When should you recline your seat on a plane? Delta CEO Ed Bastian says he'd NEVER push his back and ethics expert weighs in

An ethics professor has given his expert opinion on whether it's right to recline your seat on an airplane - after the CEO of Delta said he never pushes his seat back. 

The advice comes amid a fierce debate between passengers who like to travel in laid-back comfort - versus those who think its a violation of others' personal space. 

Hitting recline in an economy coach can often be like pushing a red button to spark an in-cabin war - with anti-recliners launching counter-attacks by punching and kicking the offending chair, or even blasting the AC in the perpetrator's face. 

Brett Wilmot, an associate director of ethics at Villanova University, said there is no morally right or wrong answer on the issue. 

He said that when passengers buy tickets for airlines that provide reclining chairs - which is almost all US lines apart from Spirit - they are agreeing to universal freedom to hit that button. 

Brett Wilmot, an associate director of ethics at Villanova University, said both the views of pro-seat backers and recliner ragers are 'important to consider'

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian, who is himself a frequent flier, revealed he never reclines his seat - but supports customers who choose to - sparking rage from pro-recliners

Speaking about pro and anti seat-relaxers, he told the Wall Street Journal: 'As an ethicist, I think both of those views are important to consider.' 

Meanwhile, Janet Vukotich, 73, from Pittsburgh, explained why she is an ardent anti-recliner.  

'Your rights stop when my rights are not fulfilled,' she told the WSJ. 'You're leaning back, and I can't even get out of my seat because you're in my lap.'

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian even weighed in on the fierce debate with a comment which sparked rage from pro-recline passengers. 

The aviation boss, who is himself a frequent flier, revealed he never leans his seat back - but supports customers who choose to. 

New York-born Bastian, 66, also gave an insight into the 'proper thing to do' if you do opt for the more comfortable seat position as he explained his plane etiquette. 

'We ask all our of customers to do their very best to show respect to their fellow customers,' he told CNBC. 'We want all of our customers to have a great time.'

'I think customers have the right to recline,' he added. 'We've been testing reduced recline and seeing response on that. 

'We actually have a fair amount of our fleet on a reduced recline as a result of that, but I think the proper thing to do if you're going to recline into somebody is that you ask if it's okay first and then you do it. 

'I never say anything myself though... I never recline because I don't think it's something that as CEO of the airline I should be doing. 

'And I never say anything if someone reclines into me.' 

The latest incident caught on camera showed a woman on a flight from Paris to Los Angeles desperately trying to stop the woman in front from reclining.

'I said respectfully, can you please stop moving it back? Respect the person behind you,' the latest recliner rager caught on camera said

Multi-millionaire Bastian likely flies luxury business-class most of the time, where the battle for space is not an issue - but he says he regularly flies coach on his domestic trips because he thinks it's good practice. 

Bastian added that Delta has even tried to avoid seat wars on their planes by reducing the degree by which the chairs can move back. 

But the seat issue isn't going away any time soon. At the weekend, the latest incident caught on camera via Newsflare showed a woman on a flight from Paris to Los Angeles desperately trying to stop the woman in front from reclining. 

Placing her hands on the back of the headrest to prevent her co-passenger from moving back, she said: 'I said respectfully, can you please stop moving it back?

'Respect the person behind you.' 

Wendi Williams appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday to call for the man to 'come out of the woodwork' 

Other recline-ragers have been less diplomatic, like one man who resorted to punching the back of a reclined seat in front of him during an American Airlines flight. 

The recliner hit back by filming him pummeling the back of her seat during their flight from New Orleans to Charlotte. 

Wendi Williams said she relaxed her chair, but since his did not have the option to lean back, he vented his frustration by repeatedly hitting her chair to prove his point. 

Williams said the man initially asked her to put her seat up while he was eating, which she did, but the conflict began when he was done and she pushed it back down. 

She said he hit her seat so hard that she was 'flying forward', and the air hostess would not respond to her pleas for help. 

Williams has divided social media after shaming a fellow traveler who she claimed repeatedly punched  her seat when she reclined it 

Flight meal-time has also been the tipping point for other passengers, like one woman who split opinion online after she revealed she spent her flight kicking the back of a fellow traveler's seat after they continued to lean back during dinner.  

The anonymous poster, who took to UK site Mumsnet to canvas opinions, explained: 'The inflight meal comes about 45mins in. She is the ONLY person in the cabin who keeps her seat reclined, bearing in mind she is sat bolt upright to eat.

'I don’t believe it’s within my rights to ask her to (do the decent thing and) put her chair up so I can eat in comfort without her chair pressing against my forehead.

The topic sparked polarized responses, with some branding the lady who reclined 'very rude', and saying it was ok to kick her seat. 

Meanwhile, other recliner ragers have opted for an icier response - by blasting their overhead AC directly at the face of the laid-back passenger in front. 

TikToker @TheLKShow launched a major discussion over the technique of 'freezing out' recliners when he posted a video saying he came up with the 'unethical life hack' after people reclined so far they 'leave him no room'.  

The TikToker, who goes by @TheLKShow on the app, said he turns on the air vent above his seat and adjusts it so it's hitting their head when people in front of him lean really far back

Another passenger - a woman who spoke anonymously to Nova radio hosts Fitzy and Wippa - admitted she used the same tactic.

'You know the air con vents in the top, so you can swivel them around I swivel it right on their face and put it on full blast,' she said to applause from the radio hosts.

The problem isn't even contained solely to economy riders - with people in the private zone also confessing they've had the same experiences. 

A first-class passenger revealed he was faced with criticism and frequent glares after reclining his seat.

He questioned if he was in the wrong in the Am I The A**hole? subreddit for putting his seat back despite requests from the person behind him to stop.

In his viral post earlier this year, he began by explaining that he is a frequent flyer who is 6'3" and 350 pounds.

'Hotly debated topic, I get it. I fly 150k miles a year, so my routine is pretty frequent. Paid for first class, as I'm a big guy (6'3" and 350 lbs) - after the ding at 10,000 feet, I look back to make sure the person behind me doesn't have a laptop out or anything, then slowly recline my seat back,' he explained.

'Especially up at the front of the plane, usually no one has any issues at all.'

The traveler added that the flight was nearly five hours and he didn't want to spend the entirety of it uncomfortable.

However, when he tried to make himself comfortable, he was met with backlash from the fellow flyer behind him.

'This flight was about 4.5 hours cross the US, and within 20 seconds of reclining back, dude taps me on the shoulder and says "Raise your damn seat."'