The seat is reclinable and the airline does not communicate to the passengers any rule against reclining it. That means that the passengers have indeed bought the right to recline. The “social conventions” are of no importance whatsoever to that point.
That passengers don’t have the legal right to recline is quite an extraordinary claim. (I do not recall seeing it previously in this discussion, nor in similar ones.) I should like to see some very solid evidence for it. I definitely don’t think there needs to be any positive defense of legality, absent some evidence of illegality. I have never heard anything about reclining being illegal before.
The seat is reclinable and the airline does not communicate to the passengers any rule against reclining it. That means that the passengers have indeed bought the right to recline. The “social conventions” are of no importance whatsoever to that point.
That passengers don’t have the legal right to recline is quite an extraordinary claim. (I do not recall seeing it previously in this discussion, nor in similar ones.) I should like to see some very solid evidence for it. I definitely don’t think there needs to be any positive defense of legality, absent some evidence of illegality. I have never heard anything about reclining being illegal before.