The short answer is neither, assuming we have all the facts

I think the man should have politely asked her not to recline her seat that far. If she refused, he should have gotten the flight attendent involved.

They were both acting like kids.
No communication. Both were wrong

Is it bad etiquette to recline on a flight? I just don’t understand why they would have the option to recline if you’re not supposed to use it. For the most part, I’ve only been on international flights so everyone is reclined and sleeping.

Just the fact that she's an older woman, he's a younger man, makes this outrageously disrespectful to me. He doesn't know her personal reason for reclining, if its health related possibly, and he chooses to automatically react like a child. Honestly, I find most male behavior disturbing these days when it comes to women. It is so quick to turn to hostility and violence. He should be charged with assault.

I shouldn't even say "these days". In general its always been disturbing.

The facts are this. She reclined her seat back while he was eating his meal. He politely asked her if she would not recline it until he had finished eating. she AGREED and moved the seat back back to it's original position. After he finished and the tray was removed she reclined it again. He has no where to go because he is in the very last row and his seat back does not recline. They were both adults until he decided to get nasty about it. IMHO he is at fault.

Thats exactly what I was going to say.

I'm sorry, did you say -

Not that I agree with his behavior, but, I'm no longer surprised at the behavior of women toward men who are willing to turn a mere annoyance into an charge of assault, when no real violence ever took place.

Historically, the only time I found women to be perfect little angels, was back in the garden of eden, but it seems even that came to an end.

Agreed👆 Even though his seat may not recline further back, I think his armrest can fold back and given that his seat is on the aisle, he should be able to move around a little more than the 500lb person seated in the middle.
-------------------
Yaron Steinbuch wrote

I don't think Williams, however, understands the definition of "punch," much less "punching hard."

The video shows the man clearly using the flat of his knuckles to TAP annoyingly at the back of her seat, but hardly anything more than what could be constituited as "punching."

Now, for example, if I were to punch hard the back of someone's seat, someone's going to wake up a few hours later with a bit of a headache.
But, that's just me and I would never do such a thing to begin with.

She blames the flight attendant for taking his side, but.....should I accuse the journalist who wrote the article as to taking hers?
Lol!
😂😂😂😂😂

Look. Society is clearly breaking down. Everyday somone on a plane goes crazy. Everyday on my news feed. Even piolts.
Remember the piolet who suicided by jet. He not only killed himself, he killed everyone on the plane.
And the mile high club. Everyone loves s..ex. However having se..x..ual inter....coarse on a plane really desturbs me.
What abput flight attendants who are losing it.
How abput the women who tried to open an exist on a flight.
And passengers going crazy and abusive mid air.
Its happening everyday now.
And what about help dot com..
We all were once a tight knit group. Before politics.
After politics entered we are at each others throat.
Something is very very wrong.
I see crazies everyday in my town
No answers here.
Im lost for words

Her claims before she began videoing, is a matter of supposition. She could illustrate the narrative anyway she sees fit because it's undocumented.

But, as you put it, a small detail in the print also tells us she was perturbed at the airline steward for "reprimanding" her. For what? She gives no detail about it, which leads the reader to believe the steward is also villain that is siding (and maybe even collaberating), with the other villain. She mentions him offering the "Puncher" rum in an effort to darken his persona. How many more villains are yet to come?
By reasonable deduction, she fails to mention that some of her own behavior might not have been so savory which may have caused the attendant to say something, but fails to say the same attendant offered her vodka for the martini she was drinking....
It was refreshment time and the steward was walking down the aisle offering everyone beverages.

The video clearly shows him being a jerk, but if his actions were any more violent and he was "punching" as "HARD" as she claims beforehand, she would be more en'guard and vigilant especially with her back turned. What caused her to calm down to near serinity?

But, her behavior changed at that point too....

She's laid way back and deliberately comfortable (grinding it in). The camera's running and she has a deep sense of security. She feels empowered.

I just don't think the punching was any harder before, than what we actually see happening.

These two needed to rent a room and fΩ<X each others' lights out and be on their merry way.

Not that I agree with his behavior, but, I'm no longer surprised at the behavior of women toward men who are willing to turn a mere annoyance into an charge of assault, when no real violence ever took place.

I dont know how to reply directly to your comment but toward the end of the video he was punching the seat, not tapping, PUNCHING, like her headrest is a punching bag. It causes her head to jerk. This is violence against another person. You can make this about women being too sensitive but its really about a person having no respect for another person, man or woman. She wasn't causing physical harm to him, yet he chose to take it to that level. People, including men, especially when it comes to women, are quick to resort to hostility and violence and sexism. And yes Americans like their lawsuits don't they?

I haven't heard of many women bringing assault charges when no real violence has taken place. There is a lot of he said/she said in those cases and they usually involve ****rape. This is just two people being assholes and one decides to be the bigger asshole. Not surprisingly, its the male.

No one said this woman was a "perfect angel" or anything regarding the garden of eden. These posts dont ALWAYS have to turn in that direction do they? Honestly it is keeping people from this site who may be looking for genuine help because they dont want to be preached at. But I guess as long as the same 2 or 3 dozen are here regularly, it doesn't matter?

I've seen the video enough to know what I'm looking at.

I suppose your idea of what is fair in a pillow fight, is to load your pillowcase with bricks.

You get more violence from an airport massage chair than what's comming from him. Again, I'm not saying what he's doing is right, or endorse his actions but then, nothing is as it seems when it comes to appearances.
There are other sources which indicate the woman spilled his drink when she reclined her seat back.
There's a very brief instance we see him cleaning up the mess from the aisle BUT due to selective editing....it's hard to tell. This was the original reason he asked her to upright her seat and she refused - hence, their disagreement and the course of actions both of them took.

It's clearly both.

He did her no physical harm, either - and if you can say, "he chose to take it to that level," then I can say she chose to play the one-up game. She smiles for her camera while this goes on.

?Americans? Don't forget profiling and racism. This is a Western/Euopeian epidemic among "civilized" societies. Forget the statistics which show that women are far more litigous than men concerning just about everything....

First, you know you're losing the debate when you have to escalate "seat pushing" to the level of ****rape. It's like trying to adding bricks to the pillowcase.
I'm sure the victim of a ****rape wasn't recording the event with a great big smile on her face....

Really? I think if you do your research, you'll find that it wasn't he who felt the need to call the FBI and sue the airline for the trauma he suffered over a spilled drink and lunch made unenjoyable from such a polite and curtious lady...

My remark wasn't directed to this lady but toward your reply -

So now, it's not about men "these days." You've expanded your parameters of "disturbing behavior" to men throughout all time.
That's a remark I felt needed answering, considering the sacrificial nature of men and the lengths they will go for the love of women.

For those that can't take a metaphor the way it was intended, yes.

People looking for genuine help aren't going limit their search with a trigger sensitive "feels-good" only filter.

But, in case you have forgotten, I'll remind you the nature of this Post -

This Post doesn't contain subject matter of someone crying out for help, but more of incidence.

I never feel the need to beat around the bush. Why do you?

BA1 I don't need to be reminded of anything. Your replies on every post are long-winded, tend to go off topic and seem to be mostly self serving. Im not interested. And the constant religious "metaphors" have nothing to do with actually helping anyone. They do keep people who are looking for honest, open-minded opinions on their problems from seeking that, here anyway. I have zero interest in debating with anyone on here. I haven't come here much over the years because the help offered is usually one-note unfortunately. You seem to need to be right about everything, always. Im wishing now I hadn't even replied to this post, so thanks bud. Keep it up. You're really making this place feel so welcoming.

To Anonymous Repliant

I'm not going to comb back through your last reply even though it is mostly incorrect.
If you want to turn an ambiguously stated metaphors about women and the garden of eden as some form preachy form of religion - then have at.
My question is what do you say to all those people in the world who say "Oh my God!" when it comes to expression? Are they religious, are they preachy or none of the above? Go figure.

This site will likely never fully realize it's true potential because it is more of a social media/debate arena than a place to get help. I've seen a lot of posts asking for genuine help that get no replies or one or two but something ridiculous like this becomes the hot post. It's just sad to me and thats just my opinion so no need to debate on it all night or invite people to back you up. Im really not interested in going any further. It's a waste of my time.

Okay, so....are you in need of help? Are you asking for help?

You are wrong in my opinion.
I was on this site 15 years ago.
It was a family.
Now its politically charged.
And honestly I dont care if you agree.