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Home  >  British Airways  >  The Angry German On My British Airways Flight
British Airways

The Angry German On My British Airways Flight

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 19, 2018December 19, 2018 38 Comments

I’ve written about the seat recline debate on many occasions, but finally experienced a real-life incident on my recent British Airways flight.

My position has been consistent over the years. Whether you recline your seat is your prerogative, not the prerogative of the person behind you. Even though a reclined seats often results in an uncomfortable position for the person behind you, that is the reason their seat reclines as well.

There are two exceptions. First, one should always recline their seat gradually. A sudden recline may result in a broken laptop. Second, seats should rarely be reclined during meal service (there are exceptions).

I was seated far in the back of the aircraft in 38H. Of course, my seat was up for the meal service. Of course, I reclined my seat gradually. But that wasn’t good enough for the passenger seated behind me.

He was a portly German gentleman, probably in his late 60s. He began cursing as I reclined my seat, then hitting it. I turned around and glared at him and he said nothing. 

I turned back around and he began muttering to himself in German, cursing me out (assuming I was an Englishman and calling me some choice expletives). Zoning him out, I leaned back to go to sleep.

About 20 minute later he began shaking my seat. I got up and turned around. He made motions for me to put my seat up.

I proceed to lecture him, without expletives, in German that it was my right to recline my seat and that I had no choice when the person in front of me also reclined.

He was shocked that I spoke to Germany and quickly shut up. I did not hear from him again during the flight.

When we landed, I offered him my hand and noted that economy class is difficult for everyone. He nodded and shook my hand back, noting that due to our late arrival he had missed his connection to Dusseldorf.

CONCLUSION

Tight seat pitch leads to air rage, but it is a reality of flying in economy class. I’m glad my own incident did not spiral out of control.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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38 Comments

  1. Andy K Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    I love the double standards in our media. You are allowed to call the man overweight and call out his nationality. You would never had done that if it was a fat black woman, for instance. Ridiculous!

    • Pete Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 1:17 pm

      Totally off-topic comment.
      But I guess I missed the chapter on the persecution on white German men in my world history class.

      • Andy K Reply
        December 19, 2018 at 2:00 pm

        By your logic, if a group of people have been persecuted in the past, they are exempt from being called out in the present?

    • AdamR Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 1:31 pm

      The fact that Angry German (AG) is portly is of consequence here as it presumes he had less “free” space betwixt his body and Matt’s seat. Thus, Matt’s reclining was likely much more of an infringement upon AG’s personal space than it might’ve been otherwise. His nationality is also of interest because Matt spoke to him in German which seems to have diffused the situation.

      Shame on you for trying to race-bait the comments section.

      • Andy K Reply
        December 19, 2018 at 2:07 pm

        AdamR, I’m not sure I understand — are you saying that AG was entitled to more physical space because he was overweight?

        • EChid Reply
          December 19, 2018 at 3:25 pm

          No, Andy K, merely that he was perhaps more responsive to the loss of it because of his weight.

      • Christian Reply
        December 19, 2018 at 2:39 pm

        Well said.

    • Sco Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 1:50 pm

      Um, nowhere in this does Matthew mention the race of the passenger. How do you know this passenger wasn’t black?

      • Andy K Reply
        December 19, 2018 at 2:06 pm

        Uhm. Matthew said he was German. A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society.

        • JEM Reply
          December 19, 2018 at 6:09 pm

          Umm… Andy K: as you stated in your original post, “German” is also a signifier of nationality or citizenship which are independent of physical or social ‘qualities’. Citizenship can be achieved via having a German parent, being born in Germany, or naturalization. Thousands of US citizens of all ‘races’ are also Germans via dual citizenship. You are the one who injected skin color into the discussion, not Matthew. OTOH, I will stipulate that he didn’t provide any conclusive evidence that the fat man wasn’t Austrian…

        • Mr L C O'Brien Reply
          September 19, 2020 at 8:55 am

          Keyboard warrior talking absolute rubbish, get a life

  2. tda Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    I wish economy seats didn’t recline at all. The ability to recline my own seat does nothing to relieve the pains visited in my knees and legs of a seat in front of me reclines.

    • Joe Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 1:08 pm

      Agreed, for me it’s about the knees, and the knees of the person behind me. Reclining my seat does not help.

      • Christian Reply
        December 19, 2018 at 2:39 pm

        +1

  3. Mike Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    Classy way you handled this Matthew. Good job.

  4. Jaime V Raba Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    Class move. I am not surprised.

  5. Melissa Cristóvão Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    Good story, and you handled it beautifully. Someone who doesn’t speak german would have trouble pulling this one though!

  6. Mitch Cumstein Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 4:41 pm

    Achtung, baby!

  7. Mr G Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 4:47 pm

    Sorry, couldn’t resist…

    • Paolo Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 9:13 pm

      Little wonder the Germans relish giving Theresa May hell over Brexit.

  8. Jack Peters Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    Are you not a man ?
    Grow a pair next time .
    You sit and take that ?
    Then come and tell like you are proud .
    Thanks for the story Ms.

    • Matthew Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 7:20 pm

      The man doesn’t have a right to swear under his breath? Both times the man touched my seat, I addressed it. After the second time, it did not happen again. What am I missing?

    • Paolo Reply
      December 19, 2018 at 9:09 pm

      No, he handled it perfectly. Why would you seek to escalate rather than diffuse? That would only make matters worse. No doubt this situation was difficult for the German gent as well: trapped in the sardine can-like BA seat from hell, anxious about his connection and at a stressful time of year.

  9. Patrick Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    Okay. So, basically, Matthew speaks German and believes that being portly may speak to the character of grumpy people.

    Is that it?

  10. Sam Reply
    December 19, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    I hate to be reclined into and also feel bad about reclining myself. Plus, the amount of recline on a typical economy seat doesn’t do much for my ability to rest or sleep, either.

    I’d be quite happy if they got rid of the recline function entirely.

  11. Aircraft Lover Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 3:43 am

    Reduced seat legroom onboard aircraft, increases the potential of:

    – Passenger stress
    – Unpleasant situations between passengers
    – Panic attack
    – Muscle pain
    – Thrombosis
    – Passenger confrontation

  12. Craig Beechey Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 4:21 am

    I struggle in economy seats so now only go business class for holidays. I leave the wife at home to mitigate the cost.

    • TPK Reply
      January 9, 2019 at 7:50 pm

      I like that solution….!

  13. Carolin Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 6:58 am

    I always feel bad when I recline my seat that’s why i ask the person behind me first if it’s ok with them. I wish more people would just take a few seconds and ask first. There’s no harm in it.

    • Justin Reply
      December 20, 2018 at 3:21 pm

      What do you do if they say no? If one believes that one has a right to recline, then asking is giving the person behind you a false impression that they actually have a say in the matter. Matt’s rationale is that the seat is designed to recline therefore he has a right to recline it even if the person behind does not want it reclined.

  14. Richard Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 7:12 am

    Love the power play of rinsing him in German!

    Also Adam K is very wrong. This is blog about travel for travellers and we are better than that hate.

  15. Rich Mack Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 9:18 am

    After reading thru’ these posts I came to the conclusion that they were far more interesting than the original piece.
    I am about to embark on a 12 hour journey by plane and it is not the first time so I understand what the writier is say and I get the gist of what these comments are saying.
    It seems freedom of speech sometimes oversteps its mark with some people.

    I am a person of colour and would have said German if he had been German and French, Spanish, Italian if the person in question had been of said nationality.

    The problem here lies in the fact that when we read what is written, it is taken out of context…a lot of the time.
    We really do need to get over that.

    Born in the early 60s, educated to a standard, and of an upstanding manners and ability to know how behave correctly in public I believe that education plays a large key in how people view race, colour and nationality nowadays. Not to mention socially.
    Somehow, we seem to have lost the plot.
    A good book, my iPhone filled with music, a decent pair of headphones designed to not molest those around me and my iPad filled with flicks will be accompanying me in order to get me thru’ my “ordeal” if I should be unlucky to find a seat pushed so far back that I cannot enjoy my inflight experience…

    With those weapons in my onboard hand luggage I believe I will be able to endure my trip.
    And would you believe I even dieted for this trip. So I guess I am even more prepared than some.

  16. Phil Duncan Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 12:53 pm

    Well done Matthew.

  17. Justin Reply
    December 20, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    Elegant, class act to offer your hand in reconciliation at the end. Well done!

  18. Jake Reply
    December 21, 2018 at 12:48 am

    If you recline into my knees and cause them damage, I will sue you for battery.

    • Dan Reply
      December 21, 2018 at 10:26 am

      Such a suit would be completely groundless. It is simply not negligent for the passenger in front of you to recline their seat in a normal manner, which it is designed to do. You could try to sue the airline. Good luck with that.

  19. Gabriel Reply
    January 9, 2019 at 2:13 pm

    Handled it like a true gentleman. Firm but respectful.

  20. Howard Miller Reply
    January 11, 2019 at 11:05 am

    It’s one thing to have seats that don’t recline for short flights, say up to 3 hours – but quite another for flights longer than that, and especially for an overnight, long haul intercontinental flight.

    The real problem is the continued insistance by airline managers who fly in premium cabins that NEVER, EVER have to worry about the indiginities and discomfort they intentionally create to better line their own pockets, yet whom seem to think its perfectly OK to create teensy-weensy seats packed into 31” pitch, no legroom rows that they never have to subject their precious, royal bums squeezing into.

    Fact is, aircraft used for long-haul flights should be subjected to a minimum row pitch of 32”-33” and 18” wide seats.

    Using high density confirgurations that were originally designed for short hops on domestic routes in Japan is one thing.

    Subjecting adults to those types of seats and row pitches for flights lasting 3-16 hours is immoral and unconscionable – especially when the fat cats in the C-suite and greedy shareholders never, ever deign to sit in the awful seats that seek to profit so handsomely off of others from,

    I’d love to see how long these shameful 31” row pitch seats remained at BA, United, American, Delta et al if the likes of Alex Cruz, Oscar Munoz, Doug Parker, Glen Hauenstein & all of those Wall Street “Analysts” actually had to sit in these despicable seats for their flights all the time as most flyers do.

    I’d bet they’d be ripped out ASAP if they had to fly in the shamefully small seats they expect most of us to squeeze into.

    If these seats are not good enough for the folks in the C-Suite, then they shouldn’t be sold at all.

    Their hypocrisy and greed is shameful and disgusting.

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