Samantha Brown's Rules Regarding The Controversial Airplane Decision Of Reclining Your Seat

Whether you travel all the time or just occasionally, it's a pretty sure bet you're aware of the debate regarding the do's and don'ts of reclining airline seats. Samantha Brown, a well-known travel expert and self-proclaimed airport geek, spends enough time on planes to know a thing or two about travel etiquette. Based on her experience, and in an effort to bring a modicum of civility back to the skies, Brown developed a list of air travel guidelines. 

Brown's suggestions amount to a much-needed reminder of how extending common courtesies to fellow passengers can positively impact the travel experience. And yes, the travel host who has visited 62 countries around the world has a thing or two to say about one particularly thorny topic — seat recline. "If a flight is under three hours, don't recline. If it's over three hours, recline but do so politely," Brown advises. "Make sure the person behind you isn't in the middle of doing anything or has a drink sitting on their table. And don't just slam the seat back, do it gently."

That's all well and good as long as the passenger seated in front of you and the passenger seated behind you are on the same page, but the theory goes out the window if any one person in the line-up refuses to synchronize seating settings. Brown's rule is good advice, but it doesn't address the root cause of the problem: the incredible shrinking seat pitch. (But there are some great tips for staying comfortable on a flight even if you're tall!)

For the uninitiated, airline seat pitch is the distance between passenger seats. It's a measurement of space from one point on a seat to the exact same point on the seat in front of or behind it. So, if the passenger in front of you reclines their seat, the movement encroaches on your pitch. What's a few inches here or there? You'd be surprised, especially in light of airlines' increasing affinity for squeezing more seats into the already limited space of an aircraft cabin. 

Consider this: 10 years ago, the average seat pitch in economy-class cabins was 34 inches. Today, the average pitch hovers around 30 inches. So, if you feel like the reclined seat in front of you is right up in your face, you're not wrong. A reclined seat can reduce pitch for the seat behind it to just 27 inches. The other problem? Airlines are selling that coveted space twice. Once to you for your forward-facing comfort. And again to the person in front of you for their reclining ease. Given that there's no clear answer as to who actually owns the space in question, it's no wonder passengers are fighting over who's right and who's wrong.

And fighting they are. During a recent flight from Denver International (one of the most sustainable airports in America), a passenger became irate when the person seated in front of him reclined while he was playing chess on the seat-back video screen. After a lot of pushing and shoving, a flight attendant intervened and informed the upset traveler that the passenger in front of him was within his rights to recline. But was he? That recline clearly encroached on the measurable pitch the chess-playing passenger expected when he purchased his ticket.

But that ambiguity is just part of the problem. Studies show most people feel violated when their perceived personal space is threatened. In the meantime, air travel in general has become a more stressful experience. Travelers are already on edge by the time they actually board a plane. They're fighting for overhead space, feeling nickel-and-dimed by add-on fees for luggage and priority seating. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about cabin seating configurations. At the moment, the Federal Aviation Administration has no authority regarding in-cabin seating layouts. The agency's primary oversight concern is ensuring the configuration doesn't hinder the 90-second maximum evacuation standard. As long as carriers meet that requirement, it's a free-for-all in terms of allocating space.

In the meantime, there's a glimmer of hope, and reclining seats may become a thing of the past, as some airlines are experimenting with fixed-shell seating. Basically, fixed-shell seats slide up and down within the confines of a shell, so movement doesn't impact surrounding passengers. That said, at the moment the innovation is limited mostly to premium cabins. For now, we'd all do well to take a page from Samantha Brown's book and just be kind to one another. And maybe pack a few comfort items — a cozy wrap and comfortable slippers can make a world of difference during a long flight in the main cabin.