Yeah, it sucks that they pander to their codeshare partners at the expense of their own loyal customers. But you initially said it was available to delta platinum passengers. Thats what was confusing because its no longer true.
1 Like
To link in OP, I mean Iâm very lenient and empathetic but the one pic of the gal where she is quite obviously taking up two seats is proof it needs to be addressed. Can you imagine if you show up and youâre the middle seat person??? That said, seat sizes are ridiculous. Everyone is not skinny.
4 Likes
I never pay baggage fees. We get 2 checked bags free per person. And also get the TSA
Reimbursed.
2 Likes
We get free baggage as well and S gets our global entry paid every 5 years on one of his many cards.
1 Like
We were able to access the Delta lounge for free with our AmEx Platinum cards this past November, when flying out of NYC, as we were flying Delta and had boarding passes. Our children would have had to pay to accompany us. Really nice lounge!
2 Likes
The regular $695/year Amex platinum card allows access but the Amex delta branded platinum card ($250/year) no longer does unless you pay $50 per person to get in and itâs not worth it. Some delta amex platinum cardholders have said they are sometimes unable to get in. The Amex Delta branded reserve card ($500/year) still allows access but charges for guest access. Delta platinum medallion fliers no longer have the club access benefit . So apologies for the âplatinumâ confusion. But the delta amex platinum is a lot less expensive and gives one free companion ticket a year for certain flare class tickets which is a great benefit and essentially pays for itself. . It also gives medallion qualifying SkyMiles boosts after a certain spending point and miles for purchases (dining, supermarket purchases, etc). So it has plenty of good benefits.
2 Likes
Last digression to the lounge access, but its just one more way the airlines seems less interested in providing comfort (like the small plane seat sizes) to its customers. The regular AmEx customers and Centurion customers are treated better than their own loyal customers. It fries my cookies. Not going to pay $100 for DH and I to stand in line and try to enter a crowded lounge. If we have a lot of time for some reason, we will either go to the USO lounge if available (some are outside the tsa security) or sit in a nice restaurant and spend less than $100. Or hang at the gate.
Itâs better just to have an Amex Platinum card to gain access to any Centurion lounge or a Priority Pass participant if you travel frequently with connections, especially internationally where you are likely to have longer connection times. You can add up to 3 additional members on your card for $175, so we added my wife and both kids. Because the lounges were getting crowded, you cannot bring in a guest without a fee unless you charge like $75k a year. But with the kids on the account, they get their own access. Daughter just sent us a photo of a nice dinner she was enjoying at a Centurion lounge before taking a cross country redeye.
I always book an aisle seat or choose one on SW in case the middle seat person overflows into adjoining seats. But I am with the group that if you are so large that you have to take up someone elseâs space, you need to pay for it unless the space next you is empty.
2 Likes
For us we are better off with the delta branded cards. We donât do much international travel at this point, and we fly almost exclusively Delta, so whatever it takes to keep the platinum medallion status is what works for us. And with all the extra SkyMiles we get using the credit card (which gets multiplied because of my platinum medallion status) we have used miles to upgrade our dau in law to first class when she was flying here when pregnant, and we recently used miles to fly our older s and granddaughter here and back home (and delta was offering a 15% discount for using SkyMiles). And Iâve been banking so many SkyMiles by using the credit card combined with our flight mileage credits that we will take an international trip and use the miles for first class (delta one) seats. Then we can also get into the lounge for free if we care to 
the lounge isnât all that big a deal for us. But how they treat their customers is.
2 Likes
"She essentially told me that I had embarrassed her and the other man and that traveling while plus-sized is hard enough without âpeople treating fatness like a contagious diseaseâ. "
I feel for them, I do. But what can you say. Being morbidly obese is not normal and spilling your actual body into someone elseâs space and on to them is very unappealing and uncomfortable. I feel like after a while Iâd be screaming âGet off me, get off meâ. LOL. And I myself am overweight. I frankly am shocked that they have the nerve to make this an issue. Other than that, maybe the airlines should just âtake a hitâ on this one and offer a second seat purchase at half off or something.
Like I said before, the seat space they are offering these days is ridiculous for even normal sized people, IMO. I canât imagine weighing 400 pounds and expecting to be able to fly. I mean, seriously?
What are three morbidly obese people to do when they are assigned three seats together?
1 Like
Totally. The worst possible experience! We flew a lot with our kids when they were young and we were on them like a hawk - and they learned not to kick the seat in front of them at an early age. Frankly I blame the parents who just let their kids kick the seat in front of them. Kids donât know better and need to be taught.
6 Likes
42% of the US is obese and itâs likely increasing. So, while 3 obese people next to each other probably doesnât occur now on a flight, we may eventually get to that point.
Add in overweight and itâs more than two-thirds. Seems to me the airlines might not have any choice here.
Boarding a flight in the next two hours. Crossing my fingers on who my flight neighbor will be. Flight will undoubtedly be full. I have had mostly innocuous experiences in the past thankfully. Iâm sure I just jinxed myself.
I have long legs and prefer the exit rows but donât always get them. Either way I still manage to keep my feet in front of me and not encroach on others.
In fairness, its sometimes hard to get a little one who may be a bit squirmy, to sit still for a long flight. Many moons (about 30 years) ago, when younger s was maybe 4, we were on an early morning flight to Colorado. He was just the size where his legs stuck straight out from the seat and touched the back of the seat in front of him. We were all getting situated and we were trying to get him still and with his seatbelt on, but his feet did, because of the length of his legs, touch (not kick) the seat in front of him a few times. The guy in the seat turned around and said something very unkind (I donât recall exactly what). We apologized profusely and told him we were trying to get DS situated so he could sit still and not disturb him, and I mentioned that heâd been up since 4 am. The cranky guy said âwell so have I !!â to which I responded (because I was now in mama bear mode) âwell, heâs doing the best he can- heâs only 4. Whatâs your excuse?â And the guy shut up. And as an aside, as this was like 30 years ago, we didnât have electronics to keep him entertained, if I recall correctly. Canât recall if the first handheld game boys were out then. If they were, we surely had one (quick google search says game boy was released in the US in 1990) so maybe it kept our sâs quieter. Maybe not quiet enough for the cranky guy.
1 Like
Yep, but I didnât really want to depress people. 
BMI, as has been discussed here on CC numerous times, is not a very good indicator of oneâs health condition, so someone whoâs considered âoverweightâ may actually be healthy.
1 Like
Not talking about health at all, but size. Generally overweight also means bigger than a normal weight range person and thus the connection to airplane seats.
As you were sayingâŠ.
Nope. You missed my point. The measure of what is or isnât overweight is flawed. So I wouldnât generalize about the terminology of being âoverweight.â If you plug in my #âs into BMI, then Iâd be considered overweight. And Iâll guarantee you I am not. I know others just like me too.
Then we should call it âoversizedâ and not âoverweight.â 
2 Likes