Recline seating on airlines could become a thing of the past

It's an odd phenomenon. The height of the average person has increased dramatically over the decades while the amount of room on many commuter planes seems to have decreased. Seats are smaller and legroom is a premium, particularly if you're flying economy. Despite these changes, seatbacks on most airlines continue to provide the option of reclining. This design has continued into new aircraft, not just older models that still have such accommodations. That may be changing.

A recent survey showed that 41% of airline passengers supported the idea of removing the option of being able to recline one's seat. The parameters of the survey suggested the ban only apply to domestic flights within the United States. It's also worth noting that La-Z-Boy conducted the survey with help from The Harris Poll, so do with that information what you will.

Airplane seats only recline a maximum of five degrees, meaning that any comfort this provides is more in your mind than anything else. It's not enough to give someone any real level of relaxation. What it does do is make it difficult for anyone sitting behind you. Leaning the seat back causes a decrease in legroom behind your seat as well as making it difficult to utilize in flight entertainment. Reclining airline seats are even starting to lead to confrontations between passengers.

To date, no airline has proposed banning reclining seats on domestic flights in the US. Again, this poll was conducted by La-Z-Boy. Keeping that in mind, it doesn't change the fact that this is an incredibly contentious issue on planes, one airlines may have to address in the future. If seat reclining leads to more frequent fights between passengers, don't be surprised if the option is removed entirely. All that it takes is one airline to make the decision, then the rest would likely follow.