The safety rules you see in place on airlines are rules written in blood. There have been airline crashes in the past where people have died because the person in front of them had their seat reclined, and were unable to get out from their seating area in time. Tray tables also inhibit egress from seats.
One thing that irritated me to no end was how many times I would ask people to put their carry on bags UNDER THE SEAT IN FRONT OF THEM, not behind thier legs, between their feet or on their lap! During an evacuation the last thing you want is to be tripping over your (or somebody else's) damn bags!
The 'extra legroom' in exit rows is to allow more room for people to access and get out of the exits, and the limited seat recline for seats in front of exit rows is so people can't ignore the rules and happen to have their seats reclined and block the exit.
Child car seats can not be placed in an exit row, or a row forward or aft of an exit row. This is because of the exit operation procedures that sometimes call for an exit to be tossed into a seat.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that all the rules and regulations that you see out there are in place for a reason, and it's not just the F/As trying to be militant or difficult.
Any other quesitons about cabin safety please feel free to ask me, I was a new-hire flight attendant ground school and IOE instructor for many years at Eagle.
