Spirit Airlines may be bottom of the barrel in terms of customer service, but they’re actually better than average when it comes to seat width. SeatGuru is showing their planes’ economy class seats as being 17.75" wide. By current domestic economy class standards, that’s huge.
I call bullshit. Seat pitch on current airlines is fine. My knees certainly don’t touch the seat in front of me, so what’s the problem? (Oh, did I mention that I’m only 5’2" tall? ;))
That’s the problem. The more the airlines reduce the seat pitch and the more they narrow the seat width, the higher the percentage of the public who won’t fit into the cheap seats - and since most people aren’t regular flyers and only consider price and schedule when they book their plane tickets, a lot of them won’t know about the problem until they actually go to the airport and board the plane. No wonder the flying public is getting so cranky!
And even if you know in advance there may be a problem, it can be hard to do anything about it. More and more routes are now flown by regional jets which don’t offer either Economy Plus or Domestic First Class seating. At least as a Horizontally Challenged Person, I can book two seats on a regional jet if I need to. What are you, as Vertically Challenged Person (at least by airline standards) supposed to do? Cut off your legs so you’ll fit better?
I’m beginning to reluctantly conclude that it may be time for the FAA to step in and mandate a more realistic minimum seat width and seat pitch, in order to put the brakes on this inadvertent consumer-driven race to the bottom. While everyone wants cheap airline tickets, they shouldn’t come at the expense of safety, and at least with seat pitch I think we’ve reached the point where safety is in fact being compromised.
And even when the seats are offered, the price differential for the amount of space you receive often makes it “not a good value.” First class seats are plenty roomy - but I don’t want twice the room at three times the price, I want two more inches wide and two more long for another $50. (And I’m 5’6" and 145 pounds - not exactly the 6’3" 300+ lbs that makes everyone in the waiting room hope “maybe I’ll end up next to the woman with eighteen month old twins.”).
And cutting off the legs doesn’t help, since you cut off from the bottom - you need to have your thighs surgically shortened. I think you get a discount on it through your airline AmEx card.
Im a pretty tolerant and small-bodied flier, but I have my limits. If your shoulder happens to touch mine, no biggie, but if you LEAN on me or try to talk to me incessantly I have my ways …
On one Chgo to Hawaii nonstop flight that was packed, the guy next to me was purposely (it seemed) leaning on me and trying to connect. My terse answers and requests to please move a bit fell on deaf ears.
I swear it wasnt on purpose, but I had an acute attack of the SBD’s and happened to lean to the side opposite of him. He fled and never came back the whole trip. I keep this in my arsenal of skills.
Oh, you could just undergo bilateral above-knee mid-thigh amputations. But I don’t know if the TSA will permit two prosthetic legs as additional carryons, and they probably won’t fit in the regional jet overhead bin anyway, so we’re still screwed.
Somewhere I saw a cartoon of what the airline designers must think the average passenger’s body proportions are. It showed a sketch of a small man who was proportioned pretty much like Charlie Brown in the old Peanuts cartoon, with legs so short compared to the torso that when he was sitting his feet were resting on the edge of the seat (so no need for any legroom at all).
It would be very rare for this to occur in an exit row or Canadian airlines are more diligent at enforcing the exit row requirements.
I have bad knees and even though I’m only 5’7" and I find most normal airline seats a torturous experience. Due to this, I always pay for whatever enhanced economy price gets me more leg room.
Every single flight I have a conversation with the flight attendant about the need to be able to handle the door, I put away my scarf and lap blanket for takeoff and landing (no loose items or clothing during those times) and I go through the process with them during boarding each and every time. Under seat luggage can’t protrude out from under the seat even the smallest bit and they’ve been very consistent. If the person pictured is the one the blog post was about I feel very confident that no flight attendant I’ve dealt with would allow them to remain in the exit row.
I’ve actually been moved once when I got sick while on a business trip and had to take a decongestant to fly. I was only a little groggy but it concerned her enough that she found me a bulkhead seat instead.
As for the space available, here’s some research that one journalist did in July 2013:
In May 2013 I flew from Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany and then from Rome back to Toronto for less than the 1955 one way fare from NY to Rome. Included in my flight costs was the upgraded economy seats on both flights, and they weren’t the cheapest flights they were the most convenient time wise, although not a huge jump from the cheapest I’m only willing to pay so much for convenience.
I complain about airlines as much as the next person but they cater to the desires of their customers. Customers SAY they want more space and more amenities but when the time comes to book their trip they pay for the cheapest seat they can find. I can’t really blame any business for paying attention to what their customers do rather than what they say. As long as I have the option to pay more to get what I want it would be kind of silly to expect them to deliver what I want to every person who it seems, would prefer to spend less and get less.
But what do you do when such a product isn’t available at any price? Regional jets often don’t have any economy seats with extra legroom for sale, and the bulkhead and exit row seats are generally reserved for those airline frequent flyers with major status. In that setting, it’s sardine-can seating or nothing. And some of these regional jet flights are lasting 2-3 hours, which is ridiculous. (EWR-OMA in a CRJ-200, anyone? I didn’t believe it myself until I experienced it).
I suppose I should look on the bright side - maybe this will revitalize our train system, as people look for alternatives to excessively-cozy air travel.
I’m 6’5. I have this problem with every airplane. I hardly call the experience of knees touching the seat in front “hellish.” More of a minor annoyance.
Oh, that’s not (just) what makes Spirit hellish. It’s complete bullshit that someone my height (5’8") has no legroom on a plane, yes, but the horseshit lies in its ridiculous pricing getup that includes fees for everything from printing your boarding pass at the airport ($10) to water on the plane ($3). Charging people to put stuff in the overhead is bad enough, but three dollars for water if you’re parched? Satan wrote that policy. Look it up.
You just missed the point at which rants such as this became redundant. By now it is EXPECTED that the flight experience will be a wretched schlep (and that Spirit Airlines exists to answer the rhetorical question “can it get any worse?”).
In 1950 you would have gotten a first class experience for your $2500 equivalent in U.S. dollars. In 2013 I had the opportunity to fly to Vienna with my husband (who was going on business) on three weeks notice. The cheapest coach ticket - Minneapolis to Vienna, was $1500. To go on the same flight with my husband - $4k. A first class ticket - $8k.
Unless it’s a new plane, how is removing a 17in (or 18in) wide seat and replacing it with a 16.8in seat actually get you any more seats? Assuming a 3-2 layout that would be a max addition of 6 inches, not enough put in another 16.8 unless you also can cut into the isle another foot.
In a large plane, assuming a 3-2-3 layout that would be a max of 9.6 in going from 18in to 16.8in, so you would also need to borrow 3.6 in from each isle to convert that to a 3-3-3, so perhaps there that would be possible.
So perhaps in a very wide plane it would work, but unless you can actually get a extra seat in, why change the seats to smaller?
I’m sure I’ll get grief for this, but…I can sympathize with the rant’s author.
I flew from Orlando to L.A. last month, and booked my usual exit row aisle seat. I’m 6’-1, 205 lbs and not overly broad in the shoulders, so I fit about as comfortably in this seat as it’s possible to fit. I generally cede the right armrest to whoever winds up in the middle (I figure if they’ve got the lousy luck to have a middle seat, the least I can do is let them have some arm room). Up until boarding, the middle seat was showing empty, so I was hoping for some extra room, but just before the door closed, my seatmate showed up.
He was large. Very large. Exit rows have the solid, immovable armrests, and he literally had to squeeze himself into his seat. I actually found myself hoping his seatbelt would not fit so they would have to re-seat him. I’ll give the guy some credit; he was clearly trying not to bother anyone. He didn’t intentionally invade anyone else’s space, and shortly after takeoff he put his head back and slept through most of the flight. I did notice that he was unable to deploy the tray table during drink service.
For all that I was annoyed at the discomfort caused to me (his shoulders simply did not fit in the allotted space), I was more concerned that, in the event of an emergency, he might actually be unable to get out of his seat promptly, let alone be physically fit enough to help with the door and anything else that needed to be done.
Yes, the airlines should have more space in each seat, but if you have to actually cram yourself into the seat, you need to make some other arrangements. I’m paying for my little bit of space on the plane, and I’d like to have it to myself, thank you very much.
They also narrow the aisles a bit to get that extra 3.6 inches, yes. And long-haul international planes can be wider yet, allowing a 3-5-3 configuration if you use the narrower seats.
And that would have been the same regardless of the size of his gut. Many, many men are in fact too big for Economy Class seats - but they don’t always realize it because it’s not their butt which doesn’t fit. But for some reason they don’t get fussed at as much as the fat folks, even though they are making their seat mates just as uncomfortable. I certainly have had more incidents of impingement arising from linebacker types than from plump folks in the 30 years I’ve been flying.
Are you equally concerned when a petite woman is sitting in one of the exit row seats? Because she is FAR more likely to be unable to handle moving the door than the fat guy is. Most people don’t seem to question whether she should be sitting there, though.
I’m not saying there aren’t legitimate safety concerns, but singling out people based solely on their body habitus doesn’t really address them. I’d rather see the would-be exit row folks pass some sort of fitness test (“show you can lift this 50 lb dumbbell or you’ll have to be reseated”), but it’s probably not practical.
In my experience, the flight attendant goes to the exit row, explains what they’d need to do and asks them if they are willing and able to assist in the event of an emergency. And it’s not enough just to nod and go on ignoring her. She (usually it’s a woman) expects the passengers to verbalize a yes.
