Seat issues are serious problems. Unfair seat-swapping requests, seat squatting, man-spreading, poor treatment of seat recliners, and passengers who use up the seat space of others are getting out of hand.
Have you been on a plane flight recently and experienced seat issues similar to what I’ve encountered over the last couple of years?
• Dealing with passengers pulling off their shoes and socks and stretching out with their feet on my armrest from behind.
• I was asked several times to unfairly swap my first class or premium economy seat for one way back in economy, then suffered a rant about my unfair refusal.
• Enduring the overwhelming stench of a passenger unreasonably changing their baby’s diaper on their tray table next to me instead of doing it in the lavatory.
Seat issues by “entitled” passengers are already out of hand.
These and other seat issues have gotten totally out of hand in the last few years. Too many passengers don’t care about how their selfishness will affect other passengers and crew. Flight crews seem impotent or unwilling to deal with many seating issues.
Here are my air travel seating rules of thumb and etiquette:
Many who recline their seat, even for health reasons, are unfairly treated by some passengers who don’t understand that if a seat can recline, the passenger has a right to do so.
Seat recline:
These days, most aircraft seats are too small for ordinary people, poorly padded, and don’t have enough legroom, particularly for taller passengers. Passengers who recline their seats do so because it better distributes the passengers’ weight and substantially reduces passengers’ back stress. On my flights lasting more than an hour, I recline due to my bad back. Without reclining, I’ll quickly be aloft in total agony.
If your aircraft’s seats can recline, it’s a passenger’s right to use the recline capability. For those who don’t think anyone should be able to recline their seat, I bring to your attention that there are airlines whose seats don’t recline. In the U.S., for example, Spirit and Allegiant Airlines have non-reclining seats. In Europe, Ryanair’s seats don’t recline. If you don’t want passengers to recline on your flight, buy tickets on airlines that don’t have reclining seats.
For passengers who recline, common decency requires you to keep your seats upright during meals and warn passengers behind you that you are about to recline, particularly if you see the passenger using their tray table for a laptop, etc. Moreover, whenever passengers recline, they should do it slowly.
If you’re an anti-seat recliner, don’t take your frustration out on fellow passengers who recline. They’re not at fault. Don’t punish them by using banned Knee Defenders or kicking or pushing their seat back. Instead, tell the airline of your disgust. Tell them to remove seats from today’s airliner cabins to lengthen seat pitch and the distance between rows to add comfort for every passenger.
Seat-swapping and seat squatting is a growing problem for passengers, particularly in the U.S.
Changing seats after boarding:
Swapping seats or seat squatting is an escalating problem globally, but particularly in the U.S.
Here are my seat issues rules of thumb:
- I don’t abide by seat squatters who clearly are ignoring my rights as an airline passenger. If someone’s squatting in your seat when you board, politely ask them to move to their seat. If they don’t move, call the flight attendant for help.
- Be courteous and considerate whether requesting a seat swap or turning it down. Please don’t act like swapping is your right, because it’s not.
- Please don’t accept a swap between uncomfortable seats, even when a family requests the swap to sit together. Families should sit together, but not by unfair seat swaps. Say no to swaps where you give up the premium seat you paid extra for while the swapper gives you their lousy seat for which they paid little and got little.
- Never swap until boarding is complete, so you’ll be able to determine with whom you’ll be sitting, if you swap.
- Please don’t agree to a swap until you know exactly where the seat is and who’s next to it.
- Understand that it’s not always apparent if two seats are comparable. I refused to swap with another passenger because I didn’t want to miss photo opportunities during takeoff and landings by swapping with a passenger whose seat was over the wing.
- Let the flight attendants know you’ve swapped, mainly if you’ve ordered a special meal
Removing shoes and socks and putting bare feet on other passengers’ seats are major seat issues. So is polishing nails while aloft.
At your seat:
Removing your shoes and socks aboard planes is gross and unfair to everyone else on the plane. Never put your feet, with or without shoes, against a bulkhead, at the top of the seat in front of you or on another’s armrest. That’s especially gross if you’re in bare feet. Don’t polish or remove polish from your toenails or fingernails, as forcing others to breathe in its solvent is unfair and could directly cause an anaphylactic condition in another passenger.
Never change a baby’s or infant’s diaper at your seat in a plane’s cabin. Talk about gross!
Passengers’ personal belongs go in the overhead bin, under the seat in front of them and nowhere else.
Your belongings go in the overhead bin or under the seat directly in front of yours. The space everywhere else is for the use of other passengers.
“Man-spreading” is never appropriate while seated on planes, particularly if it causes you to rub another passenger’s leg.
Wide-bodied passengers deserve respect, but they need to respect other passengers, too.
Wide-bodied passengers:
All passengers, including wide-bodied passengers, have the right to sit comfortably on their flight, but they don’t have the right to take up any part of the seat or space of another passenger. Wide-bodied passengers need to purchase at least two seats so they can sit comfortably and permit the others in their row to do the same.
Before lifting seat armrests up and out of the way for more seat room, you must obtain the advanced permission from the others in your immediate row. Often it’s important to keep the armrest down to protect one’s seat from serious encroachment by another passenger.
Empty seats:
Don’t move to an empty seat until boarding is complete. Don’t steal the seat of a standby passenger who may not yet be aboard the plane. Moreover, some empty seats may have been purchased by passengers who wanted to gain some extra comfort on their flight.
Passengers with animals don’t have the right to allow their animals to take room from other passengers.
Passengers with animals:
Pets are required to be secured in carriers for the duration of flights. It’s unfair to allergy sufferers to bring them out of their carriers. It’s also unfair to passengers next to animals to lose seat space to the animals. Emotional support animals no longer have any special status and are nothing more than pets on flights. Passengers with service animals should prevent them from taking the space of other passengers by keeping them close to them.
Passengers who try to mislead, deceive or cheat others on their flight, or treat passengers and crew thoughtlessly or disrespectfully, should be appropriately handled by passengers with full back-up by crewmembers. Don’t hesitate to say “No,” to any request or action you feel isn’t fair.
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
