort.”
‘Would you mind moving your ponytail?’ — frequent flyer Tash McGill
Tash McGill works for a Wānaka distillery and travels domestically weekly and several times a year internationally. She reckons it’s usually unfair and unnecessary to recline during short daytime flights or meals, unless the person has health needs.
“It’s so frustrating if [flight attendants] are working [on] a plane full of people and you have to go through and every second row you have to ask people to bring these seats back up to the upright position so that people can use their tray tables.”
The issue with reclining is less so in the act itself and more about what happens because of it, she says.
“From time to time, I will ask gently just to say ‘would you mind moving your ponytail’? Because it really is surprising how often that happens.
“If I sense that somebody is not having a great travel day, then I will ask the flight attendant if it’s possible for them to [help ask] if something’s really problematic. Most of the time, I take a deep breath and actually you can deal with it. Like I don’t really understand why people get wound up about things like this.”
‘Being considerate ... while maintaining your own comfort’ — travel blogger Katherine Leamy
“On transtasman flights, I tend to leave my seat upright to maximise the space for the person behind me,” Leamy says, of Sierra Leone.
“Having just done the 17-hour flight from Auckland to Dubai, I honestly think you just have to adjust your seat to whatever position you can get comfortable in. It’s not much of a recline, but it does allow a more restful position.”
She agrees not reclining during meal service is good manners, but she wouldn’t wake someone to tell them to move up if they are already sleeping.
