Ellen DeGeneres weighed in today on the “Great Recline” debate. You may have heard about a video that recently went viral of a man punching the back of a woman’s chair on an airplane because she reclined her seat. Social media began debating over the controversy over whether passengers should do this or not. Ellen gave her opinion on the debate and reminded everyone of what she says at the end of every episode: “Recline to one another.”
I’m going to offer my opinion here. I think it totally sucks that the man was stuck in the last row and his seat didn’t recline and he had very limited space. As mentioned in the video above, he asked the woman in front of him to raise her seat up while he ate, and she did. The problem came about after he finished eating and she reclined again. I’m claustrophobic. That said, I spent years getting on a plane every week while traveling with the touring companies of Broadway musicals. Since all our tickets were bought as a big group of 30-40 people, I learned I had to plan ahead to avoid being in a situation like this. I would get to the airport early and try to change my seat assignment if I could. Once or twice, it was unavoidable. I would beseech the passengers around me to consider my plight. Often, someone would take pity on me. Other times, I had to tough it out. I would order drinks and close my eyes and meditate and wait for the flight to be over. I think people purchase their seats with the knowledge that practically all of them recline. To me, you’re paying for that. I repeat that I think it sucked the man was in the position he was in, but as an adult, he could have found a different way to cope.