Flight attendants shut down 'insane' seat recline debate for good
An "insane" exchange between two plane passengers on a recent flight has reignited a heated debate about whether or not people should recline their seats on planes.
Now flight attendants have weighed in after footage shared by content creator Ameera Jauniaux on TikTok amassed over 14 million views.
The viral clip was captioned "worst plane ride.." and showed the passenger behind Ameera repeatedly kicking and shoving her seat as she tried to recline.
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Content creator Ameera Jauniaux had to endure a passenger repeatedly kicking her seat. TikTok
In the comments, she went on to explain the flight attendants on the Air France flight earlier this month told the woman to stop "five times", with no success.
Rather, unsurprisingly comments in response to the clip absolutely blew up across social media.
"As someone who hates when people recline their chairs, this is INSANE! The seats are meant to recline, people PAID for their seats they can do whatever they want," one person wrote on TikTok.
The video also drew the attention of plenty of flight attendants, who took it upon themselves to settle the debate once and for all.
"As an ex flight attendant of many years... if the seat belt sign has gone off and after meal trays are collected you are 100 entitled to push your seat gently back," one comment read.
Another person who claimed to be cabin crew agreed: "As a flight attendant please call me for this. This is the drama I live to get people removed from the flight for. Everybody has the right to recline especially if it's not mealtime!"
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Flight attendants have weighed in on the debate. Getty
Over on Reddit, the same question was posed to flight attendants in a thread asking whether reclining a plane seat was acceptable.
"I work for a large European airline and where I come from, reclining your seat, no matter how long the flight is, is completely normal and everyone has the right to do so," one airline worker wrote.
"If the airline offers a reclining seat, that is part of the service they paid for and we cannot tell them not to use it," another crew member explained.
Flight attendant Kat Kamalani, who regularly shares travel tips online, also previously said you can recline your seat, even if that's an "unpopular opinion".
"If it's not take off or landing, you get to put your chair back. You paid for that seat, airlines design it so you can lay your chair back. Girl, put your chair back so you're more comfortable," she said.
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On longer flights you can recline your seat gently. Getty
9Travel previously spoke to Amanda King, Etiquette Expert and Managing Director of the Australian Finishing School, to help clear up the questions around seat reclining.
She said when it's a short flight there is no need to recline your seat.
"Especially economy seating which is already a very small space," she said, adding: "Definitely not when they are serving food or beverages as the tray table is in use and there just isn't much room left."
But when it comes to long-haul flights, Amanda said that yes, it's acceptable to put back your seat when you require sleep.
"When you do move your seat try and do so slowly, with ease," she advised.
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