How do those people fit into the airline toilet?
Who says they bother to get up?
Wait, what? This sounds like you can get a free extra seat by not buying it in advance…
I was boarding a 2-3 hour flight. A large guy boarded and sat in the aisle seat in the row in front of me. As he sat down, his bulk literally snapped the aisle-side arm rest - loud audible crack - which left the arm rest bent awkwardly into the aisle a few inches. All of the other passengers had to veer around it. The Flight crew didn’t address it, I assume because if they did, they would have to fix it, which would require grouding the plane and replacing the entire seat. So everybody just kinda acted like it wasn’t there. Oh, man, I felt for the guy, but given his size, assumed he should have planned better.
n/a
The are selling a seat, so a seat must be provided.
However smaller people are not going to like the answer to this one, they get less room. The airlines should have some rows instead of regular width seating the seats are arranged fat/skinny style.
I’m curious how many people who believe bigger people need multiple seats vote on reclining seats. I guess my question is if there are boundaries to the left and right of your seat are their also boundaries to the front and back? Conversely if you believe eve that airlines just make the seats too small and there is nothing to be done about spilling over into your neighbor then how do you feel about reclining back into your neighbors space?
Personally I’ve got a 26" spread on my shoulders so I will always have half of each arm in the seats next to me. I also have legs long enough that with the seat in front of me vertical ill still have my knees driven into the back of it. I can’t afford first class so I’d rather drive across the country then fly and when I have to travel for work I figure my life sucks so I don’t care if the lives around me suck too. So I fall firmly into tough for the people next to me and no reclineing camp.
“Bigger” people smell bad.
There. It’s said.
But did it need to be? There is a practical conflict here: larger folks buy a seat which an airline agrees to provide, but makes no allowance for size-based intrusiveness. Why add further mean-spirited snark?
And OreDigger, yes, reclining seats drive me nuts. As a guy over 6’ tall who typically must fly coach, when the person in front of me reclines, and they seem always do in a Murphy’s Law-inevitable sort of way, I say out loud “Really? Yes those are my knees. I am that tall.”
No, it didn’t.
Once upon a time first class cost 50% more than sardine class, but now it can cost as much as 4 or 5 times as much. I just checked on one flight that I take annually and the prices varied from $433 to $2433 for the same flight. Prices are absolutely insane.
I don’t know what the solution is. Once upon a time, few flights are full; now it is unusual that I take that is not totally booked, with a wait list.
Yup. People that say “Just fly first class” don’t seem to get this. And it seems vary rare when a flight is not full or overbooked.
Stretch seating is becoming more available. Thank god. And the price is not that much more. It’s a life saver for me when I can get it.
There aren’t any first-class seats on a lot of planes, especially for shorters flights (4 h or less). I mostly fly JetBlue, Boston to Jax route. No first-class. Also no first-class between Boston and Cleveland.
Agreed. They’ll be stacking us horizontally soon if they can get away with it.
I have similar problems. I’m a tall woman, broad-shouldered, a little overweight, but not at all obese. If a big guy sits next to me, we’re going to be friendly. If we are similar heights, our shoulders will fight for space. It’s annoying, and even moreso when the guy glares at me, like I could suddenly shrink into a 5’3" chick if I reallly tried. :smack:
I would also pay 15% more for 15% more room. I do pay for the “even more legroom” seats on Jet Blue, and prefer to fly that airline whenever possible because their seats are a little larger, so it’s less uncomfortable.
Years ago, I flew Southwest and ended up in the last row, in a seat that wouldn’t recline. There was no room for my legs – literally, I couldn’t move them. The gentleman next to me was a small man, and very kind about sharing his space with my legs, which allowed me to move my knees to the side. I remember that man when I am next to someone large.
Apparently it ends up free even if you buy in advance-
I, a woman of smaller than average size, flew back from a tech conference once with a plane full of other tech conference attendees. I’ve worked with some fit, good looking systems engineers in my years, but the stereotype is someone who is overweight, doesn’t take his personal hygiene seriously, and has poor personal boundaries when faced with interacting with an attractive female. Example 1 of said stereotype got the window seat, I got the middle seat, and Example 2 of the stereotype got the aisle seat. Thus I got to cuddle with two guys, one of whom spent the flight hitting on me in an awkward (though I’m sure well meaning) fashion, both of whom skipped a shower that morning.
I hate tech conferences. And air travel to and from big tech conferences.
However, its a first world problem. It wasn’t the best four hours of my life, but it wasn’t the worst. I survived it, and didn’t get any cooties.
No, I get that first class is far more expensive. I’m just not sure that that means it must be regulated.
Turn it around: should us shrimpy people have the opportunity to pay less for an airline ticket if we’re willing to be crammed in like sardines? Or should we see our own ticket prices increase so that other people can get the extra space that we don’t need, ourselves?
I was on a flight (a turboprop hop - Columbus to Chicago, I think) where they announced before takeoff that they were overweight - I have no idea how they determined this - and somebody, voluntarily or otherwise, had to get off.
As for size, while I am a little overweight, it’s not my stomach that takes up too much room; it’s my shoulders. You try “turning a bit sideways” for the length of a cross-country flight - especially one with one of those TV screens where you have to look straight into it in order to see anything.
What it comes down people who say they are willing to pay more for comfortable seating aren’t actually willing to do so. The number one reason in determining which ticket to buy is still price. So long as that remains true comfort is secondary. If you want a more comfortable seat you should pay for it. Bitching about other people not paying for more expensive isn’t working. The airlines will continue to make things more uncomfortable so long as people are still making their decisions on price.
I’ll continue to take cheap tickets and deal with uncomfortable seating. Just as I’ll cope with it just as i manage being stuck in line behind a smelly person at a grocery store or stuck sitting near a loud table at a restaurant.
Hah! Back when I worked for Eastern Airlines in Bos, I used to fly home on the weekends, flying standby from Bos to Alb on a 9 or 19 seat commuter plane.
On one flight home, we were all settled on the plane when there was an announcement “We have been given a new weight restriction, would passenger “My full name”, please exit the plane”. I was only about 100 pounds at the time, or I would have been even more mortified than I was already. That sucked.
How accommodating would the airline be if you were in that situation on a full flight and wanted to get bumped to the next flight ? Would they make you pay all the cancellation fees and such?