<p>One of the coolest experiences I had on a flight, was a very delayed flight that was a final destination. Of course people wanted off, but nobody was late for a connection. The flight attendant came on and said a soldier had flown from a tour in the Middle East, and his wife was in labor and close to delivery. She asked everyone to stay in their seats to let the soldier exit the plane first. We all cheered as he rushed up the aisle and off the plane.</p>
<p>Could these be examples of people needing reminders on flights ^^ about being courteous? Sounds to me like everyone IS in such a hurry that a quick reminder can make a difference.</p>
<p>I use seatguru.com to pick my seat. No, I am not about to give up my seat to some random people. Only in situation of a young kid that needs to to sit with parents. Anyone over 8 can sit by themselves, or they should have planned ahead.</p>
<p>I am a small person. I have no problem sitting next to a big person as long as they respect my space. I would always keep the arm rest down because it is a very clear divider between my space and your space. If you can’t fit into that tiny space airline calls seat, then buying two seats is reasonable or pay for a business class.</p>
<p>My pet peeve is parents allowing their angel to kick the seat in front as entertainment, or to talk very loudly to their angel about every little thing they are doing.</p>
<p>Kids on a flight can be very annoying, but having had a kid be the one that made everyone’s flight hell once, I grin and bear it. I’m paying penance for my past sins.</p>
<p>I can totally deal with the parents talking loudly to their kids… no worse than a buisiness person who loudly details the wonder of their latest corporate coup. Letting your kid kick, play with the tray, or otherwise physically interfere with another passenger - NO!</p>
<p>When mine were little, I made it my job for the entire flight to keep them contained, entertained and invisible. Many times people near us commented at the end of the flight “Wow, I didn’t even know you were there”. If parent is reading, watching movies on the laptop, or sleeping and kid is kicking and when I ask if they could please stop and the bored parent says “He’s a kid, that’s what they do”, that’s when I get annoyed.</p>
<p>I was traveling with my 2 kids (5 and 1) by myself in business from NY to HKG. Everyone groaned when they saw me. Another family came on board with 2 young boys. The parents were older. They proceeded to drink and watch movies, while letting their boys loose on the plane. The boys decided to pop every passenger’s eye mask as they walked by. Stewardess finally put them back in their seats, by then the parents have already passed out with all the alcohol they have consumed. The boys reached over to my girls to try to wake them up. I looked at them, said it in a very low but stern voice, “If you touch them, I will cut your hands off.” I don’t think those boys thought I was kidding.</p>
<p>ellemenope - I’ve certainly been on flights where the crew asked that those who were at their final destination remain seated until all those who had to make a close connecting flight could deplane first. But everyone starts getting off, and you know not everyone there has a connecting flight to make, because you see some of them at the baggage carousel. </p>
<p>Perhaps what they can do, is find out before the descent, who has a close connection to make, then pass out cards of some sort before landing so that only those who really need to get off fast, can deplane first. Passengers might even be required to show some sort of document to prove the have another leg of their flight. I have absolutely no problem letting those who need to get off in a hurry do so, but I do get testy when I see everyone doing it.</p>
<p>^Oh, freeloaders mess it up for everyone!</p>
<p>Just a thought - sometimes people who aren’t making a connection at the airport are also in a hurry. I think it goes much quicker if folks just file off in an organized way. Otherwise, the window seat person who has to make a connection, has to get the other folks out of his way, and then those folks have to get back to their seats to allow the people behind them to move. Seems overly complicated. The best flights I’ve been on have exited one row at a time, front to back. No pushing, no blocking. Handicapped people and people with small children stayed put until last.</p>
<p>My D was seatmate once with a soldier coming back from Iraq, who was accompanying the body of his buddy. Upon landing, everyone was asked to remain seated to allow him to get off. But there was one person in the cabin in front (business?) who decided he couldn’t wait, and got off first. I am hoping he either had a very tight connection or he spoke a different language and didn’t understand. (I did wonder why the airline didn’t give the soldier an upgrade. Maybe the flight was full.)</p>
<p>How about the issue of weight as far as safety of the plane being able to carry it? I just flew on Delta last month and was asked to weigh my (severely overweight) suitcase. It incurred a fee…is that to make money or to discourage too much weight on the plane? I’m not saying we should be asked to hop on the scale at check in, but if you have enough poundage on a flight wouldn’t it affect things? Just asking.</p>
<p>Could you imagine!! Oops, you can’t fly today, you are 5 lbs over. Just the sheer of fear to step on a scale would deter many people from flying.</p>
<p>Thanks dke–I’ve been asking this question! I know wieght has to pose issues on planes, whether it be luggage weight or passenger weight, esp on smaller aircraft. This will explain why luggage is delayed many times. I guess they can legally wiegh luggage and hold bags that are heavy for a later flight. Can anyone address this issue?</p>
<p>I have flown small planes where they would try to distribute people’s weight, by placing them in different seats. If you got placed next to a skinny person, you know why…</p>
<p>There might be an issue these days with weight on planes because they have reduced the seat size and packed in more people than say, 10 years ago. That also means more stowed luggage, more carry-on luggage, etc.
Whoever decided that the seating space currently allotted for economy passengers is adequate never had to fly across the country in a middle seat with the seat ahead of them reclined for 6 1/2 hours.</p>
<p>Yes, we had heavy bags on Cape Air and had to wait for hours for our bags when they didn’t come on our plane. Needless to say, never flew with them again, although I love the view you get from those tiny planes.</p>
<p>I don’t understand people here objecting to reclined seats. The seats are built to recline and you are permitted to recline them. If the seat in front of you reclines into “your” space, then you should recline your seat and “voila” you have the same amount of space you had before, and you are more comfortable to boot. So what’s the problem with people reclining seats???</p>
<p>How tall are you anxiousmom? A reclined seat is crammed against my knees to the point that I can’t move my legs. Reclining my seat does nothing to help the leg space.</p>
<p>I have a 34 inch inseam and I don’t have a problem with people reclining – the airline provides reclining seats for a reason. If I’m not happy with the space the airline provides in economy, I can pay more or take the train. The large-seatmate issue is a different matter, because then a fellow passenger is taking a portion of the space I paid for.</p>
<p>I like the window seat, and whenever I fly cross country, I look down at those mountains and think of the pioneers walking to California or Oregon…many of them dragging their possessions in a handcart and/or nine months pregnant. It puts a five hour flight into perspective! I wonder what they would have thought about our airborne discomfort. Some of them lived to see transcontinental flights.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told my sister that she can CHANGE SEATS if she gets stuck next to a customer of size (the term they use for fat people in the airline biz), especially if she isn’t assigned a seat, and she’s free to move as soon as the doors close to any free seat. </p>
<p>Anyways, I’m pretty “regular” for a guy, 6’ and 210lb (ok I’m a little bit fat), and I can fit into a UA seat comfortably, but sitting in that seat with about 1/2 inch of padding is excruciating pain for my butt.</p>
<p>As for the weight issue, the bigger the plane, the less sensitive to weight and balance. An overweight plane will likely never make it off the ground, and don’t worry, even if the plane is loaded to the gills, on a larger jet such as the ones that fly intercontinental, it won’t exceed its maximum take off weight. On an RJ however, that is a possibility.</p>
<p>As for kids, if I have kids and they misbehave on board a plane, they’d have their allowance taken away for the next six months and grounded for the next year.</p>
<p>Weighing people, that can be done in a dignified way that preserves the dignity of the person being weighed. Airlines have to be discreet about it though.</p>
<p>Anyways, the trend these days seems to be for a “premium economy” cabin-something in between economy and business. Makes sense to me: how many of you can afford the $13,000 round trip it costs to fly business class to New Zealand?</p>