When is it acceptable to recline your airplane seat?

In my opinion, if I've paid for the seat then I should be allowed to use any of its functions (such as recline) whenever I like, no matter the duration of the flight. The only time I'm more than happy not to recline is during meal times but surely that is just etiquette. 

Basic good manners apply so never during meal service or flights less than 90 minutes, other than that passengers should be able to recline as they choose.

Frankly I think people in Economy that recline for the entire journey and right through the meal service highlight what's wrong with society these days.  One would think manners should prevail and at least let the poor person behind you eat a meal without having it 3 inches from their nose like an animal.

Recently on a flight to London I had to kindly ask the man in front to bring his seat forward during the meal. He was in an exit row and chose not to eat. I am always a firm believer that at meal times your seat goes up and whenever I recline it's always a slow gradual recline not all in one motion.

I'm with Deany83 here. I'm also with others who believe that seats should be returned to the upright position at meal times. This is just plain common courtesy, but sadly, it (common courtesy) is lacking a lot of the time. If I'm in pleb Y and the person in front has their seat reclined during a meal, I ask or motion to one of the crew to have the person in front return their seat to upright. I have no issue with anyone reclining their seat as far as they want, at any time, except meal times.

I don't like it when others recline their seats during meal time so in turn I wont do it to others. On overnight flights I will fully recline once meals are over but keep it upright for all other flights.

Here's a thought, before and after the safety video and also at the front of any inflight movie, airlines should screen a little video about inflight etiquette and seat reclining. This wouldn't need to be very long, maybe just 30 seconds, but it would help 'educate' travellers on the do's and don'ts.

I think airlines should make it a rule that all economy seats be return to upright during meal time. In fact many Asian airlines (e.g. CX) do ask passengers to do so when they serve meals. Also seats shouldn't be reclined out of courtesy on any flights less than 2 hours (e.g. flights between SYD-MEL-BNE). Other than that, recline as you wish but in a slow motion. At the end of the day, it shouldn't be passengers who fight among each other for the extra space, it should be airlines who need to pay more attention to customer comforts and less on their balance sheet, although I doubt this will ever happen given the industry trend (all my hopes died when then introduced 10-abreast on 777).

when politely asking the person in front to upright their seat, (say for a meal service) and you get no joy and/or rude response, feel free to help them by simply pushing their seat upright - recline actuators on most economy class/main cabin seats allows seat to be moved upright without pressing recline button  ;-P

In my head I run a 2hr rule for no reclining. If it's longer and it's night time, I'm most likely reclining from the moment the seat belt sign goes off. If it's a day time flight and I'm not sleeping, I wouldn't recline.

Just be a decent person and consider thoes around you. You don't have to have some flight time rule just be aware of the oither passengers that may be impacted. 

Seriously, you're in economy class, that's what it signifies, an economy class of service and standards. You've paid for your seat and chosen that class of travel which is the lowest in the pecking order so don't expect very much. I think you're as entitled to recline as you please when you please.  Sure consideration at meal times is appreciated but in life one gets what they pay for. You chose the cheapest class expect those standards and levels of comfort.

When everyone else does it. My last two trips with flights in the back:

NRT-HKG, JL, early evening flight: The passenger in front of me reclined as soon as the seat belt sign came off. To her credit she did return to upright for mealtime, but the recline came back down as soon as her tray was cleared. It wasn't too much of a bother for me, but it did irk me that when I left my seat for the toilet break I saw she was using a laptop to complete a medical paper while her seat was reclined. The passenger in front of her was not reclined. I don't know why she needed the recline and I expected her to behave better (she is Hong Kong Chinese as am I, we do not expect doctors or researchers to be social louts).

I think that it's a sad reflection on our current PC society when folks seek to inflict their values and beliefs on others. If the seat reclines and the airline staff are OK with passengers reclining, then what rights have other passengers have in changing airline policy? While I attempt to respect fellow passengers by not reclining until after meal service or on short flights, I also fully respect other's rights to recline when they want to. I may not like it but I'm certainly never going to object to it.

On a recent Tigerair PPN to SYD the passenger in front suddenly reclined his seat into my knees just missing my face with no warning. The hostie defended his right to do this. No more Tigerair for me!

I always ask the people behind me if it's alright with them. Never received a no.

NEVER would be best !!!

Luckily I'm 6'5 - which means that if someone in front reclines during meal time they get to enjoy a [not so] soothing massage courtesy of my knees. The jolting can be quite relaxing for some.

Just flew Premium with Virgin Australia (new fitout).  Person in front reclined entire trip including meals and it was ...no problem at all.  In fact - it allowed me to view the AVOD in the seatback without glasses so it actually helps.  The new VA PE definitely has more pitch.  No extra width though.  As far as Economy goes, well.  I decline to recline.

The seats are made to recline, and people should be allowed to if they want. I agree that during meal times all seats should be upright, but I don't buy into the comments that flights under two hours shouldn't have reclining seats - it can be a great chance to get a rest. If I want to recline, I do it slowly so I don't hurt anyone - but I don't ask first as I don't accept that the person in the seat behind me has a choice about what I do with my seat. 

 When people start talking about "its my right to do x and therefore I will do it without caring about the impact on others" or "I do things to stop others doing something because I can" I think it is an indictment on our modern society. 

This is a sad string of comments. The hypocrisy in using the phrase "common decency" followed shortly by "plebs in Y", the racist statement that "Asians have better manners" (yet the Star Ferry still requests no spitting and of course implying other races as less well behaved) buried within an elitist statement  a doctor should know better - sorry Chelmsford springs to mind and the it carries the inference that an unemployed person would not be so aware? Incredible.
As for the  subject  I've never had an issue, and yes having the seat back does allow one to view the TV without my specs.

As a tall person I don't mind if a person front of me reclines -- as long as he doesn't mind my legs hitting the seat more frequently.

Had just this experience a couple of weeks back.  Tripping to NZ to celebrate 3 score years and 10 to have by head jammed between the window and the suddenly reclined seat (I had dropped my pen) of the female in front.  Not impressed I looked up to find her with her feet on the bulkhead pushing the seat back as far as she possibly could.  When I asked her to move her seat up a bit so that I could use the bathroom, she said that she had paid extra so she could do what she liked.  I hope I don't find her again in a couple of weeks when I repeat the process.  I did not recline as I had a young woman with Down Syndrome sitting behind me.  No such consideration shown by my fellow passenger.  ???  If she wanted to lay down - book J class.

Interesting to read everyone's view however I do choose to fly certain airlines because of the legroom offered sorry SQ, QF. One thing I do want top say is in this day & age I am surprised airlines and airline seat manufacturers have not found a seat that works or solution for Y class passengers or a better version of the old shell seat. Personally I would rather be uncomfortable in a shell seat than have my personal space invaded.

Holy crap! Those seats made to recline, so they can be recline anytime. If pax behind believe that it is uncomfortable for him(her) then he (she) should buy other ticket. Period. Do not blame airlines or pax in front, but rather blame your greediness and fact that you wanna save a dollar with herd.

In my opinion it's the airlines fault in all this

It's kind of hard in this situation. People build a competitive environment and people get sucked into it. Once one party starts price drop it's all hell break loose. While it's easy to say consumer choice people  make choice but $$$ and not sanity and when one party start to drop price all or most start to follow suit and that's how lcc thrive. it's really useless unless someone makes it regulation. 

Please just do a courtesy glance backwards before you twat your seat back to full recline!  I get a veg meal and on a large aircraft I am often dining at least half an hour before other passenger, who don't realise I am eating.  I often have to grab my meal tray to stop in ending up on my lap when someone enthusiastically throws their seat back!

Can't wait to see the debate over noise cancelling headphones and the "right" to yell at the FA's because they cannot hear themselves,  or the "right" to snort their snot so loudly they can be heard in row 52 or their "right" to wake the whole cabin with their laughter as they have absolutely NO situational awareness :-)

So here's my recent experience.