Philosophical ponderings on planes

Economy class brings out the opportunist in me. Every flight, I spot ways to get a bit more comfortable, and every flight, two philosophical questions give me pause. The questions are roughly: am I taking advantage of the airline, and am I doing my fellow passengers wrong? Let me walk you through my ponderings (it’s not about armrests).

I don’t like queuing, so I usually end up the last person boarding the plane. Walking down the cramped economy aisle of the plane, looking at an empty emergency seat, one opportunity flashes into my eye: Can’t I just sit on the emergency exit seat with extra legroom, since I am the last and no one apparently reserved it? Usually I don’t do it, then spend the rest of the flight pondering the ethics of this action.

Takes from different philosophical traditions on this:

• Utilitarianism: Clear welfare win for me, it’s utility improving.
• Economics: Very difficult to see through, I am free riding, but the airline would have never gotten my money anyway, and I am not infringing the rights of another passenger. You could argue that I am lowering the prices because I don’t reserve seats, which is a customer benefit. But airlines are barely profitable anyway. I would say economically neutral, but foggy neutral.
• Deontology: I personally don’t believe in strong deontology. A weaker version of deontology asks a useful question, though: “If everyone would behave like this, would you be pissed off?” That’s a clear no for me. There’s an even weaker version, which asks “Would a German (like Kant) be pissed off at this behaviour? >:|” And the answer is yes.
• Virtue ethics: Uhhh, there’s a case to be made for resourcefulness you exhibit with taking the empty seat, which is virtuous, but there’s also the case that you are deceitful for taking the seat.
• I and Thou: I can enter a relationship with the people around me, but from experience, I know that most flight attendants are okay with me taking the seat ☺️. Ironically, asking the attendants if it’s okay has the danger of turning the potential I-Thou relationship into an I-It relationship, because once you ask, you force their hand to give you the “official” answer, breaking the sacred don’t-ask-don’t-tell status quo.

Overall, engaging in empty emergency exit seat exploitation is ethically defensible, I’d say. The seat stays empty otherwise, and they were never getting my money. This relies heavily on being the last person to board, though. I still wouldn’t call taking the seat virtuous, and I’d only do it on longer flights. I’d be ready to be low status and admit I haven’t reserved the seat when I am asked, but wouldn’t ask for permission.

The second philosophical conundrum starts once seated: Can I recline my seat without asking the person behind me? This one seems easier. My gained comfort comes directly out of someone else’s already very limited space.

Takes from the same philosophical traditions:

• Utilitarianism: Personally, reclining feels only slightly nicer, whereas having less space feels considerably worse, so probably a welfare loss. Sleeping on an overnight flight might change the calculation.
• Economics: My comfort comes at someone else’s expense, especially if they can no longer use their laptop, although working doesn’t automatically win over resting.
• Deontology: “If everyone would behave like this, would I be pissed off?” Yes. “Would a German be pissed off >:| ?” Probably not: Lufthansa recommends asking, but reclining is still the right of the person in the seat, and the average German person would happily make use of that right.
• Virtue ethics: Silently crushing someone’s knees or laptop doesn’t seem particularly virtuous.
• I and Thou: There’s a person behind me I can just talk to. Whether I should recline isn’t something I have to figure out entirely in my head, we can I-Thou it. They’ll most likely say yes and be less pissed off.

I and Thou dominates here. It’s magical how even a brief connection with another human changes how the world feels. You feel better for asking, they feel better for being asked, and usually say yes. Win-win.

So, just ask.