I believe United is now implementing something called “economy plus” or something like that, where they give you a couple more inches of legroom in exchange for a bit more expense.
It helps if you work for a company that has a deal with United - you are much more likely to get a good seat. My company switched from United to American, and it is a big improvement, since every seat in American has more room. Even on 737s, the world’s worst plane.
By the way Sailor - lots of people are forced to fly.
I’ve never had problems with food getting knocked off tray tables - but who gets served food anymore? The only places where the trays are in the arms are in first class or in the bulkhead seats.
I’m 6’8" and flying coach indeed sucks ass, especially when the person in front of you wants to recline. International flights tend to be worse (probably because I’ve always had to fly cheap) – on a 12 hour flight to Italy I had to explain to the poor man that he could not recline his seat, as it was already firmly in contact with my kneecaps and bone just doesn’t have a lot of give. A flight to Fiji was the only coach seat I’ve been in that I really couldn’t fit into – luckily the stewardesses were able to find an exit row for me at the last minute or I would have been really miserable.
Most of the time, it’s not impossible to fly coach, just uncomfortable. I love American for moving toward extra leg room, and fly them whenever I can. Anyone who complains about the cattle car conditions of coach but flies another airline to save a few bucks is an idiot, in my opinion.
>> By the way Sailor - lots of people are forced to fly.
I do not think so. Or does someone put a gun to their head? Seats in airplanes are a market product like everything else. The airlines offer the product which they think would sell the most. If most people really wanted to pay more for more space i am sure airlines would offer that. They have zero obligation to offer you what you want. None whatsoever. They offer what they want and you are free to buy it or not. Just like cars, donuts or condoms.
You get what you pay for. If you want more go to first class.
The only reason to complain is if you get less than the contract promised. In coach you know you are getting acramped seat. That is what you pay for and that is what you get.
I just do not understand how anyone considers that they can demand to be offered a product at a certain price. You are free to offer the airline the coach fare to fly in first class and they are free to reject your offer just as you have the freedom to not fly with them.
Flying is incredibly cheap these days. We have opportunities which were unthinkable just some decades ago. And all some people know how to do is bitch. If you believe you can fly people in more comfort at a lower price start your own damn airline. you can become incredibly rich as all passengers flock to your airplanes.
sailor is right. No one should ever complain about anything. Traffic bad on the drive home? No one forced you to drive – you’re lucky to have a car! Got a bad chicken sandwich in the cafeteria? No one forced you to go there – you’re lucky to eat! Your neighbors singing karaoke at all hours and pissing on your cat? Move!
But whatever you do, don’t complain. Complaining is wrong.
My job requires frequent air travel. I HAVE to fly or I would lose my job. There is no way I could pay the difference between my company paid for coach seat and a more comfortable business class seat. I am saving up frequent flyer miles and probably will use them for upgrades on particularly painful trips (Seattle to Delhi? 28 hours).
Flying 10+ hours in coach is an absolute misery, I dread it.
Gee, sailor…which airline do you own stock in?
Some people are forced to fly. And very few people I know can afford first class most of the time. I don’t know what crowds sailor’s running in, but it sounds like the multinational CEO/media celebrity/major political figure level to me…
You can complain all you want. Just don’t expect me to sympathise. I hate people who bitch all day over the smallest things. I consider myself very lucky to be able to fly in cramped seats because I have what I consider a luxury which was only available to the very rich until just a few decades ago and which was not available to anyone a few decades before that.
The hard work of people who came before us developed the airplanes, the communications and all the systems which allow me to fly cheaply to any destination in the world. I did not do any work to develop all that and yet it is there at my disposal should I wish to use it. I do consider myself very lucky in that respect.
I can telephone around the world for cents a minute while a fe decades ago it was many dollars a minute and some decades before that it was impossible.I did not do anything to deserve this service so cheaply and yet, here it is at my disposal. I do consider myself lucky. Same thing about the Internet. About medical advances. Today there are medical treatments available to me which did not exist for even the richest just a few decades ago,
I never lose sight that all this is available to me because other people worked hard. I have no inherent right to the product of other people’s work except on terms which they are willing to offer them to me. Just the same as no one has the right to my work except on terms which I will accept.
For a majority of the population of the world, surviving is their main concern. Just finding their next meal. I do not consider sitting in a cramped seat as anything worth getting upset about. If you are not happy then fly first class.
I just do not share the sense that we are entitled to anything except what we contracted for. The airline has no obligation to give you anything except what you paid for. Nothing. Just like your boss when he pays you for 40 hours a week cannot expect you to work 48 for the same price.
Again: if you want a bigger seat quit bitching and buy a bigger seat. Where on earth do you get the sense that you are entitled to a bigger seat?
And yet you’re voluntarily reading Pit threads, which are almost exclusively devoted to minor complaints? Fascinating.
I can dislike something without it meaning I think I’m entitled to something better. If I bitch about sitting next to a smelly guy on the bus, I’m not arguing that it’s my right as a citizen to have the guy forceably scrubbed down by government agents with long-handled brushes. I’m expressing frustration over an unpleasant experience. That’s it.
Responding to said complaint with a lecture on the economics of bus companies and how much luckier we are than people in third world countries for whom a bus trip is a luxury is, in a word, annoying. In fact, I think I’m start a Pit thread bitching about it. After all, I’m entitled to post here without being annoyed.
Heights and weights of air travellers, as with pretty much anything else, follow a normal distribution curve. I am 6’5", with most of my height in my legs as opposed to my torso. As height goes, I am certainly in the upper end of the curve, but certainly not 98+ percentile - I have friends who are my height, etc., and I see people my height or taller all the time. I’d guess closer to the 90-92 range. That said, what fraction of the population as a whole is an appropriate target to attempt to be able to seat? Keep in mind that I am not talking merely about discomfort, but PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY to fit in the economy fare seat. 95 seems reasonable to me - but then I am not operating an airline.
The other problem is that I travel frequently on domestic trips within Canada, which are served by only Air Canada or WestJet - both of which are following the trend of jamming more seats on each aircraft to reduce fares. Fortunately, these are not long flights, but when business travel arrangements are not left up to the employee, the big and tall get left with the short straw. If I fail to secure an exit row or row 1 seat, I either have an aisle, in which case I have to stand up every time a cart goes by, or I don’t, in which case I have my legs across the person seated next to me. If I were them, I wouldn’t really think that to be fair, given that they paid for their seat, but then, I don’t consider myself to be at fault either.
Reserving exit row seating for the tallest passengers would solve the problem, IMO. I don’t see why this cannot be SOP.
Sailor - You are so full of shit. I’ve seen you whine & complain about countless things here before. First of all, why the fuck are you reading a pit thread, if you do not want to read rants ?
You don’t like the treatment at gitmo ? Well, too bad…Move to another country. Nobody is forcing you to live here. Don’t like anything else about the USA ? Well, get the fuck out. Again, nobody is forcing you to do anything or holding a gun to your head. (I am applying your logic here of course.)
You don’t like reading about people complaining in the pit ? Well, fucking leave, you hypocritical retard.
As for the airline seats, I am not asking for special bigger seats. I am asking for NORMAL seats.
According to the airlines, me with my 6’3" is obviously considered abnormal.
Perhaps all parents should give their kids growth stun treatments, so sailor won’t have to hear anybody complain about discrimatory airline practices anymore.
Sailor obviously doesn’t care too much about this particular topic. He’s probably a midget.
;j
- - - Public Service Announcement for any potential spelling nazis - - -
Discriminatory *
Daisy Cutter, it is common knowledge around these parts that you are a fucking moron so I am not going to waste much time with you.
The Human Rights abuses going on in Guantanamo affect my conscience exactly the same whether I am located at latitude
Fifty North, longitude Forty West or in Pernambuco, Brazil.
If people were being kidnapped and forced onto planes I would also complain whether the seats were big or small.
Discriminatory airline practices? Nope, the seats are the same. You want more, you pay more. Sort of the same as the rest of things. You eat more food, you pay more food. Or do you also expect restaurants to serve you two hamburgers for the price of one?
Look at traveling conditions for other people
>> you hypocritical retard
:rolleyes:
Gee Sailor, just concider yourself a rare breed of humans that don’t take anything for granted.
I’ve never seen an airline seat that would go that far back. Wow…seats that go far back enough to make it worth putting them back! What an IDEA!
As for all the complaints about flying tall, well, from the other end of the scale it’s no fun either. I’m 4’2" (weird medical condition) and when I sit I’m extra-extra short because I have a very short torso on top of being short already. Movie? What movie? Oh, you mean the one that’s being shown beyond the seat back that goes about two feet over my head a foot and a half in front of my face…? The one that I can never see, except if I’m lucky enough to be on a new plane that has little screens that drop in front of every couple of rows, and even then I can only see it if I’m on the row just below the screen? The one that if I CAN see, I’d rather claw my eyeballs out than WATCH because it’s always something that’s too horrid to endure even on a plane?
I get a bit claustraphobic on planes because the seats are so fucking high. And I feel free to say that because I’ve never heard anybody say they were comfortable that way.
The seats are uncomfortable. There’s no maneuvering room, except that I CAN stand in front of a seat as long as I sort of lean while I do it. My back hates those seats. And if I find airplane bathrooms too small, I don’t want to think about what it’s like for the rest of you.
Trust me, it’s no better at the opposite end of the bell curve. And when you live in Louisiana but have family up around Seattle, sometimes you HAVE to fly. And I can’t afford first class.
/Travel guru hat ON/
Many airlines will allow one traveler to purchase two seats for 150% of the cost of one seat.
Also, if you fly much, consider getting into a frequent mileage program that allows you to boost yourself to an elite level by including dollars spent on long distance, mortages, credit card use, etc. Being an elite member may allow you to be upgraded to first class up to a few days before departure.
And, if you’re flying Continental, have your travel agent call them and get you in an exit row seat. Most travel agents are aware of a super-secret phone number where sit Continental agents who have the authroity to assign you exit row seats.
If you don’t use a travel agent… shame on you!
/travel guru hat OFF/
Well, according to this chart your height of 77 inches would be well above the 95th percentile, which seems to be at 75 inches. I can’t really fault them for missing out on a pretty small percentage of the population, especially in economy class.
People choose to fly. Airlines are under a lot of pressure to cut costs, and have very thin margins of profit, partly because those planes have to fly unpopular routes, so they can get to popular ones. This means they will pack everyone they can into popular routes. hate the sardine can all you like, but the sole reason they do it is because otherwise they’d be charging a luxury service at a very luxurious price. This is what was common until the mid-60’s.
Which means you people probably wouldn’t be flying. Leave *sailor alone, here: he’s calling a spade a spade. Daisy Cutter. you are engaging in whining about something that is a lot more complex than simple space. You want the space, but you aren’t willing to pay the difference. fact is, most people won’t. Average-sized people can, in fact, fit comfortably in coach.
It might help if some airlines were better about placing large passengers.
Grizzrich said:
On Southwest, the policy is here. If you book ahead and you’re paying a discount fare for your first seat, you pay the same price for your second seat. If you’re paying full fare for your first seat, you pay the lower ‘child’s fare’ for the second seat. But the real deal is that if the plane isn’t oversold, you get the price of the second seat refunded if you write in and ask. It’s a good deal.
Try online booking.
Last time I flew, about a year and a half ago, I had the same seat on all 3 legs of the trip. I flew Delta, and made my reservation online, and CHOSE MY SEAT! I’m not all that tall (only 6’1") but have long legs, so I took an exit aisle. I had to sign some online affadavits that I could handle the door in case of emergency, and they could move me out of said aisle on the flight if I seemed incapable of doing so.
And yes, the booking was post-9/11. And the woman next to me had 8" scissors she carried on, and security missed. (She was doing crossstitch or the like)