<p>UAL’s economy plus is $29 extra when you reserve your seat. I am only 5’10", not 6’9", and I was willing to pay for the comfort of the extra leg room. It’s not only tall people that like to stretch out.</p>
<p>People want ridiculously cheap fares and legroom, too? Not going to happen!</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. This litigation mania is just crazy. If you don’t wanna pay NW’s demands (however irrational they may be), DONT USE THEM. Litigation is ruining this country(and political correctness, liberals, and conservatives, also)</p>
<p>Maybe there should be a base price, that only covers the actual transportation of a passenger from A to B, standing and holding on to a wrist-strap like in the subway. Everything else costs extra. A narrow seat, a wider seat, pillow, blanket, 10 peanuts, coin-operated bathroom, etc. No carry-on luggage is included in the base fare either. Then I don’t have to grimace at the shopping bags, Christmas presents etc.</p>
<p>Just received the gleeful e-mail from Northwest saying we could pay the $15 for choice seating assignments.</p>
<p>I think the next time I’m asked to put my seat back in its full up-right position, I’ll ask for $3. $2 for putting the tray up. I won’t charge for the seatbelt, because that would be kind of silly, wouldn’t it?</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I’d pay the the person sitting in front of me $15 NOT to put their seatback BACK! My husband once sat behind a young woman who obliviously slung her lovely long blond hair over her headrest right into his dinner on a transatlantic flight. (Dinner on a flight?!) She made hersef extremely comfy all the way over, in fact. This kind of “I’m the only person here” flyer is probably a larger problem than a $15 surcharge for more legroom.</p>
<p>There are people who believe they have also paid for that space behind their seat that they can recline into. </p>
<p>I saw a fairly ugly argument between a passenger who was seated in front of a child (whose FAA-approved child seat prevented the seat from reclining) and the parent (and later the flight attendant). </p>
<p>I am sure that would annoy anyone who had counted on reclining, but this particular passenger argued along the lines that her ticket included A RIGHT to those inches.</p>
<p>I dislike the hassle of flying, and I dislike being cramped, but I have to say that the hair-trigger tempers and sense of injured entitlement from certain other passengers make plane travel significantly worse.</p>
<p>Airlines will begin to charge ridiculous fees; a carry-on fee will only slow the boarding process as the flight attendants check everyone’s tickets to determine if their stuff is allowed on; if not, it’s off to cargo for it. People will catch on pretty quickly that Sprite is no longer complimentary and will stuff a can in their pockets. Airlines won’t make much money but will frustrate passengers… further decreasing current air travel.</p>
<p>Note to airlines: if you want customers, make flying comfortable, hassle-free, and make a rational pricing structure. I live 10 hours from my parents and 12 hours from my grandfather; I drive both if my car is in decent shape. Flying only cuts an hour or two off those trips and is a cramped, food-deprived nightmare. </p>
<p>I would, by the way, LOVE it if airlines would just make seats that don’t recline. I don’t like people’s heads in my lap and I don’t want to put my head in someone’s lap - just not that kind of woman. Then again, Pierce Brosnan has never sat behind me… 
</p>
<p>They could also follow the Southwest model of having planes run 1) on time and 2) the way people fly. Most airlines route a plane from Florida to DC to Texas. In the interim, they unload the entire plane and re-load the entire plane, which decreases the amount of time that plane can be in the air and making money for the airline. People end up having to take connecting flights through different time zones and realize that it’s faster to drive or take the train. No one wants to pay a boatload of money for inconvenient flights - and airlines lament the end of $1,500 business fares. Duh. </p>
<p>Not that I mind too much - I love seeing capitalistic Darwinism in action. Just wish that Congress wouldn’t provide bankruptcy protection but instead would put the airlines on the auction block. I’m utterly convinced that some savvy businessman (generic term - I hate “businessperson” or “businesswoman”) can make a profitable airline.</p>
<p>Aries, this is what happens when the government (Reagan-style) deregulates the airline industry.</p>
<p>Ariesathena, I agree 100% on the non-reclining seats thing. Perhaps it’s because I’m one of those evolutionary dysfunctional altruistic people who won’t recline my seat because I think it’s rude, but I really hate the fact that on 99/100 flights you go on you end up with someone else’s seatback rammed against your knees within 20 seconds of the seatbelt sign getting turned off.</p>
<p>Doing away with reclining seats is a bad idea. It seems fine on 1 hour jaunts, but on transcon redeye, and flights such as nonstop sydney to london? No way anyone will fly an airline that’s even $50 cheaper for 15+ hours in a non reclining seat.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that many newer aircraft - B738 - are used on both transcon and short hops…for example, southwest. Would be horribly uneconomical to have some aircraft recline and some not - forces more strict fleet utilization.</p>
<p>There would be little problem with reclining if they spaced the seats farther apart. They need to switch to a business model where they fly fewer happier people per plane, people who are willing to pay enough extra for the privilege to make up for the lost seats.</p>
<p>The current business model–where you’re good to a few who will pay tons of money for a first-class seat, and then you jam as many steerage passengers in the back (and compete savagely to fill those seats by offering cheap fares that you can’t turn a profit on)… well, something’s broken. I think it also hurts the way passengers think about airlines and erodes the chance for a rational, respectful relationship between passenger and crew, gatestaff, etc.</p>
<p>But we can probably look forward to another decade or more of this. :)</p>
<p>Oh, for the good old days of flying when you got a full meal and you were treated like royalty. (Glad they did ban smoking - now that was disgusting!). Nowadays, you get a tiny sandwich if you’re lucky; you are herded in there like cattle, and they want to charge for an aisle seat? Puh-leeze. They know they have us over a barrel since so many people have to fly. How do we protest this?</p>
<p>In the good old days, I used to pay $125 to fly back to my parents’ home. If I figured what proportion this was of my starting salary and apply this same proportion to today’s starting salaries in my profession, the cost should be $625. In reality it is about $250. For the almost $400 difference, you can go to a really, really nice restaurant and be treated like real royalty and still have money left over. Or you can spring for first class. The choice is yours.</p>
<p>My D is flying home today from Chicago, round-trip $185, including taxes and fuel surcharges. She will take that amazing price and bring her own Quiznos Prime Rib sandwich on board. Makes the other passengers sick too.</p>
<p>It cost us far more to drive her to Chicago and return in September.</p>
<p>Thank you Continental!!</p>
<p>I am flying 3 people to New York for $201.10 each the 2nd weekend in April, Friday a.m. through Sunday p.m.</p>
<p>What do you really expect for that kind of price? Their food was never any good anyway. I bring a bottle of water and some sort of quickie snack. I would much rather spend the money on a decent meal when I get there.</p>
<p>I am over 6 feet tall and always try to get an exit row or bulkhead seat. If I have to pay extra I will consider it, but it it a comfort/length of flight/cost analysis.</p>
<p>Flying these days is similar to riding an inter-city bus.</p>
<p>Remember, you get what you pay for.</p>
<p>On a trip to CA for family weekend, H and I flew the Delta Shuttle to JFK and then Song to LAX (and the same way back). On the shuttle, we got complimentary non-alcoholic drinks and lots of snacks (including after-snack mints). On Song, we got only non-alcoholic drinks. Plus, now, you have to pay to watch movies or play any other games besides the trivia one, whereas when Song first launched, everything was free. Oh, well.</p>
<p>tenisghs – actually, airline deregulation was done by Carter and kicked-in during Reagan. <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act</a></p>
<p>Oh well I was off by two years :)</p>
<p>Yeah maybe you guys are complaining just a little too much . . . most of the US airlines are pretty decent, giving blankets and pillows, headphones, snacks, somewhat decent food (that will at least get you through, if not, you’re free to bring more) just for a simple trip of going from point A to point B. This isn’t living accomodations for a month or something. $15 to secure a good seat really isn’t ALL that AWFUL . . . . sue? plus it gives you proof you have so and so seat.</p>
<p>And hardly anyone likes it when the person in front of them reclines but if you’re on a 20 hr flight, it’s pretty much needed to prevent some back sores. If the person reclines a little TOO much, just politely ask them to consider you. . . if they don’t listen and it’s obvious they’re going out of their reasonable limit, you can always make up some story to the flight attendant (bad knees, etc) to force them to put it up a little. Or just recline back yourself. This really isn’t a life or death matter lol. Some of you adults sound like a bunch of 2 year olds fighting over what flavor of ice pop they ordered. (I ordered red, NO I ordered RED, mommy please make tom give me the RED,
tommy: but <em>I</em> ordered red mommy, not bobby. . ) except over seats, lol . .</p>