It’s not about “more space” for me - it’s about my right to sit in a seat without having someone in front of me crash their seat back into my knees. What part of that do you not understand? I’m not suggesting that one should be able to say “I just don’t want you to recline.” This is an argument about the physical requirement of sitting in seats that have been shrunken down to the point where I literally have to wedge my knees in against the seat back in front of me at times. I try my best to get exit rows or economy comfort, but that’s not always possible because nearly every flight I take is 100% full. So, what am I to do? Just smile and say “awww, thank you for the pain?”
If they have those smaller spaced economy seats then they need to not have seats recline. Or give the passenger in back the option to so no.
Instead of increasing space by say, 2 inches per seat and 2 for the aisle aisle on width and 3 inches for legroom, they have now crowded us in to the point that customer confrontations have become regular.
That's the fault of the airlines, not of the poor person in front of you who's trying to regain the same 2 inches of space you can also take by reclining your own seat.