Flyer's rage after mum and child stop her from reclining in a seat she paid extra for

A woman was enraged after a mother and child stopped her from reclining her seat on a flight she paid extra for.

The woman, who is also a mom, has back problems and claimed that she wanted to recline her seat during a seven-hour flight but was halted from doing so by another woman behind her who had "quite a big child on her lap."

She said that she "very gently reclining it a little at some stage" before realising the child was behind her. But when she did that, she faced angry swearing from the other woman, which made her feel she had no other option but to sit back up.

Taking to the parenting-based internet forum Mumsnet, the woman asked for advice about who was being unreasonable in the situation.

"The woman behind me had quite a big child on her lap during the flight and was sat next to the child's father," she wrote.

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"Because of this, I was unable to recline my seat for the entire flight. I tried very gently reclining it a little at some stage (before I had seen the child ), but she was angry and swore, so I put it upright.

"Who was unreasonable here?" she continued, before adding that she reclines her seat on lengthy flights "when the lights are dimmed for sleeping."

Despite the incident happening a few years ago, the anonymous woman - who goes by the username @planrider - is still "annoyed" by it and wanted to share her experience after reading something similar in another thread.

Some people saw where the woman was coming from and believed she wasn't able to recline her seat in the way she would like.

"The woman behind could have swapped places with her partner or given him the child. Maybe if you explained… not unreasonable to want to recline on a long flight," one wrote.

Another added: "I think a lot of people would try to sleep on a 7 or 8-hour flight, so you are not unreasonable at all, (original poster).

Flyer's rage after mum and child stop her from reclining expensive seat iStock

"I think the airline is probably unreasonable for allowing under 2s on laps for such a long flight."

On the other hand, some had differing sentiments and felt that she shouldn't have reclined her seat at all.

"I never recline my seat on any flight. I have long legs and really hate it when the person in front does it. They usually don't bother to put their seat upright whilst eating. As the woman had a child on her knee, you were being unreasonable," a third wrote.

A fourth, who seemingly is not a fan of this, added: "There's a special place in hell for anyone on a plane that reclines their seat. You'll meet the person there who invented it.

"I don't care how long the flight is for. If you can't go a dozen hours without the need to recline, then pay for a bed seat in first class."

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