Originally Posted by lek
My personal view is that the seats should be fixed forward and not reclinable. If the joker in front of me puts his seat back it means I can't see the PTV, I can't read and worst of all, even though we all know the theory, I feel a major intrusion to "my space". Yup, that's the bubble we all carry around to protect us from being "intruded" upon. This anonymous person IN FRONT of me is in my face, in my space. I'll call you for assistance and if it's not forthcoming I'll do as I did in the 5th hour of a 20 hour flight, grab the seat and push the whole thing forward outa my face. Well of course "She" got hustled off to Business and all I got was dirty looks for the rest of the flight.
Your attitude in trying to force the person in front of you to sit bolt upright, particularly on a longhaul flight, seems to me to be an extremely selfish one. If the person in front of you reclines, simply do so yourself. Problem solved. I've never had a problem with the person in front of me reclining (I always do just as I suggested earlier), and never had a problem viewing in-flight entertainment once I've reclined my own seat. There's also the fact that most people like to sleep for the duration or much of the duration of a flight, which is easier for most people in a reclined seat than an upright one.
I agree that (depending on seat pitch) it could conceivably be a problem at mealtimes, but in my experience, cabin crew usually make passengers put their seat backs up for the duration of meals anyway.
I just hope I never get you or anyone like you sitting behind me on a long-haul flight.