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Seat back upright for meals (in UA int'l economy to enable other paxs space to eat)

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Seat back upright for meals (in UA int'l economy to enable other paxs space to eat)

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Old May 1, 2024, 11:00 am
  #1  
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Seat back upright for meals (in UA int'l economy to enable other paxs space to eat)

Here’s a new one for me—at least on a United flight. An FA woke me up to ask me if I’d mind putting my seat back upright during the meal service. I told him that I did mind.

Is this yet another change on United? Have others experienced this request. I’ve seen it happen on some European carriers, but never before on United.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:04 am
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I've never heard a request to this point but it makes sense in Economy. Not that Economy seats get to recline much but they've taken away so much leg room that any amount of recline from the seat in front makes it really tough to eat (much less work on a laptop). We truly have made air travel the same as bus travel, just at a different altitude.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:05 am
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It is only common courtesy (though is courtesy really common any more?). It is difficult to eat when the person in front of you is reclined.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:37 am
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Originally Posted by ContinentalFan
Here’s a new one for me—at least on a United flight. An FA woke me up to ask me if I’d mind putting my seat back upright during the meal service. I told him that I did mind.

Is this yet another change on United? Have others experienced this request. I’ve seen it happen on some European carriers, but never before on United.
I find the request totally reasonable. It is rude to have your seat down during the meal service...makes it so difficult to eat.

I realize that some want to skip the meal and go right to sleep (may have bene you) but seats should go up during the meal IMO.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:40 am
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Depends on the aircraft. With the new domestic F seats, not going to make much of a difference. On an ex-CO 737, different story.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:43 am
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Depends on the aircraft. With the new domestic F seats, not going to make much of a difference. On an ex-CO 737, different story.
I was on a B789 on the way to SIN.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:45 am
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Back in the 90’s sitting in economy on a UA flight. FA at meal service asked if I would move my seat forward at the request of the person behind me. Not a problem, as long as you can get the person in front of me to do the same. Domino effect…
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:48 am
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At least, based on my experience, it is quite a common request in Asian airlines.
On some Asian airlines, they make public announcements when meals are being served requesting passengers to return to seat back position.
Not often meals are served in US domestic flights, so I have not observed FA making such request.
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Old May 1, 2024, 11:56 am
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I've only received such requests on Asian airlines (CX and TG are the recent ones that come to mind).
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Old May 1, 2024, 12:14 pm
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If I was sleeping I would not be happy about being woken up especially in Y where the food is often not worth eating anyway. I would rather see them bug the guy who is sitting forward eating with his seat fully reclined in my face......
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Old May 1, 2024, 12:16 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
At least, based on my experience, it is quite a common request in Asian airlines.
On some Asian airlines, they make public announcements when meals are being served requesting passengers to return to seat back position.
Not often meals are served in US domestic flights, so I have not observed FA making such request.
Yep. You'd barely get a small bag of pretzel on UA for 6 hr+ of domestic flight in economy. Even up front where meals are served on longer (domestic) flights, FAs would never make such request; even on (final) approach, FAs often don't make a concerted effort to ensure seats are in the up right position.
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Old May 1, 2024, 12:25 pm
  #12  
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
It is only common courtesy (though is courtesy really common any more?). It is difficult to eat when the person in front of you is reclined.
Sure it is a small courtesy — if awake. I'd be bothered to get a wakeup for it, though, especially given the limited recline in economy now. I think that's a line crossed.
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Old May 1, 2024, 12:47 pm
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Originally Posted by dkc192
I've only received such requests on Asian airlines (CX and TG are the recent ones that come to mind).
Same here. QF is adamant about this too. Never been asked on a US carrier.
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Old May 1, 2024, 1:02 pm
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Originally Posted by fumje
Sure it is a small courtesy — if awake. I'd be bothered to get a wakeup for it, though, especially given the limited recline in economy now. I think that's a line crossed.
IME FAs on the Asian airlines are usually quite adamant.
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Old May 1, 2024, 2:02 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by dkc192
IME FAs on the Asian airlines are usually quite adamant.
I've heard announcements on Asian carriers before, but I've never had a flight attendant wake me to sit upright during the service.
uanj and nexus7556 like this.
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