'I reclined my plane seat and passenger's reaction left me wanting to cry'

A traveller has sparked a debate after sharing how a plane passenger almost reduced them to tearsafter they made an honest mistake. When journeying back home to the UK on their second seven-hour flight, the 19-year-oldtried to make themselves comfortable by reclining their chair.

But when doing so, they accidently knocked over the drink of the passenger seated behind them. They said on Reddit: "About four hours in I recline my seat to take a nap, and this lady behind me just screeches and swears. I turn around, because I had reclined my seat her drink had spilled. I felt so terrible, apologised and she just says don’t recline your seat and proceeds to say it’s fine.

"I give her about 40 mins to finish her drink, turn back around to ask if she’s done. She ignores me, she flat out ignores me. I sit there saying 'excuse me ma’am' like 5x and she doesn’t even waft an eyelid."

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With that, they turned away to compose themselves knowing they were getting upset - and finally the passenger, who appeared to be in her 50s, acknowledged them.

They added: "I could feel myself getting upset. Then I just stare at her until she finally acknowledges me, I say, 'Can I put my seat back now' and she just shows me her drink. This attitude honestly just made me so upset.

"They called over the flight attendant and tried to calmly explain the situation - but he simply said all passengers can recline their seats as and when they want.

"He tells me that I can just recline the seat without asking her, and I say that I got yelled at and she was just mean.

"He just looks at me confused, goes to the lady and says that I want to recline my seat, therefore he’s going to do it for me.

"She gets angry, she says the table hits her belly, she can’t watch her movie, says she doesn’t have enough space and just complains.

"The flight attendant just says 'This is how the aircraft is built, if you look around there are multiple people who have their seats reclined. If you want to complain, you are free to do so in the airways site'."

The flight attendant then leaves and the passenger starts shoving at the seat in retaliation.

They said: "I just ignore it until she stops, she complains to her friend very loudly about how I reclined my seat and how inconsiderate I was.

"Probably because she got no reaction out of me, she calls the cabin manager, and for obvious reasons the cabin manager defends me too."

"The flight attendant asks if I’m okay, and gives me a squeeze on the shoulder. If I hadn’t received that reassurance I think I would have just cried."

Thankfully, people were quick to offer their reassurances about the awkward encounter.

Commenting on the post, one user said: "If reclining caused drinks to spill if they're placed normally, in the little groove in the table, you would think it would happen all the time. She must have been doing something weird."

Another user added: "When I flew in the 70s and 80s, few if any folks griped about others reclining their seats. Then airlines got greedy and reduced the seat pitch to fit more seats. Now I hear about seat reclining drama every week on Reddit."

And a third user said: "It was your seat to recline, people are just mean, I'm glad the flight attendants were nice."