You could consider sitting in an exit row. The seats in front of that row are typically prohibited from reclining in order not to block the exit. Or you can sit behind a bulkhead.
I don't get the griping with the reclining. I see it all over reddit and here. Never in real life. It has never affected my life in the least bit to have someone in the seat ahead of me recline their seat. It doesn't affect knee room at all. You lose what maybe 3 inches of dead air space if that at the top of their seat.
There are definitely airline seats where the reclining seats impact the knee room. I'm 6'2" but I seem to have more of it in the legs than typical, which really shows up in non-extended legroom airlines. I buy the upgrade whenever possible, but sometimes it's just not available.
In a regular (not extended) seat, I have two positions that work: my ankles crossed and tucked up close to my seat with knees spread, and nothing in the underseat in front of me and then putting my feet there, with my legs straightened (wedging my thighs into the edge of my seat). Even then, my knees are high enough that usually the person in front of me reclining will recline the seat back into my knees (best case) or those metal side rails into my knees. Especially enjoyable when the suddenly recline the seat.
Not everyones body geometry is the same. My son is around the same height as me, but when we sit in the car he's like half a head taller than me, he carries a lot of his height in his trunk where I carry it in my legs.
I'm 5'9", and rarely have a problem with the person in front of my reclining, but I can absolutely see how it could create comfort issues for taller people.
It is more difficult to use a laptop on a tray table if the person in front of you is reclining; you often end up having to angle the screen down to the point where it's not great. In that case I often have to ditch the tray table and put it on my lap, which is less comfortable, but at least lets me angle the screen how I prefer.
It's only dead space if you are not using it. I like to open my laptop and place it on the tray. When the person in front reclines, I am forced to sit still for the duration of the flight. I usually fly from Europe to Asia, so 10-12 hours.
Not baffling at all. When I'm in an economy seat with typical seat pitch, someone reclining in front of me makes it difficult to impossible to use a laptop on the tray table. The recline angle of the seat means you have to angle the screen downward in an uncomfortable way. I'll often end up putting the laptop directly on my lap in that situation, but that creates other comfort/ergonomic issues.
(Not the person you're asking, but...) I don't want to adversely affect the person behind me, but I also accept the right of the person in front of me to recline if they want to. It's not easy being me.
Yeah, I don't understand this - pretty much every long haul flight I've ever been on has been like this: meal service finishes, lights dim a bit, everyone reclines, lights go out, people either doze off or watch the IFE.
To be fair, I have actually once seen someone not recline, but they had four or five visits from cabin crew before the lights went off making sure they were okay, or if they wanted to be moved, or if there was a fault with their seat. Like, even the crew thought it was an unusual occurrence.
Yet every thread that touches on this on HN, there are people saying "I never recline, what about the person behind me?". And then they complain about being uncomfortable!
If you are tall, then no amount of reclining is going to give you more space. The knees are too far forward to stretch your legs, _especially_ when the person in front of you reclines.
I'm unusually tall and flying has always been unpleasant no matter what. I can actually deal with the reclining because it's actually physically impossible for the person ahead of me to recline since my knees are in the way. What really gets me is the fact that the seat back only comes up to my neck and I can't sleep because my head just flops around. I've been meaning to find some security-friendly contraption that could extend the back a little bit to immobilize me a bit better.
I don't get this "inconsiderate" thing. The seats recline. They're designed to do so. They're allowed to do so. Airlines allow you to recline. Yes, if you're reclining during meal service, you're a dick. But any other time (outside takeoff and landing) is fair game.
If you're tall, pay for economy plus or premium economy. If that's not offered on your route, that sucks, but getting pissed that someone will use their allowed recline space isn't fair of you.
If you want to get mad, get mad at all passengers collectively for treating ticket cost as their only criterion when booking flights.
The back reclines. The bum and legs don't move. My knees usually only just fit. When someone reclines their seat usually presses on my knees. Those few cm matter.
Sometimes the seat design is such that my knees block the recline. If I'm unlucky it sucks.
I am 6'7". I regularly have to ask the person in front not to recline on some layouts. I get aisle/exit row seats if possible, but sometimes it's just not possible. For euro city flights there is no premium economy and the business class seats don't have more legroom either, so there's often very few options for me.
For short flights I will just tuck my legs awkwardly when necessary and have to get up to stretch regularly.