(Digital Vision)
A good idea from a reader named Mark Mize:
Reading this article, I was immediately reminded of the section in SuperFreakonomics regarding altruism:
I think the choice to recline one’s airplane seat is a great example of natural altruistic tendencies. Reclining one’s own seat increases his comfort, but only at the expense of the person directly behind him. Then, in order for that person behind to increase his own comfort level back to what it was before the person in front reclined back into his space, he must now recline back into the space of the person behind him at the expense of that person’s comfort, and so on. An experiment observing this behavior may be a better measuring stick of natural human altruism tendencies than the Dictator game or similar games since the behavior could be observed in real time and without the behaviors associated with knowing one is being observed in a laboratory.
Here, from the Washington Post, is an excerpt from the article in question:
Before things got out of hand, it was a typical annoyance that happens once a flight gets airborne: A passenger hit the recline button and sent his seat intimately close to the lap of the guy sitting behind him.
What followed wasn’t typical at all: a smack to the head, peacemakers diving about the cabin to intervene and a pair of Air Force F-16 fighter jets scrambling into the night skies over Washington.
It happened late Sunday, just after a United Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Ghana with 144 passengers took off from Dulles International Airport.Not long after the 10:44 p.m. departure for the overnight flight, the offending seat was lowered into the offended lap, and a fight ensued. A flight attendant and another passenger jumped in between, said sources familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details.
The pilot has complete authority over the aircraft, a United spokesman said, and he decided to return to Dulles to sort things out rather than continue the transatlantic flight to Ghana when he was unsure of the scope of the problem.
Any academic researchers out there looking for a great empirical experiment in altruistic behavior? Summer’s a great time to observe the seat-reclining wars …
and 
. You can also watch it on 
I’m 6’2″. Anyone sitting in front of me on an airplane who doesn’t recline their seat is a candidate for beatification as far as I’m concerned.
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Nothing worse than when that seat in front of you goes down… but for a 10:44 PM international flight, it is completely justified.
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While it is indeed someone’s right to recline, it’s how someone goes about it that is usually the issue. Most people just throw it back without any regard for whether or not the person behind them might have a drink or laptop, or if they might be leaning forward to get something from their bag. I usually don’t recline, but if I do, I always move it back slowly, giving a quick look back to make sure I’m not going to injure the person behind me. You wouldn’t back up a car without looking, why would you do the same with your airplane seat?
The other alternative is to do what European budget airlines like Ryanair do. Their seats don’t recline at all, nor do they have seat pockets. The seats are indeed very close, but you have a defined space that nobody can intrude on.
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I was once on holiday charter flight from London to Sharm el Sheikh. Since it was a charter by the tour provider, to get the most bodies on the plane it had the shortest seat pitch (distance between seats) I have ever experienced. I’m 6’3″ and just sitting normally my knees were touching the seat in front of me.
Here’s the thing: not a single person on the plane reclined their seat, for the whole trip from the UK to Egypt. It felt like we all knew it was horrible already, and moving the seat back would only make it worse.
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I like to recline my seat but I don’t like it as much as I hate it when the person in front of me does. So how do I solve this problem? I am fine if nobody on the plane does it but that’s not a good solution. I also don’t think everyone should because it forces people who want to use their laptops or the tray table into a bad situation.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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This is always interesting to me, and at 6’8 a particular concern.
I tend to fly the same airline all the time since I have status and they will always give me exit rows (which are both more spacious and by law the seats in front of exit rows are made not to recline).
But when I have to fly other airlines and people try to recline I politely asked them not to — there is literally not room for them to as my knees are in the backs of their seats.
Only once has a person refused, claiming he’d slept only 2 hours the night before and had to recline. Fortunately my 2-year-old daughter was with me and it was the only time she’s ever cried for the whole flight. And I didn’t mind one bit.
In exchange I never ever recline my seat if there is an adult sitting behind me.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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And you couldn’t trade seats with your 2 year old? Or is she 6’9”?
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You, sir, sound like an incredibly unreasonable person. Your daughter’s crying probably made a whole lot of other people in addition to the recliner miserable for the length of the flight, not to mention that your daughter must have been unhappy. First guy to reply to your post has it right, you should have traded seats with your daughter, and, in any case, for her sake as well as the other passengers, you should have tried to comfort her and stop her crying.
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Been on plenty of flights. Reclining never spilled a drink. Prevented use of the laptop, yes. the seat has a friction built in. Anyone saying they’ve spilled a drink is likely full of it. turbulence would spill it or your knees hitting would spill your drink, not the seat reclining.
being tall is the only way you’re gonnna really be physically less comfortable with the seat in front of you reclining. Or if you need to use a laptop at a reasonable distance. Mentally you may not like feeling squished in there, but it’s not like they are in your lap. You can still read a magazine or just sit there like a economy class shlub.
We should figure out how many seats we could lose on airplanes for comfort, and what we would have to lose to get it. That’s a better project to work on.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Oh, yeah…. As if being “physically” less comfortable is all that counts. When somebody reclines their seat into my space, there is danger of my needing a straightjacket and an escort to the nearest asylum on landing. There is NO WAY I can “still read a magazine or just sit there like an economy class shlub.” It’s all I can do to maintain my dignity and sanity. Deep breathing, anybody?
I don’t understand why they DO allow seat to recline. One can always use a neck pillow and sleep upright if sleep is needed.
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A slight angle backwards has been medically proven to relieve pressure on the back so that those with back problems don’t end up in pain for days.
Jason, I’m 6’6 and suffer from the same problem. As you say most people are accommodating and won’t recline if you ask, but I’m sure there are alot of people out there who suffer in silence !
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