Airlines could charge passengers to recline their seats

The price of domestic and international flights may be dropping, especially with the introduction of budget airlines, but as people increase their travel frequency, so too does their travel rage.

One of the most frequent causes of a bit of an inflight tiff is often linked to the dreaded reclining seat.

We’ve all experienced unlocking our tray tables, placing a cup of coffee, tea or wine onto the tray and then having the person in front of us abruptly recline their chair with about as much finesse as a three-year-old.

There are questions about what the right protocol is, when the right time to recline is and even whether or not it’s polite or not to recline at all.

Well, one travel expert says the answer could be as simple as having passengers pay each other for the pleasure.

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After carrying out a series of tests with the public, US law enforcers Christopher Jon Sprigman and Christopher Buccafusco said that passengers were willing to allow people to recline the seat in front of them if they were paid a sum.

“Recliners wanted on average $41 to refrain from reclining, while reclinees were willing to pay only $18 on average [to stop a passenger from reclining]” Buccafuso said on the Evonomics blog.

This, however, wouldn’t automatically result in an amicable situation for all parties.

“Recliners were only willing to pay about $12 to recline, while reclinees were unwilling to sell their knee room for less than $39,” Buccafuso added.

“Recliners would have ended up purchasing the right to recline only about 28 per cent of the time – the same right that they valued so highly in the other condition.”

It sounds like this could actually cause inflight rage, rather than calm it. 

What do you think? Should this be introduced to flights? How much would you be willing to pay? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.