Air travel: The etiquette behind reclining your seat on a plane

With a few exceptions, economy class seats recline.

On long flights most passengers find it more comfortable to recline their seat at least some of the time yet the issue of seat recline is a major cause of air travel disquiet.

Apart from take off and landings, when upright seat backs are required until the "fasten seat belt" sign is turned off, passengers can recline their seat at any time.

It's accepted that seat backs will be upright during meal service, and whenever I've asked cabin crew to enforce this and request the person sitting in front to return their seat back to the upright position, the passenger has complied.

On a short flight it's generally acknowledged that reclining your seat is bad form.

As far as asking permission from the person sitting behind before reclining, that's debateable.

In which language should this request be made, since there is no guarantee that the passenger behind is an Anglophone?

A few times on international flights I've turned around and made a swooning motion with my hand and been greeted with blank looks from the person behind.

I will do my best to make sure I'm not going to ram my reclining seat into the head of the passenger behind or jam a laptop into their chest but permission, not required, it's my right to recline.

If my reclined seat makes it impossible for you to vacate your seat without grabbing the back of mine and heaving it backwards you really should be more polite, and do something about your abs.