Reclining plane seats is a tricky issue: while everybody’s entitled to use the feature, it can leave the person behind cramped and uncomfortable.
Someone who’d clearly had enough of her knees being crushed is Clare Duggan, who recently shared a ‘hack’ for protecting her legroom on flights.
‘This is the best life hack when you’ve got someone in front who’s trying to put the seat down constantly’, she said in a TikTok video that’s racked up 1.5 million views in just over a week.
Demonstrating, Clare then puts her tray table down and wedges a Pringles tube on top of it, effectively blocking the person in front from adjusting their seat.
It’s certainly not a foolproof plan though; for one, it’ll only work on certain planes.
There’s also the matter of angering your fellow passengers, as Claire’s tip clearly has.
‘This is ridiculous and quite frankly, you should be banned from flying,’ commented @husohere. ‘Bloody pathetic.’
‘You are a horrible person,’ wrote @th15guy5ucks, while @annecleese added: ‘I would call the steward immediately to fix my seat.’
Others praised Clare for sharing the trick, including @samjnsn who said: ‘As a 6ft 5 traveller this is the best thing I’ve ever seen,’ and @peckishpiranha who called it ‘genius.’
Metro readers on reclining plane seats:
Ali J: “Economy seats are claustrophobic and never comfortable. Having someone reduce what little space you have by reclining their seat is a dumb idea. Either give more space or stop the recline option.”
Lexxedit: “I don’t like the idea of bolt-upright seats, but there should be limits on how far back you can recline—especially when the people behind can’t shift theirs to gain a little space back.”
Magicmike: “Airlines have reclining seats so passengers can recline them! Unless the person behind is eating, it shouldn’t be a problem. If you don’t like it, upgrade or reserve a bulkhead seat.”
But some laid blame not with travellers but airlines, for putting reclining seats in such already-restricted spaces.
One commenter, @tamaaaarn, wrote: ‘They need to remove the recline option or create more room between the seats.’
Flight etiquette is often a heated topic, with an on-board tuna melt being labelled ‘diabolical’ and ‘a crime’ by disgruntled social media users.
Jackie Vernon-Thompson, who runs From the Inside-Out School of Etiquette, agrees that smelly food is poor form, but she also highlighted a range of other faux pas.
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According to the 54-year-old, you should avoid blocking the aisle while you put your bag in the overhead locker, and spreading your legs out into the aisle is a ‘non-negotiable’.
‘There are seats with extra legroom you can pay for,’ she said.
‘And if you need to stretch your legs, take a walk – but you paid for your seat, not the aisle.’
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