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<p>When the airlines added more seats without adding more overhead space, and when they started charging for checked baggage.</p>
<p>It occurs to me that perhaps another reason airlines charge for things like checked bags and Economy Plus seats is that it’s a way to encourage people to join their miles programs and get status–because you get those things for “free” if you have enough status.</p>
<p>Ok, another pet peeve. If I’m sitting in the aisle seat, and now you’re boarding and you’re in the window, just freakin’ step over me already to get to the window. Don’t waste everyone’s time by having me stand up, move out to the aisle, you get in, scooch your happy bottom over, and now I sit down. Just … no. Step over me, I’ll live, and let everyone behind you continue through.</p>
<p>“It occurs to me that perhaps another reason airlines charge for things like checked bags and Economy Plus seats is that it’s a way to encourage people to join their miles programs and get status–because you get those things for “free” if you have enough status.”</p>
<p>Except they don’t REALLY want you joining their miles programs - they don’t really want to give away free flights via miles, and they’d rather have someone pay for Economy Plus seating versus give it to someone like me for free. The airlines all wish a lot of those miles that are sitting out there would just disappear, which is why they try to get you to redeem them for magazine subscriptions and luggage and the like, versus flights. </p>
<p>I think they want to suck you into the plan so you’re stuck with their airline, and then look for ways to devalue the miles (such as adding requirements on how much the flight cost, not just the distance).</p>
<p>By the way, I’ve taken the magazine offers a couple of times for airlines that I didn’t use that much, and enjoyed the magazines until the free subscription ran out. Then I didn’t renew, and didn’t look back.</p>
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<p>My pet peeve is the opposite. Why can’t you stand up for a second and let me in? It will go faster that way. And how am I supposed to skip over you, with my butt to your face or my front to your face? Hate it either way. If I am sitting on the aisle seat, I am ready to stand up promptly. I don’t start on a magazine or a book until everyone is seated.</p>
<p>I’m with Igloo on that one and the same on the express bus. I don’t want a stranger practically climbing on me. I’m not comfortable with that level of contact, particularly a butt in my face. However, I stay alert and prepared to jump up quickly and sit back down quickly so I don’t hold people up.</p>
<p>Yeah, not a big fan of crotch- or butt-in-face. I also dislike having a handbag hit me on the head when another passenger is climbing over me.</p>
<p>Allegiant Airlines charges for carry on bags. Their pricing model is based on dirt cheap base fares plus tons of optional add-ons. You pay extra for carry on bags, checked bags, an assigned seat (fees differ here depending on desirability of seat), priority boarding, all in-flight food and beverage service, and trip change/cancellation insurance. </p>
<p>They even used to have a convenience fee for booking over the phone or internet. Thankfully, they have done away with that one.</p>
<p>I still like them though, because I live in one of their hub cities and can fly cheaply to smaller airports near places I travel to frequently. </p>
<p>Igloo, I’m invoking my own office rule of “3 emails and stop”. After 3 emails, we pick up the phone. It avoids otherwise well meaning people getting into arguments. Email wars begin when people get into long email strings without having body English to help communicate. We can’t pick up the phone, but I’m invoking anyway. Safe travels. </p>
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Just flew Frontier recently. Never even heard of them before. But if you pay to check your bag when you check in, it’s only $15. A carry on is $35. Greatly encourages checking your bag and it was strictly enforced. It was marked on your ticket and if you tried to board with a carry on without having paid, they either made you check it for a higher fee, or pay for the carry on. It really, really improved the speed of boarding and that obnoxious filling up of the overhead bins with heavy bags. If you could fit it under your seat, it was free.</p>
<p>I can’t believe anybody would prefer having me climb over them to get to my seat than to stand up. Really? With the two inches between your knees and the seat in front, I would literally have to climb over. And I’m pretty small. You’d have to lift me. If you really, really don’t want to have to move, then board almost last. </p>
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<p>Good idea. Last time I flew to Europe, H and I each took a carry-on and we checked a communal bag. (We were planning to take some of S’s stuff back with us, so we didn’t use our full allowance.) They sent our communal bag to the wrong country, and it didn’t catch up to us for 4 or 5 days. I had most of my clothes in my carry-on (travelling light). H had to wear the same clothes</p>
<p>Last time we flew to Europe one bag didn’t catch up with us for nine days. I really wished we’d done the carry-on only routine, which we do for shorter trips!</p>
<p>"My pet peeve is the opposite. Why can’t you stand up for a second and let me in? It will go faster that way. And how am I supposed to skip over you, with my butt to your face or my front to your face? "</p>
<p>I don’t really care which way you face. Just jump over me and move on - it’s quicker that way. It’s not like I’ve never seen someone’s bottom covered in pants before. (I should mention I’m almost always in Economy Plus given my ff status. I might feel differently if in regular Economy.)</p>
<p>Then again, I feel the same way about being patted down or the TSA body scan machines that show your body outline. Really, I don’t care. If some TSA person is getting a grand thrill out of patting me down or looking at my body outline, great, more power to them, glad I could provide some amusement. Whatever gets me to my destination the most efficiently and fastest is what I care about. </p>
<p>@Pizzagirl, perhaps you should just tell them to climb over. I’d wager that most people would be offended by the inevitable physical contact with someone that they’ve known for literally seconds. If someone suggested that I climb over, I wouldn’t mind, but I’d have to be invited. </p>
<p>On Southwest unless it is a very small person in the aisle seat, I would have trouble climbing over. I almost always have an aisle seat, and I always get up for the other people in my row. There really isn’t much room to climb over.</p>
<p><a href=“I%20should%20mention%20I’m%20almost%20always%20in%20Economy%20Plus%20given%20my%20ff%20status.%20I%20might%20feel%20differently%20if%20in%20regular%20Economy.”>quote</a>
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<p>Must be that extra four inches that makes the difference.</p>
<p>I don’t like scooching past people at the symphony or the movies either, but in very long rows there usually isn’t an option to pop up into an aisle.</p>
<p>“perhaps you should just tell them to climb over.”</p>
<p>I do! </p>
<p>I can’t climb over someone easily without holding onto the seat of the person in front. Then that brings up the other pet peeves of people grabbing the backs of their seats including their hair. </p>
<p>Let’s remember the real culprits here are the airlines. </p>
<p>We are victims! victims I tell you!</p>