My point isn’t that babies crying is avoidable, it’s that it’s precisely that unavoidability that makes comparing it to adult behavior (which people love to do, typically in the “my infant is better-behaved than [insert adult passenger having an entirely different experience of flying]!” vein) pointless.

What are you talking about?

I’m not sure where you got the idea that I was talking about whether it’s, like, a punishable offense.

My point is that it’s people’s job to be considerate when they’re putting their seat in space that doesn’t belong solely to them.

That’s kind of what I meant by “not comparable.” I hate when people compare the behavior of infants to the behavior of adults. As sounds, one might annoy you more than the other, but they’re not the same thing, and they’re not annoying for the same reasons.

99% of people aren’t assholes when traveling. That doesn’t necessarily mean the people you disagree with are right, but it’s just objectively and obviously untrue that the majority of people act like jerks during travel.

That’s kind of a dumb argument. Just because they haven’t redesigned the seats to adjust for shrinking legroom/pitch doesn’t mean the seats are still actively “meant” to recline.

Yeah, I think this is a good point. People’s argument in favor of reclining always seems to be “it’s MY seat,” and while that’s true, you’re still putting said seat in shared space/the space of the person behind you when you recline it.

Why not both? They’re not in any way comparable.

Do you do it without looking behind you first, or insist on staying reclined while everyone’s eating?