Do not do to others what is abhorrent to you.
This is one of the corollaries to the Golden rule, and the recent reclining airline seat incident brings it to mind. Like most people, I very much dislike being in a coach seat in an airline and having the person in front of me recline their seat. However, my reaction is not to be angry with the person who has reclined. It's a feature of the seats on that plane. I dislike it, but would not insist that the person in front of me put their seat in the upright position.
Instead, I respond by never, ever reclining my seat, because I know that it will annoy the person behind me. I cannot control the acts of others, but I can control my own acts. I will not do something if having the same thing done to me annoys me. Fortunately, many others also follow that rule and refrain from reclining their seats, too.
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Strip searched? In all of my flying during my lifetime, I've never been strip searched.
It's the nature of life. Live as well as you can during your short stay.
The 3 inches or whatever that a reclined seat in front of me takes up does not generally affect me. I would much prefer to have the ability to recline and be able to get comfortable enough to sleep, than have 3 extra inches in front of me that I don't use anyway. And I prefer that the person in front of me has the choice to recline, because I want the choice for myself.
Some like it hot, some like it cold, and some people would complain if you hung 'em with a new rope.
Airlines squeeze people into planes like sardines in order to maximize profit, because they can. We can't boycott them if we need to fly, so they own us, and we have no recourse to effect change. It's not Burger King. We either get it their way, or we take the bus, unless we have the money to fly elite.
If we lived in a country that had a genuinely democratic government, we would be able to get our Congress to pass laws that forced airlines to provide safer and more comfortable seating. Unfortunately, the same 1% oligarchs who own the airlines also own Congress, so this is not an option.
In the meantime, there is obviously a division between those who prefer to have the choice to recline, and those who prefer to not have this choice.
So...under present circumstances, if half an aircraft was equipped with reclining seats, and the other half was equipped with non-reclining seats, and passengers were given their choice of either, at the same price per ticket, would that be a reasonable solution, a satisfactory compromise, for you?
I almost came unglued once because I was squeezed by a "large" person, while sitting in the middle seat. I spent most of that flight in a flight attendant seat, in the rear of the plane. Flight attendants understood and even offered me that seat, but I had to go back to my other seat for touchdown. Unless I can be in an aisle seat I will not fly. Even in the aisle seat I have problems when somebody pushes his/her seat back. Makes me feel trapped in a small space. I also have similar reactions in densely packed crowds and in a full elevator.
Where is a big old gigantic stinky fart when you need one?
But my spinal problems are making long trips more and more difficult. When we went overseas this summer I had to use a wheelchair to navigate through O'Hare and Heathrow. I do not like that because I am decades younger than when both my mother and his mother had to use one. I feel very self-conscious.
I only need a wheelchair when navigating through giant airports however. I would be very happy if I never set foot on an airplane again.
They're into receiving pain in certain controlled circumstances. That is different from other people that avoid pain. What then?
People are different. Different people want different things to be happy.
