As a large person, I can say the aisle is definitely where I want to be. There is a good chance I'll be able to raise the arm rest on the aisle side of my seat, which gives me more room to fidget. I can also more easily get up to stretch.
For contrast, I once had to sit in the middle seat between two people larger than I was, and behind a person who reclined their seat. And when I'm sitting at the window, my head can bump into the curved body of the plane, which is quite obnoxious.
Jam your knees in there. There are certain periods of long haul flights where you need to recline but the inconvenience to your fellow passenger should never be necessary on shorter ones.
Speaking as a tall guy as well, one of the things I do actually like about Ryanair is their seats don't recline.
I got upgraded on a BA flight once because the person behind me said he was too tall for me to recline my seat.
I'm not sure where this idea came from that tall people can stop people from reclining their seat. If I've paid for a reclining seat, I'm going to recline it if I choose to.
Just be a bit polite and mindful of the person behind you. They may have something on their table. It doesn't hurt to just ask if you're going to hit anything.
And believe it or not, some people actually have long legs, and physically cannot fit if you recline your seat. Should they optimally have gotten a seat with more leg room? Sure! But that isn't always possible.
But the tables are designed to stay flat, even when the seat is reclined - often by being physically disconnected from the reclining part, or via a system of linkages. I'm six feet tall and haven't ever had a problem when I've had to fly economy, but maybe I'm not tall enough to notice though?
I can barely lower the tray table over my legs when the person in front in me is not reclined. When the seat is reclined, I have to start doing a contortion act to use the table.
Because that's just their luck, being seated in front of a really tall person. Maybe that sucks a bit, but those are the odds, you only choose your own seat. Next time they may be seated in front of a really short person, who knows?
The point is that you should have a bit of common courtesy towards other people, and it goes both ways.
Just blithely jamming your seat as far back as it'll go, just because you can and because you feel entitled to do so whenever you want, is a real shitheel ego move.
I'm not talking about blithely jamming it back, but a reclining seat is something you pay for, right? It's not because you feel entitled, it's because that is what you have purchased.
You might as well just take someone's inflight meal from them or cover up the screen of the inflight entertainment.
On most airlines, the seat is made to recline. If you don't like this, book a seat with more leg room, or book on a plane which doesn't have reclining seat.
I do mind when they just smash it back as hard as possible the instant the seatbelt sign switches off. I also very much mind when they do it while I have stuff on the table in front of me, especially since the seats seem perfectly designed to smash cups and water bottles. Or even worse -- laptop screens.
It's fine that people want to recline their seats, but they should be just a tiny bit mindful of the person behind them.
For contrast, I once had to sit in the middle seat between two people larger than I was, and behind a person who reclined their seat. And when I'm sitting at the window, my head can bump into the curved body of the plane, which is quite obnoxious.
Aisle seat all the way for me!