Even back in the days that I weighed 280 and was 6’1", I fit into airline seats, not comfortably, but I fit. But it was hell if the guy in front put his seat back. Now I’m down to 200 and probably below 6’, it is better. Still I pay a premium for one checked bag and seat selection in the slightly roomier front of steerage section. And no, I don’t think airlines should be required to give extra-fat (to use the technical term) people a free extra seat.
After reading Puzzlegal’s experience with cellos, I wonder what happens with a bass. I know a woman whose daughter is a bassist; I’ll ask her.
Ah Amtrak. I hate airports. I enjoy flying, but absolutely detest airports. So I go by rail when I can. My most frequent (really, my only ones these days) trips are where my kids live: Boston, NY, Seattle. For the latter flying is the only reasonable choice. For NY, there is the Adirondack. It is a 400 mile trip, scheduled for 12 hours. Between NY and Albany it is not bad, but after that it is single-tracked poorly maintained rail. Stop on a siding for a freight train (which has priority since Amtrak owns no track) and just don’t go over 30 MPH–even slower if it is very hot and the rails are soft or very cold and rails are brittle. Then stop for an hour at the border. Still I do it; it is very pretty and quite relaxing. But Boston? No train at all. I tried Greyhound once (shudder–never again). Once upon a time, buses were pleasant and there was a non-stop NY-Montreal bus that was comfortable, served a box lunch, and was under 7 hours. Customs agents got on the bus and serviced them quickly. Then, under Reagan, it changed. Get off the bus, get your checked bag, shlep it into the customs house, answer questions, recheck your luggage, back in the bus and go. Ugh.
Bottom line: all infastructure money goes to roads and airlines and alternatives are hell.
Sure there is… just take the train down to NYC, then another train back up to Boston… if you don’t mind a potentially looooong layover!
We had a student from Quebec come to stay with us for a couple of months, who opted to travel by bus. Ugh!! But I guess it was enough cheaper than flying that she chose to do that. The other 3 (we did this several years in a row) all flew.
Buses between some major cities are actually an affordable option - I can get from DC to NYC for 30-60 bucks one way. However, the cheaper seats on those are roughly comparable with airline seats in terms of comfort - arguably LESS comfortable, actually; last time we took one to NYC, my knees were screaming by the end. They have “premium” routes for a steep up-charge, which have a small amount of additional leg room. But the bathrooms don’t have running water on either variant. If cheap is the goal, the buses will do, but Amtrak beats them on every other measure.
Yeah, well, someone going into allergic shock mid-flight does tend to inconvenience the entire flight as the plane is diverted, medical personnel come aboard, and then arrangements to resume the flight take more time. Unless you propose that passengers having a medical emergency be left to die? People whine about the no-peanuts rule but they’d whine louder if their flight had to be diverted. It one of those cases where the general public doesn’t want to accept a minor inconvenience to prevent a worse inconvenience. Holy crap, people, you can eat peanuts before and after the damn flight, you can’t eat something else during the flight?
Valid question - how much would it cost to have such flexibility and who would pay? I suspect the logistics and labor involved in “customizing” the flexible space for every flight at every airport - ensuring that there are sufficient standard seats to fill if there are no “special” passengers on that filght - would be considerable. Far more involved than simply painting a parking spot or installing a curbcut or large bathroom stall.
Behold - the suitcase bass! These are actually pretty uncommon. Far more common are basses that have been customized with removable necks. The body can be placed in a second seat, or stowed in a hardshell case. The neck is carried on. Or - the most common - rent a bass at your destination. Large orchestras use full-sized shipping trunks.
“Being allergic to seeing someone else eating peanuts” isn’t real. There is no such thing as being allergic to “peanut dust” or “peanut vapors” or “surfaces that someone else ate peanuts off of.” People with peanut allergies are allergic to eating peanuts, not to being near peanuts and if they do not eat peanuts will not suffer an allergic reaction. This has been known for years and has been tested dozens of times in reputable journals; the only reason we still have things like “peanut-free airplanes” and “peanut-free schools” is because the myth of “dust allergies” is a great way for people with personality disorders to get off on telling 300 other people that they’re not allowed to do something.
The problem with “what’s wrong with just not having peanuts” is that it never ends - what’s wrong with having EVERY aspect of your life dictated by pseudoscience and narcissistic control freaks? Plenty, and that’s where it ends up if you don’t push back on each manifestation of it.
You’re kidding, of course. The train from Montreal gets in around 10 (if it is on time) and if there is a train to Boston that late, it will get you there after midnight. Otherwise it is a an overnight layover. There is one train a day between Boston and Chicago that, if the schedules match (I haven’t checked) offers the possibility of changing in Albany. But I wouldn’t take the chance on making the connection.
You are so right about buses. Worse than airline seating, not to mention the border theater.
Precisely - which is why I mentioned the long layover! I was pretty sure it would put you into NYC too late to go back north. And I agree with you that the transfer to Chicago via Albany is a bit risky, timewise. We had a change in Chicago, last year, and were sweating bullets as our 3-hour layover shrank down to almost nothing.
I took the train from Bridgeport to NYC back in the late 90s. I remember it was fairly scenic for about the half the trip, then, the closer we got to the city, the more urban and “ugly” it got. IIRC our route went through the South Bronx, and it was fascinating to me. So, “scenic” in a very different sense.
In that case, put a couple sofa like seats with moveable arm rests to be three normal seats or two enhanced ones at extra cost. I don’t know the best place or mechanics involved in securing a wheelchair.
Personally, I think there are a lot of issues surrounding kids with food allergies and parents who seek to keep their kids in a bubble rather than teaching them how to deal with a world that will occasionally put them at risk, but no need to go down that rabbit hole in this thread. If you’re curious about what I have to say about the topic do a search on my user name and "food allergy’.
At the time the peanut bans came into play on airlines it was due to an abundance (arguably over-abundance) of caution on the part of the airlines. You are correct that there has been significant study devoted to the subject since that time and perhaps the rules should change now. On the other hand, such bans were not done to punish or deprive people but rather to increase safety and avoid inconvenience. Those are not terrible goals and I can’t fault the airlines for removing peanuts as a snack option in the context of the time and events.
Delta airlines is developing a seat that converts from normal seating for the section to a wheelchair docking station. They hope to get it into airplanes in 18 months but of course there’s a mountain of paperwork and reviews involved. I don’t think this would be a wider space, just something that allows a standard sized wheelchair to be secured to the airplane.
This would definitely allow flexibility. When there is no wheelchair using passenger it can be sold to an able-bodied customer. When there is a wheelchair the conversion looks like something that could be accomplished in minutes by a flight crew, no tools required.
I think this is key. I was 5’ 11", but have probably shrunk as I’ve aged. I’ve been stuck at 210 pounds for a while now. But even with my bad knees, I can fit comfortably in an economy seat if I have proper posture.
It might cut down on some of the altercations that seem to be happening more frequently.
Of course not. It is reasonable that anyone allergic to peanuts should not consume them, whether on a plane, train, automobile or anywhere else. Other than that bit of obvious-ness, I’m not sure what your point might be.
Airlines didn’t remove peanuts for shits and giggles. They did it because they thought it was in their interest to remove peanuts.
Maybe newer research has found that it’s not that dangerous to serve little foil packets of peanuts after all. That’s great news. And maybe some airline will start giving out peanuts again. But in the meantime, they’ve sourced other snacks.
There was never some conspiracy to hurt peanut lovers.
What happens if someone brings a snack aboard that contains peanuts and starts to eat it? Or an entire bag of peanuts in the shell? Do they wrestle them away from that passenger? Play Let’s Make a Deal? “We’ll give you TWO cinnamon buns and an entire can of Coke if you hand over the bag of gorp?”
I know I’ve been served almonds on a recent flight so perhaps peanuts have been replaced as a snack. Though one can certainly carry on their own peanuts and peanut products and eat them in flight.
