Back to the original question, I'd think that using a barf bag to dispose of a wad of gum is an awful waste of a barf bag? Wouldn't a small piece of paper, or a wrapper, suffice?

Then again, barf bags can be used for all sorts of purposes. Personally, when making my transcon commute I like to have 2 beers enroute. When I order the beers from the FA I will have her put them into a barf bag, and have her top off the bag with ice. Then, I fold the top closed and put it in the seatback for a few minutes. Then, as soon as the urge hits, voila! Ice cold beer! Sure does beat the luke-warm crap that travels up and down in the FA cart, and the FA's like that I am ordering in advance and not bugging them each time I would like to order.

OK Jason, then I don't want to hear word one from you when 350 pound smelly person sits next to you. After all, it's their right to be huge and smelly and they paid for their seat as well. People who don't want to sit next to whomever they end up next to should walk. :-)

Please show your breeding, Emperor Tiberius. Say pass wind rather than fart. So much nicer way to present the term. Hail Caesar!

90% of the time, my husband and myself who are both tall (I'm 5'11 and he is 6'8) do upgrade to FC if not, we usually get bulkhead or emergency row.

Unfortunately for the person in front of my husband, they cannot recline. The seat will not go back.

It has only been an issue twice. A gentleman in front of husband started yelling at him to move his legs so he could recline his seat and another time a teenager started slamming the seat into husband's legs.

We all realize, don't we, that the original question of this post had to do with chewing gum in barf bags?

I never thought the seats reclined enough to make a difference:)

Grasshopper -
Poor comparison.

Someone who weighs 350 lbs should buy two tickets. If they do not buy two seats, then I'm fine with them sitting next to me provided that not one square inch of their body overhang the armrest onto my side. That armrest is the air traveler's version of the DMZ and should not be crossed lest they run the risk of my massive chemical gas retaliatory strike.

Being smelly (i.e. BO) is anti-social behavior. Reclining in a chair that allows you to recline not anti-social, and is completely acceptable per airline etiquette.

jor,

I think a mosh pit is a bit different than an airplane. My being shorter than you doesn't make me any more of a tripping obstacle unless I'm lying on the ground. And anyway, when I'm in the mosh pit, I don't expect to be (and never am) treated any different than anyone one else. Nor do I biatch about it!

Getting back to the barf bag topic, I have to preface this by saying that I would classify myself as fairly considerate and much opposed to littering. That said, I don't have a huge problem with her leaving her gum in the bag. My thinking is that if I'm about to get sick, I'm probably not going to be too concerned about how sanitary the barf bag is. Although, good point about the possibility of the bag sticking. Hopefully, she at least had the courtesy to make sure the gum made it to the bottom of the bag.

Great tip on using the bag as a mini cooler.

I personally do not recline my seat. The extra 0.00008 of an inch does not provide any added comfort for myself. However, when the seat back is reclined on me- it feels like 12 inches taken out of my leg room. Thats when I make sure I kick their seat as often as possible.

After reading all this I have a question. If a fat person can't sit in one seat s/he is offered (at least by Southwest) to pay for a seat next to him. What about tall people? Should they pay for the seat in front to keep it non-reclined?

Is it OK to put the used gum on the reclined seat in front of you?

Don't even think about it, Gail, or I'll be the stereotypical seat-neighbor from hell and pester you with annoying questions, stare at you over the headrest of my reclined seat, and do my "sneeze attack" routine that would make even the most seasoned of travelers absolutely sure that I have SARS. You'll regret it.

jor - although I'm firmly in the recline camp, I have lots of sympathy for you, 'cause my husband is a big guy too. Air travel is misery for him. The worst thing is when fat FAs run into his shoulder every time they go up and down the aile (approximately 3 times/minute). It jars him to the point that it jars MY seat too. I thought maybe he was going to strangle one of them on our last trip. I think fitting completely in the aisle should be a job requirement for FAs. But, you know, I've never heard him complain once when the people in front recline.

Tiberius - not "scream to regulators", change airlines or upgrade. That legislate-everything attitude is a huge problem in this country. People who want to pay for more room have that priviledge. The free market will decide how much room people need. (there are very few benefits to being 5'2"...but being comfortable in a coach seat is one of them...let me enjoy it!)

I would just like to say that I have never said anything to a "recliner", nor do I dispute that it is indeed your prerogative to recline. It is just a huge pet peeve of mine. My cattlecar "DMZ" zone includes my leg area and when someone reclines and I cannot even cross my legs without some sort of contortions, I feel cranky. And I am only 5'7". I still contend that even though it's a feature, I don't feel it is considerate. I just hope I'm never behind Tiberus' flatulant butt.

Sorry I have no sympathy for seat recliners. I'm tall myself, fly all the time and NEVER recline my seat. I would never do that to the person behind me. A reclined seat in front of you means that that you can't access the things under the seat, have great difficulty eating (God forbid the recliner return their seat to the upright position to eat like the FA's request), lack of ability to exit the seat to use the restroom etc. Yes, we all paid for our seats, and I should have the ability to use the room around my seat as well.

I guess it all comes down to the way you treat people. You're either a "me" person or not.

Personally, I wish I could own my own airline and I'd ban reclining seats (unless I could reconfigure the plane to give adequate leg space) and carry-ons.

kkj, I'm so glad to hear that people like you are out there. I foolishly had presumed that traveling rendered a person more aware and somehow a "better" person. Clearly, there are a lot of "me" people out there.

United has Economy plus seating, available for their premier members. It's worth loyalty to United, in my opinion.

Tiberius_Solarass, If you fart on me I will fart back!

I think reclining your seat is rude. I would never do it unless there is no one sitting behind me, or if the person in front of me is fully reclined into my lap (then I will recline partially due to claustrophobia). If the person in front of me is reclined, then I have to grab the back of their seat every time I get up, often jolting them awake. Ha!

My bf is 6'3" and cannot bear to have a coach seat reclined on him. I have seen him cry in pain from it, though he tends not to say anything, because after all, it's "allowed". Our solution is to get to the airport 2-3 hours before flight time and get us (or at least him) exit row seats. I guess a lot of other people have the same idea, because there is usually only 1 left so we wind up sitting apart.

Suzanne....your bf can recline his own seat and problem solved. Seats recline for a reason,I cant believe people think it is poor etiquette. Should we keep trays in their upright position not to bother the passenger in front? If people REALLY feel cramped when a seat is reclined,fly first class,and quit complaining.

doc, Get real.

tiberius, you are correct. A 350;b should buy 2 seats (and a Jenny Craig membership) but is welcome to sit next to me as long as he does not have "dunlap's" disease. Dunlaps is when his gut "done lap" over his belt into my seat. And since my seat would be reclining anyway....

He is too polite to recline his seat more than an inch or two, though it wouldn't help much anyway (his knees are all the way in the adjacent peoples' spaces even when the person in front isn't reclined). We cannot afford first class seats. Should he be penalized for being tall? The exit row seats are fine though. Extra leg room, and no one can recline onto your lap. Personally, I think they should give exit row seats to extra-tall people, because regular coach seats have close to zero legroom.

I still think it's funny that y'all are bitching each other out.

Seriously. It's the airline, bitch them out!

Though in our overly litigious society, I hope someone can make a DeepVein Thrombosis case stick. That is likely to be the only thing that will FORCE the airlines to go back to offering the leg room that once was common.

I hate it when people recline all the way back in front of me - but even worse are the people who pretend like their legs were just practically amputated when the person in front of them just reclined and inch. I sat next to one of those recently and eveytime the person in front of her even moved she'd make this big dramatic scene - I wanted to smack her.
Now the absolutely worst thing I EVER sat behind was a man with horrible dandruff which was flying all over "my space" - I was afraid to eat my meal - I had to keep it covered so his dandruff wouldn't fly into my food. He kept hitting his head against the seat so that dandruff was flying everywhere! When I was getting off the plane I noticed my purse which was stowed under the seat was covered with dandruff. It was beyond disgusting.

I'm sorry...here I am about to get on my flight TOMORROW ans now I gotta worry about stuck barf bags and recliners...LOL

But in all seriousness....if I put something in the barf bag (which is usually wrappers from anything I ate on the plane) I always give it to the flight crew when they pick up the trash.

As for recliners, being 5'3" I don't have much of a problem, I usually only recline halfway unless I notice someone who might have a problem behind me, in which case I don't recline at all. However, even at my short height, there have been instances where the person reclining in front of me has limited my leg room! (Especially at theatres!) So I see both sides of that argument!!

I love the responses on the reclining discussion! I'm only 5'1" and it still bothers me when someone in front of me reclines their seat. For me it's not an issue of squishing my knees, but that the person's head is now 4" from my face, which is annoying (see previous dandruff comment). While people have every right to recline their seat, I usually don't recline mine since it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference in my comfort anyway. Plus I know it can be annoying to ME, so I don't like to annoy anyone behind me. You certainly should be able to recline your seat if you choose to - it's the airline industry that's to blame. Who are they kidding when they decide how much pitch/space to allow between rows and seats? Who is the "average" person that they're measuring as a guide? I'm a short person and I STILL feel confined in those tiny seats! Love the United Plus more legroom seats but have heard that some airlines may discontinue that system :-(

The best way to handle flights is to accept the discomfort and make preparations to alleviate the discomfort. The best way I know is to drink heavily at the airport bar and have a drink or two on the flight. Inebriated, you will find sleep easy without having to recline into the lap of the person behind you. A bonus to this sort of travel practice is that you will have used your travel time wisely by taking advantage of sleeping druing an unpleasant portion of your trip.

What if you actually barf in the "barf" bag? Do you bring it to the bathroom and empty it? Politely hand it to the FA who's wheeling the lunch cart down the aisle? Stash it in the seat back? Slide it under the seat of the person in front of you who is reclining into your airspace?

What's the etiquette here?

Good question. Fodors should make this this next poll - Have you ever actually barfed in the barf bag?

Here's an off beat dinner party gag idea. I collected eight barf bags and place one by each setting. It was a going away party, and I'm not a great cook.

jor, a "gag" idea? Funny! :)

I don't recline in seats unless there's no one behind me (and very seldom even then). I know how bad it makes my legs feel when the person in front of me reclines and I don't want to do that to the person behind me.

I've barfed in a barf bag before. Once, while taking off from Logan out over the harbor. The winds were terrible, the plane was all over the place. I normally am not one to get squeamish, but one person barfed and then a few others, and just the sound of the others barfing (listening to someone barf is a terrible sound) did something to me. Before I knew it, I felt that bitter taste in my mouth and lost it. It was a terrible experience.

Whoops, I accidentally posted before finishing my story. Well, to answer your question, yes, we all handed the barf bags to the FAs and they were quite professional about it. I was impressed with their calm demeanor, not sure if any of you have seen a used barf bag, but believe you me it is not a pretty sight. Most people cannot neatly direct their barf into the narrow opening of the bag and there was quite a bit of multi-colored splatter and spillover on the various bags being handed in. It was quite a sight, one of those 'flight from hell' episodes. First time in my life I saw an entire cabin full of pasty, pale-faced passengers with some very distressed expressions on their faces. I was sweating like a pig for about an hour after the plane leveled off. Ugh.

Recline, don't recline, I don't really care.

What I HATE is the perfume/lotions/ointments/etc. that people wear. I was once on a commuter flight where the woman in front of me had that old person formaldehyde smell. It was making me sick. Everytime I couldn't smell it anymore she'd move and I'd get another wave of it.

I now have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a condition where smells, soaps, fumes, etc. bother me. I'm so sensitive that I can't do down the household cleaner or laundry detergent asiles in the grocery store. I avoid using the mall enterances to department stores because the perfumes bother me so much. I was at a paino recital and had to move because the woman's perfume in front of me gave me an asthma attack.

As for gum chewers being more disgusting than smokers is just not true. My gum chewing won't kill me or others. It also doesn't make my clothes, breath or body stink. I'm a poilite chewer and don't smack my gum or chew like a cow chewing cud. For me it's a way to relieve stress, as I tend to clench my teeth when stressed.

i've utilized barf bags for writing impromptu letters. the recipients always find this amusing, and none have ever mentioned that there is gum stuck inside.

as for reclining, i always check behind me, and wont recline if i see someone extremely large or tall in the seat. if the person isnt going to be inconvenienced, back i go. it doesnt really bother me when the person in front of me reclines. i'm flying 12 hours on AA this weekend (boston-honolulu, yeehaw!) and i'm hoping for the "more legroom" seats. bummer that they're discontinuing those.

fiasco