Reclining Seats In Standard Class - A Debateable Topic

[BR60062]

Hello everyone.

Having seen a lot of train videos of railways in Japan and East Asia. This has provoked an idea on how comfort in standard class could be improved on our long haul and intercity trains by installing reclining seats into standard class. From what I have seen on some flight videos on YouTube when someone reclines their seat into someone else's space is quite appauling to say the least on here anyway.

So if UK TOC's wanted to install reclining seats into their trains. I would think the safer bet would be use the inverted recline mechanism where the seat base would move forwards a couple of inches and slopes down about 5 degrees. This would in turn make the long trip more comfortable and the seat back wouldn't invade anyones space behind (for the non-table seats).

So I would be curious to what people here think about this idea for improving comfort for train travellers on long haul train trips around the UK and all feedback both positive and negative feedback is welcome .

 

[edwin_m]

Not possible IMHO unless the seat pitch was increased significantly. Even if the recline mechanism slid the base forward, the top of the seat would still move backwards into the space of the person behind. It's virtually impossible to use a laptop on most face-to-back seats on the British network (Eurostar excepted) due to lack of space above the seat back table to tiip the screen into. This sort of idea would probably rule out keyboarded tablets etc as well.

 

[physics34]

Yep unfortunately the aim is to put more seats in rather than give people generous room

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd be more concerned about it being another thing to end up broken, and most people wouldn't use it anyway (they didn't on short-haul flights even when it existed, all it did was cause annoyance on the rare occasion anyone used it).

 

[AndrewE]

I'd be more concerned about it being another thing to end up broken, and most people wouldn't use it anyway (they didn't on short-haul flights even before it existed, all it did was cause annoyance on the rare occasion anyone used it).

I couldn't agree more!
A

 

[Dr Hoo]

^^^^^^

Agree wholeheartedly with this. As someone who has suffered from back pain and only ever uses upright chairs the idea of having to sit slumped in a broken recliner fills me with horror.

Why anybody ever invented the settee is completely lost on me.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Yes - but not if they're like airline seats where you reclining invades the person behind's space!! They're a pain!

 

[Bletchleyite]

^^^^^^

Agree wholeheartedly with this. As someone who has suffered from back pain and only ever uses upright chairs the idea of having to sit slumped in a broken recliner fills me with horror.

Don't, and I really mean don't, travel First Class on the Austrian Railjet, then. The recliners are broken on ALL the seats, the design is basically flawed. If it hadn't been full and standing, I'd have "downgraded" myself to Standard (which has the GWR HST seating in a very low density layout).

 

[delt1c]

why do you need to recline your seat? I travel all over europe by plane , Ryan air and Easyjet dont have reclining seats which is no major problem or discomfort, even on their longest flights.

 

[urbophile]

Sitting in the 'airline' seats on trains is enough of a problem already; if you are lucky you get a narrow view out of the window, if not you get a view of the wall and the seat in front. Your fold down 'table',as post #2 points out, is virtually useless. To have the person in front tilt their seat suddenly back into your face seems like a form of torture.

If British trains didn't have such a restrictive loading gauge, and all seats on intercity trains were in bays of two or four around a table, it might not be a bad idea. But hardly a priority.

 

[BR60062]

A very good debate and to be honest. As long as I have enough room, which being 6ft 3in tall. I do need a bit of room, as long as I am going to be cramped by the person in front. I don't really mind if they want to put their seat back a bit. However I think the problem with invading the invading the space behind has been addressed by ANA as they use the new type of seats on their long haul flights where only the seat itself moves and the backrest slopes forwards but the seat back frame does NOT move and I think this would be a better bet if the UK TOC's use that idea instead of the "dropback" like used on many other Airlines/Buses and even the Shinkansen that can invade the space behind. Something like this "|\_" where the | is the back frame that is fixed and doesn't move with the \ representing the seat in the max reclined position.

Actually this video will show better of what I mean and the person sitting behind won't lose their space either .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVNvN3ESwTk

 

[Wombat]

On a Virgin flight a couple of years ago I entertained myself for a while with daydreams about strapping Richard Branson into my seat and repeatedly slamming the seat in front into his kneecaps. Whoever invented the reclining aeroplane seat deserves their own private circle of hell.

So, no thanks. Even if the seat backs are fixed, the reclining mechanism will break and I'll end up eating my own knees. I'm quite tall, albeit not freakishly so, and I would actively pay money to not have such a seat.

Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago I was in a first class GWR carriage from Paddington to Cardiff. The seat backs were at visibly different heights and I wondered whether it was due to a reclining mechanism (I couldn't find one, though I didn't look that hard) or whether the fitter had done a rush job. Looked quite odd, though they were pretty comfy seats.

 

[BR60062]

The odd thing here is though. Is that for example. The seats in Standard class on the Shinkansen and most intercity trains in Japan. Almost all the seats recline and there still tons of legroom behind and one can still get in and out of their seat. I don't think the inverted recliner seats are a bad idea because the user would only be taking their own space. No one else is affected and beside that. Is a broken recline function on the seat our fault? Not really as we all pay enough in the train fare to ensure that the seats are maintained at the very least .