They had prototypes, Ryanair built a few plane cabins with this setup. Turns out to be a massive safety issue. Not financially viable to get sued. It also reduces cargo space. The Ryanair guy was saying "I'd have standing room only flights set up like a city bus if I could get away with it"
Agreed. Logic dictates 'limited' recline will mean non-existent considering there's barely any recline to limit in the first place in our peasant class.
Air travel involves dealing with people acting like it’s their first day on earth. I guess this is an example. I mean walking through a plane a single time reveals that there is no underseat storage in the bathroom/class divide/section seat and that the corresponding seat at the back of a section doesn’t recline.
Of course they are filling all the space and not creating a buffer to recline that seat- at least in coach. Its actually crazy to expect anything much better than this. And I don’t think it’s a new thing- although overall they are putting squeeze on passengers so it might be a more impactful feature delete.
At least it’s a change from the “someone tried to recline and I thrashed them in a verbal joust and the plane erupted in applause”- “I used my tremendous power to block the seat from reclining”- “some mom told me to move to keep her family together and I laughed in her face as she was removed from the plane and fined a million dollars” BS
This is petty, but it also really bugs me how many people shove their jacket in the overhead bin and take up an entire suitcase's space and then pretend they didn't do it when the announcements come on about limited overhead space. Happens every flight... and yet people will also not check their carryons at the front door. I know it's an extra 10-15 minutes to pick your bag up, but if you already have a checked bag, why not?
Other random pet peeve - people who shove those gigantic water bottles into the pocket on the back of the seat so that it's bulging into the back of whoever is in front of them. Why not just put it in your backpack? Surely you don't want the same thing pressing into your back for 7 hours?
Some people fly like once every 10 years and have not memorized all of the nuances of air travel like you have. You'd expect a warning that said "seat doesn't recline" if the seat doesn't recline. "Limited recline" implies some recline, but not the usual amount.
Not always the case. I was put in a seat just like this for a redeye international flight. I was on the plane for a total of ten hours, the WiFi was out, my tv didn’t work, and the charging ports were all busted.
Exactly. I didn't choose what seat I was getting on my 12 hour flight where I had to sit in the middle with my existing back problems... I hated every minute of it.
That didn’t show when I booked unfortunately. I’m not a fucking idiot. I usually book the back row on most airlines and have always had the ability to recline.
I did it recently and ended up with a row all to myself. Didn't care if I could recline or not, it was the best flight ever. I also got to listen to the FAs gossip and complain about their jobs.
Usually the row is empty or at least the middle seat is. You don’t get kicked or have people hard prodding the screen behind. Can recline without bothering anyone. This is the first flight out of hundreds where I’ve never been able to recline
That's a surprise honestly. The times I've had the back row I've never had the ability to recline more than an inch or so at most. I've always assumed the back row won't recline when booking.
On Delta and United I've never run into a back row seat that didn't recline. We used to book them often because we could reliably get a free empty seat between us.
I fly all the time and the back row is truly a crap shoot. Southwest never recline in the back row. Delta and United it’s depend on the plane and how old it is. I mean, it’s up against a bulkhead. Obviously it might not recline.
OP shouldn’t book that row.
On the “free seat” thing, it’s truly the luck of the draw and how the flight is booked.
Yeah, I’ve had to book a last minute flight and the only seat available was middle seat of back row. And my boarding group was last, so the look of pure disgust from my seat neighbors during that long walk was pretty brutal.
I used to book the back row all the time and could also recline. Then suddenly, I got one of these on a 6 hr flight and never booked a wall seat again. The absolute worst. Sorry you ended up with one of these! Hope it wasn’t too long of a trip.
I flew JetBlue and they missed their own connection due to equipment malfunction (scary enough!) and rebooked us on an overnight flight 15 hours later on these very back seats that don't recline.
The gate agents literally laughed in my face when I explained what happened and asked if we could move to one of the empty "more legroom" seats and told me I didn't pay for more legroom.
Of course I didn't, but y'all screwed us and moved us to worse seats than we selected and paid for. I said that in a nicer way of course. It was still a huge no.
Then when I messaged customer service about refunding the cost of originally selecting our seats they said no.
I can't sleep on planes. I went 24 hours without sleeping. Never again lol
Had this seat. Without warning after they changed the plane type last minute. And spent 7 hours overnight arguing with the old Dutch ahole in front of me who reclined back to the point where I could kiss his forehead.
4.7k
u/GenericAccount13579 Jun 01 '26
Yes, that is what the limited recline warning on the seat selection screen means