Should You Recline Your Seat on a Plane?

Caroline Morse Teel is the Executive Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Caroline has a passion for adventure travel and has hiked to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the bottom of the Grand Canyon in pursuit of a good story. Follow her around the world on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

See recent posts by Caroline Morse Teel

No question is more divisive among flyers than whether or not to recline your seat on a plane. Either you feel like you should be able to recline fully and everyone else should follow suit to gain space (except the poor person in the last row), or you’re firmly of the opinion that airplane seats are small enough already and no one should recline and take away the limited space of the person behind them.

Some flyers believe in a middle ground, feeling that reclining should be done only in certain situations—like on a long-haul flight when everyone is sleeping and not on a short flight immediately after takeoff.

We want to settle this question once and for all by asking SmarterTravel readers:
Do you recline on a plane?

Stay tuned for the answers, which we’ll share in an upcoming newsletter.

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