Let’s face it, there’s no such thing as “comfortable” in economy on a long-haul flight.

This traveler learned that firsthand when he finally decided to recline his seat and get some rest. Most passengers try to make the best of the limited space, especially once meal service ends and the cabin settles down for the night.

But when he leaned his seat back, a father sitting behind him accused him of almost hitting his young daughter and insisted that he announce every future recline in advance.

So, rather than getting some sleep, he spent the rest of the flight wondering why a routine seat adjustment had turned into such a big issue.

His partner and mother-in-law both felt the father had overreacted, but the confrontation still left him questioning whether he had done something wrong.

Read on to see what you think.

AITA for not checking in before reclining seat

Yesterday, I was on a long-haul flight in economy for about 9 hours. It was on a B747-400, and those things are really cramped in standard economy.

Meal service had finished, and I wanted to wind down to nap just before lights went out, so I reclined my seat. I don’t think super fast, but on the outbound flight my seat was broken and I had to use some force and help from my seatmate to get it to move at all, so I don’t think I reclined super slowly either.

It was reclining for a long enough duration to hear a, “WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!” from behind while I moved.

At first, he didn’t realize what was happening.

I didn’t quite understand what I was hearing and thought it must be from the series I was watching on the tablet, so I just carried on as normal. There was a bit of a, “This can’t be happening,” feeling because I’ve been on another flight recently where a loud fight started over someone reclining.

Then a man behind me tapped my seat and told me (not shouting, but quite sternly) I had almost struck his young child in the head, and I must tell him every time I want to put my seat back to make sure she is safe.

I am still absolutely baffled by this. I didn’t realize until then a child was sat behind me, but when I looked later and heard her talking, the child was at most 5, possibly as young as 3. What was a child that small doing that her head was in the way of my seat moving back?

From that point on, he kept his seat up.

I just said OK out of shock, put my seat up, and to avoid a mid-air fight (but also avoid having to interact with this guy again) didn’t recline for the rest of my journey. I noted later when I went to the bathroom that all of them were asleep with their seats reclined…

My partner, who was next to me, thinks the parents should have treated it as an accident and got their daughter to sit in her seat properly, and the dad was rude for telling me what to do.

My MIL was next to me and says that if they wanted the space for the child to be moving around in the seat like that, they should have upgraded to Premium Economy. But obviously having someone tell you off in a public place for almost hitting their child in the head makes you feel quite guilty.

AITA?

Geez! That was a pretty strong reaction.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a hiring manager who is shocked by an applicant’s entitled attitude about working full time.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think.

Maybe he took the tone wrong.

It did seem like misplaced concern.

It’s easy for this reader to see both sides.

That’s definitely a no for everyone.

This whole situation sounds like a misunderstanding that the father blew way out of proportion.

Nobody wants to see a child get hurt. So, it’s easy to understand why he reacted the way he did at first.

At the same time, the traveler had every right to use the recline feature, though it never hurts to stay aware of the people around you when moving your seat.

In the end, neither side handled the situation perfectly, but turning a simple accident into a confrontation didn’t help anyone.