Wife, son and I were returning home on a flight last night on Spirit. We did not have seats beside each other but were not too bothered by it as we did not sit beside of each other on the way to the location.
There were two very large people in the sitting area that could not have fit in one seat, so we took a chance to see if we could sit beside each other and it worked. We were at the back and I am not certain of the ladies seating situation but they flew as I saw them at our destination.
Whether folks like to admit it or not, many fliers that are not overweight pay very close attention to those that are going to fly. It is not pleasant to have someone spill over on you.
My flying challenge is being short. And wimpy. So if hubby is not on the trip, I have to count on kindness of strangers to get my roller bag up into luggage compartment. (I did learn on these threads there is often a booster step at end of seat, but honesty donāt think Iād be coordinated enough to use it.) Maybe someday help will come from bigger passenger, and life is good if we all try to show kindness and patience to all.
The other funny thing is that although it is nice to be on the smaller side to fit in the seats, sometimes my feet donāt rest comfortable on the floor. No problem since I usually find a way to rest them on my backpack stowed under the seat ahead of me. Yes, a nitty problem. Just mentioning in case you someday notice a 5ā2ā person on the plane who you think must have the perfect seating scenario. Smile and think of me
I used to prefer SW no-seat selection policy. I always tried to check in exactly 24 hours in advance. It usually resulted in being somewhere in the middle group for seat selection. Then I could choose my row partners. When I choose seats in advance, the row partners are random.
I think so much depends upon the personās attitude. Iāve had people next to me who were thin, but decided to encroach greatly into my space, and were jerks, too. I had one lady who was very large, but trying so hard to not go into my space, it looked painful. I told her to make herself comfortable, I didnāt care at all if we touched each other, letās just be comfortable. So we did share space, and it was fine, she was nice, and it was all good. Would not have been comfortable if it was a dude, though!
I would much rather have a plus size person encroaching on my space that a shorts-wearing guy with hairy legs manspreading and touching my leg I never wear shorts on a plane, but I canāt imagine having skin-to-skin contact with a strangerās hairy leg
Maybe not on topic, but 1 /2 yers ago, my son and DIL came to my area for the wedding of a HS friend. DIL was quite pregnant. On the return trip, my son upped them to first class, so she could be more comfortable.
I fly so rarely, but if I had a medical or physical condition, Iād pay the extra. Heck, I have to pay for a dog sitter!
Thatās what I did for one of my DILās. DS had flown across country early for the bachelor party and his pregnant wife was joining at the end of the week for the wedding we were all attending. She was taking a redeye because she had to fly after work. I used points to upgrade her from coach to first class. It was a ridiculous amount of points for one flight upgrade but worth it to help her to be comfortable.
One of the items that article above, and this one below, talk about staying within oneās space on a plane. Given the increase in impolite behavior and potential confrontational responses is why neither DH nor I said a word to Mr āconstant elbowing us throughout the flightā last week. And we had plenty of things to try to keep ourselves ādistractedā - the seat monitor (I kept the news on), noise cancelling headphones, a book (DH) and newspaper (me) cellphone with Wi-Fi for reading emails, cc, etc. Sleep didnāt work because of the elbowing. But the issue wasnāt keeping ourselves ādistractedā, it was tolerating impolite behavior from a seat mate. Chose not to say anything because it was obvious he was already impolite/insensitive. Why risk him possibly being verbally impolite too. Airplane Etiquette: 11 Things to Never Do, According to an Expert
Iāve wondered about this obvious increase in bad behavior, and even violence onboard and its relationship to the trend of reduced personal space on planes. There seem to be more such issues with airlines that pack more passengers into the same amount of space.
Never a reason to take off your socks? I havenāt worn a sock on a plane since they started making me take my shoes off in security. Weāre usually going somewhere tropical, but since the shoe thing, Iāve traveled in flip flops.
It does not appear that economy class seat width and seat pitch have gotten smaller in absolute measures in recent decades, but the increasing size of customers means that they may seem smaller in relative (to customer) measures.
I do prefer shoes that I can run or walk quickly in, especially if a connecting (as opposed to non-stop) flight is necessary. Some sandals that are not flip flops can meet this criteria. Even with a non-stop flight, airports can induce unexpected delays (queue at security, construction blocks the shortest path to your terminal or gate, etc.) that may require running or walking quickly to get to the gate in time.
Always thought it was a nice touch on Asian carriers to provide outer socks or slippers for long flights where there is more risk of ankles/feet swelling. These days I just wear boat shoes that are easy on/easy off even with laces tied.
Not too long ago, the standard economy class seat pitch is 32". With the rise of ultra-low cost airlines (Frontier, Spirit, etc.) whose standard seat pitch is often only 28", even the major airlines have been gradually reducing their seat pitch to 30-31", with each new generation of airplanes they order. In addition, new seats also have thinner cushions (by about an inch or so), further reducing the distance between rows and thus packing more passengers into the same amount of space. In terms of seat width, there has been near universal reduction on widebody jets (B777, B787, A350, etc.), which are increasingly used on popular domestic routes.
Thatās so funny, because I always wear socks now! I donāt want to have to stand barefoot where other feet have been. So even if Iām wearing sandals, I wear socks through TSA!
I donāt recall typical seat pitch being 32" in recent decades, except on WN (Southwest). AA, CO, DL, NW, and UA typically had 31" (and AA, DL, and UA apparently still do), although AA went through a few years of āmore room throughout coachā before deciding that it did not sell.
