Good point. Some people may choose just to purchase these seats for the comfort of having the space - not because they need the extra space body wise. So will those who need it, be able to secure a larger seat?
THAT!
@hebegebe: In todayâs age, distances, and job mobility requirements, airlines using the nationâs public airspace and tax-payer funded traffic control and other facilities, they come as close to âpublic transportationâ (in spirit) as you can.
As such they should not be allowed to charge the citizenry differently based on their personal attributes.
3 Likes
Where does that logic lead to?
Everyone has a need to eat. Does that mean everyone should pay the same price for a meal, regardless of how much they eat?
Everyone needs clothing. Does that mean all clothing sizes must be the same price, regardless of how much cloth is needed for them?
Most people need cars. The automotive industry designs car seats to comfortably fit people in the 5th-95th percentile. Does your logic dictate that the seats (and associated driving controls) now have to be designed to accommodate people of any height and weight?
6 Likes
Exactly. Itâs not like a significantly overweight person could suddenly lose a significant amount of weight because they booked an airline ticket.
I also think that people would handle the whole situation better if they werenât so stressed before getting on the plane. Between the nickel and diming, overbooking, delays and cutting of services, flying has gone for something I used to enjoy to something that I view as a necessary evil.
3 Likes
Can we agree that breadth of the market in car makes, models, new/pre-owned, pricing and features are in no way comparable, to the lack of airline (and seat configuration) choices being offered on a given morning/afternoon to/from most of the countryâs airports?
Unless money is no object, airline passengers have little to no alternatives for most routes if you need to make your appointment, or return, at x hour.
2 Likes
One good way to avoid sitting next to a plus sized person is to fly Southwest. With no assigned seat, I can choose the person I sit next to. On my last flight, a woman in the first row practically begged me to sit next to her. I did. She said âHave you seen the size of some of these people?â. Clearly she did not want some super sized person squeezing in next to her.
1 Like
As more and more people use Google flights (or something similar) to find their flights, low base fares make a huge difference in what they end up booking. All airlines know that and thatâs the reason for the existence of Basic Economy fares. With a la carte fare structure, consumers can choose exactly what they want to pay, even though they canât easily compare fares from different airlines. This pricing model has proven to work better in the marketplace from the airlinesâ perspective in Europe, Asia, and the US. Whether we like the model or not (I personally donât), thatâs where weâre going.
Once, when we boarded our flight to Maui and taken our seats, a woman looked at me before claiming her aisle seat next to me and happily exclaimed, âOh, good! A small person!â My husband and I just laughed, but Iâm sure someone could have been offended by that comment. Iâm not particularly small for a woman. 
2 Likes
These seats should be reserved and held by the airlines and a person should have to have some sort of documentation (letter from a doctor maybe) on file to have the agent allow them to purchase that seat.
1 Like
Doesnât asking about a disability or requiring proof violate the ADA?
4 Likes
It likely does, and that is one (of many) reasons that the Feds need to address this issue. Of course, the FAA has been hiding from it for years, even when Congress passed a law and told them to tackle it.
2 Likes
What appointment? You mean for business? If thatâs the case, the business can easily spend extra money to upgrade their âlargeâ employee if they believe that such travel is mission critical; otherwise, there is always zoom. (Heck, I would suggest that the ADA mandates such an accommodation.)
1 Like
Thatâs really mean IMO. Just because you think it doesnât mean you have to say it.
5 Likes
My H always gets a window seat so he can lean into it. I need an aisle seat because of DVT/clotting disorder issues. Iâm sure people groan inwardly when they get a middle seat between us, though neither of us need seatbelt extenders.
Weâve been on plenty of planes where âbusiness classâ is the first two or three rows of seats â same size as the rest.
When H was doing lots of overseas travel, he saved his FF points to get me a lay-flat on eastbound international trips. Heavenly. He sat in coach.
His employer doesnât pay for business class unless the trip is over 14 hours of flight time.
1 Like
Iâve been flying since I was 11 months old. Donât remember that one but I do remember the one when I was five and have clear memories of the interior of airplanes for all the ensuing years. Most of my travel up to my late teens was international.
There is no doubt in my mind that todaysâ seat size and available legroom are not sufficient. It is not healthy to be crammed in that manner for any length of time. But even if we went back to the seats of the 70â and 80âs and added up to 2" to the width, it would not accommodate the individuals under discussion here.
I was on a SWA flight where an individual in one the middle rows of the aircraft had the aisle armrest up (I didnât even know this was possible). The spillage was literally into 1/3 of the aisle. SWA doesnât have carts so the FAâs managed to get around the aisle intrusion. But what a safety issue. In case of an emergency evacuation those passengers behind this individual would be at a much greater risk.
â The Big Four domestic carriersâAmerican, Delta, Southwest, and Unitedâhave lost anywhere from 2 inches to 5 inches in legroom pitch, and 2 inches in seat width since the 1980s. (The average legroom pitch today clocks in at about 31 inches.) On ultra-low-cost carriers such as Spirit Airlines, legroom pitch has decreased even more, dipping as low as a miserable 28 inches.â
3 Likes
Doubt that 1970s-1980s economy seats were any wider. They had 737 aircraft with 3-3 seating back then. But passengers were smaller width wise then.
They also allowed smoking in airplanes, which was annoying to many of those who did not smoke.
2 Likes
OMG. that was horrible. Lufthansa had the most inane/insane smoking policy in the 1980âs. One side of the aircraft was smoking, the other side was non smoking.
I think it was a 727 which we flew in the early 70âs on the trips to Europe (with fuel stops on the way). I recall a 3-3 one aisle configuration. It was possible to get up from the window seat and to the aisle without having to yank on the seat in front of you or put your butt into the face of the people in the middle and aisle seats.
One thing we can all probably agree on is that we all board a plane HOPING there is an empty seat next to us for some reason!!! 
(unless you are one of those perpetual plane talkersâŠ) 
2 Likes
<15% of air travel is business travel?
People do have funerals, graduations, re-unions, personal transactions,⊠that all take place at x hour on x day, dictating flight schedule and locations.
1 Like
with the exception of a bona fide emergency, all of the examples you show allow plenty of time to plan. Heck, graduation dates are known a year in advance. Even funerals donât take place in 24 hours after death. (And in the rare occasion that they do, one can just decline to attend if the trip will be uncomfortable.)
Sure, one may be trying to get to a small town with only one carrier, but in such case, itâs more than likely to be small plane with even smaller seats.