The fattest of my friends flies first class, and is happy with the space provided. I’m sure there’s some level of obesity at which that’s not good enough, but it’s good enough for at least some obese people.
I haven’t compared the price, but it’s got to be a hell of a lot more comfortable than straddling two seats.
As a rough guide, say an economy return trip from Heathrow to Boston is £500. Premium economy is about £800-900, business is appx £3000 and first is appx £5000.
These fluctuate of course but that’s a reasonable assumption.
First class seating would be adequate for many large people. First class is obscenely expensive, compared with economy seating, however.
Telling the large (whether tall or broad or both) to simply buy a first class seat essentially puts flying out of the reach of most of them. First class is cost-prohibitive for most people, hence why most people are crammed like cattle into the back of the airplane.
When I traveled from NYC to Albany, flying took almost the same amount of time as driving or Amtrack. Sure, driving or Amtrack took 3 - 4 hours door to door ( including stops when driving) and flight time was somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour - but add in travel to the airport and getting there early enough to get through security 1/2 hour before the flight and travel from the airport to the hotel and flying is now up to 3-4 hours. So it wasn’t worth it to me to fly - but it’s different on longer trips. I was once traveling from NYC to either Reno or Vegas and a dumbass travel companion didn’t have an unexpired ID. We checked Amtrak just in case he couldn’t board the plane - and it was going to take four or five days each way due to some lengthy layovers.
Agreed - but it doesn’t follow that an airline should be required to provide a first-class seat to a large person at an economy-class price, or two economy seats for the price of one.
Some decades ago, I was commuting NY to DC weekly, and I did every combination of airports at either end (LGU / JFK, DCA / IAD), as well as Amtrak.
This was before all the hassle of carryon limitations (toothpaste tubes etc.), AND security lines were generally not insane - but pretty much EVERYTHING had to work out perfectly, flightwise, for flying to save me significant time. An hour from my office to the plane in NY (if we were flying out of LaGuardia). An hour on the plane. 45 minutes from landing to home. The train was a 10 minute cab ride (in evening rush hour), 20 minutes waiting around the station, and a 3ish hour ride home - plus up to 45 minutes home from the train station. So, a reliable 4.5 hours versus an optimistic roughly 3ish - but if the flights were at all delayed, that time savings quickly disappeared.
Oh, and in those days, Amtrak routinely oversold the trains out of NYC. I was on several where people were standing as far as Philadelphia. I had figured out a shortcut to get on the train faster than most people, so I was never one of the standing passengers - which meant that the train was ALWAYS more comfortable than a flight was.
The Northeast Corridor is pretty much the only place in the US where inter-city rail is a really good alternative to flying. There’s enough demand that there are plenty of options. Other parts of the country, there are one or maybe two routes a day, and flying is the only reasonable option if the distance is more than about 300 miles (300 miles or less, driving is a very viable alternative).
I agree that the northeastern routes are ugly as sin, with the exception of the ride up along the Hudson toward Albany; I once took that during peak leaf-peeping season and it was gorgeous. It’s not too bad further north along the route I’ve taken to Vermont; I can’t speak to the scenery if one is heading toward Boston.
I’m with you on that. If I were travelling a long enough distance that the extra space was really important, I’d try to find a way to shell out for an extra seat (as long as I was guaranteed I’d get the one next to me - a big concern).
What do airlines typically do to help passengers with physical disabilities? I’ve heard horror stories about their (mis)handling of wheelchair-bound passengers and their wheelchairs; I don’t think they typically charge extra for such passengers. The only tale I’ve heard that might be relevant was someone we knew sustained a severe broken hip while in France and had to remain in traction; the airline was willing to help him out - by taking out 4 first class seats and charging him 20,000 dollars for the flight home (he found an alternative; he was travelling as a DoD civilian employee so IIRC they got him home on a military transport).
For me, this is the case between the Chicago and Detroit areas, which are my most frequent travel. The flight time is shorter, sure, but there’s the length of time to get to/from the airports, the need to arrive early for security reasons, etc. Door-to-door driving is the shortest, Amtrak next shortest but with the advantage that I don’t have to do the actual driving or deal with weather issues.
Between here and the Buffalo, NY area (my next most frequent travel) the ride on Amtrak is longer but I have experienced so very many weather problems taking that trip that flying is just not appealing, I’ve spent the night at both O’Hare and Midway due to that sort of thing and it wasn’t appealing when I was 25, much less now that I’m over twice that age. Sure, I can drive, but on a very good day it’s 11 hours, or else I make it two days travel and add a hotel room into the costs. Ugh. I’ve done it, but I did not enjoy it. An overnight trip on the train is, for me, more roomy and less stressful even if the departure time on one end is annoying and somewhat inconvenient.
Your mileage may vary. Everyone’s needs and preferences differ.
Agreed as well. Although “two economy seats for the price of one” is probably the least onerous to both parties. There isn’t always a good answer for a problem. Another problem is that more and more it seems there are fewer alternatives to flying.
Our “drive versus fly” cutoff may be higher than many others’ threshold, if there are two or more of us. We routinely did the drive from northern Virginia to southern Florida - a thousand miles each way - when it might well have been cheaper for us to fly even with the hassle of renting a car at that end. It also gives a lot more flexibility in terms of what we can bring along, which has been important on several of our trips.
The possibility of weather delays is a real concern (as Broomstick noted). A friend of mine got stuck in Chicago this past Christmas, with the weather and Southwest Airlines’ scheduling / logistics clusterfuck. She spent 3-4 extra days there. To be fair, Amtrak cancelled trains one day due to weather, but ran just fine the rest of the time (if you could book a seat; she checked and it was sold out).
Are the airlines even setup for ‘Big Joe’ buying two seats? You need to enter a pax name when you purchase your ticket; entering a fake name for your second seat is probably a federal offense. When I go to check in I get one boarding pass. The FAs do a head count before takeoff; if I somehow managed to scan two boarding passes but they only counted one head I’m sure the plane would be delayed until they figure it out.
Yes, computer programs can be changed but I bet that many airlines aren’t setup for this use case today.
There must be some way - I’ve heard of people booking seats for their cello or other instrument.
I’ve often traveled between NYC and Boston. I’ve done it all. I’ve driven my own car, taken the bus, taken the train, and flown. The train is the slowest, but it’s my favorite. Easy on, easy off, no worries about security lines or traffic, no car to deal with in NYC or Boston, neither of which is terribly car-friendly.
The bus is cheapest, but more crowded and I can get a little car sick.
The scenery is lovely from NYC to Boston, especially on the east side of the train. It’s mostly along the ocean and adjoining marshland, with some scenic towns dotting the path. It’s ugly from Stamford to NYC (and largely underground) but a lot of the route is really nice.
I used to book airplane tickets for my daughter and her cello. The cello requires a bulkhead seat next to the passenger. You need to telephone, and spend a fair amount of time on the phone setting everything up. You need to insist on the bulkhead – the agents don’t all realize this, but it really won’t fit otherwise. And then you need to check in in-person and remind them that you are traveling with a cello. So there’s a lot of overhead, but it can be done.
I’ve been required to disclose my weight (or a good faith estimate anyway) before flying, but that was to get a tour group onto a couple of Alaskan bush planes, each of which held about 10 people. They had to distribute us accordingly, both between the planes and within the planes to keep everything good to go.
Commercial airliners aren’t nearly so sensitive as a fully loaded DeHavilland Otter though.
Well, yeah - the bigger the plane the less sensitive it is to those sorts of things.
Back when I flew very small airplanes there was one where if the person occupying a particular one of the two seats was not of a specific weight we’d load a sandbag or two to bring that bit to the proper weight to balance everything out.
“More and more?” What alternatives existed in the past that don’t exist now?
Better train service. More frequent buses.
Both of which once served many more towns than they do now.
Although that’s somewhat true of flying, too; there are many small airports that had airline service pre-deregulation that no longer do.
Air travel is a business. They need to follow the laws and might get some benefit from appearing compassionate. A starting point might be allowing people in wheelchairs to remain in their own chair. I have some sympathy for large people. While I don’t think there should be a right to equal price they should be made comfortable and I don’t think straddling two seats does that, or that paying double the price is necessarily equitable. Would it be too much to have a small economy section where there is flexibility - space to put larger seats or secure wheelchairs and offer reasonable but commensurate pricing, possibly limited to a fair and fixed percentage of other seats?