When it comes to travelling on a plane, passengers are expected to abide by a set of unwritten rules to make sure the journey runs smoothly for all onboard. But one man decided he was 'above the rules' when reclining his seat all the way back shortly after take-off - and staying that way for the next 12 hours.
Taking to Reddit, an outraged passenger said: "I was on a very long commercial flight (+12 hours) in tourist class. I have travelled quite a lot (around 80 countries or so) and for me there seems to be an unspoken polite attitude towards fully reclining.
"Usually, I wait until after food is served and people are already settled to fully recline the seat. I check to see if I am squishing the person behind me, and try to recline less [if there isn't a lot of room] - but that's just me.
"So on the flight there is this couple, and I already see just on boarding that they are rude. They were holding up the line because the man was trying to get stuff out from his carry on."
He went on to explain how the man reclined his seat so far back that it knocked over his water bottle, which he'd placed on his fold-out table
To get his own back, he pressed his feet against the man's chair in an attempt to ruin his comfort - but it wasn't enough to get him to sit up right.
"I did try to put my feet against it at first to just try to stop it, but it was a lost fight," he added.
"I just told him it was not polite to fully recline so soon, he was limiting my movements and I was not reclining out of respect for the guy behind me.
"It was 30 minutes after take off, people are still settling in. He made a comment about him being allowed to and it was like, whatever dude."
Feeling guilty about deliberately trying to make him uncomfortable, the man asked Reddit users: "Am I wrong for saying something and actively pressing my feet against the seats? Even though it didn't amount to anything."
In response, one user said: "if they weren’t meant to recline they’d be fixed. If you needed more space then you should have booked a front row or emergency exit seat or upgraded yourself.
"Be mad at the airline for cramming in seats not mad at another passenger for utilising the seat the way it’s designed to be utilised.
Another user added: "As long as he was following the rules for the flight, then his seat is his to recline or not. He's not responsible for your self-sacrifice for the person behind you."
A third user said: "The seats reclining is part of the design, blame the airline for rubbish leg room, not the other passengers."
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