<p>That is interesting about Sprint Airlines. Southwest just came to our city but I’m not enamored with the idea of not having a reserved seat. Have had to do this in several foreign countries and it’s not much fun. On a short flight it’s fine but I really need to get up and walk around on long flights or my feet swell and therefore, I try to be on an aisle. I choose our seats very carefully. I always consult Seatguru dot com when choosing my seat. I would be happy to paid 50% more for more space but I find 1st class to be ridiculously overpriced. I only fly 1st class when I can use frequent flyer points.</p>
<p>what kind of ****es me off about this lady is that she said the airline should have to accommodate the fact that 1/3 of americans are overweight. Being larger than is healthy or normal is the passengers responsibility not the airline, not to mention that they have the rest of the world to worry about too. The seats are made to fit a healthy normal sized person. If you can’t fit, it’s your responsibility to figure it out.</p>
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<p>While I agree that someone who is overweight is responsible for fitting into the seat, normal sized people also have problems. My husband is very, very thin (he’s a runner) and over 6 ft tall with very broad shoulders. He has a hard time fitting into the seats comfortably. Of course it depends on the plane but his knees are usually crammed up against the seat in front of him and his shoulders are broader than the width of the seat. He is, however, a considerate person and tries very hard not to infringe on others. Let’s face it, normal size or not, the seats are cramped and uncomfortable. This is never the case on Amtrak. It is a choice the airlines have made in an effort to increase profitability. Recently, someone proposed having the passengers stand up the entire flight in order to cram more people into a plane!</p>
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I have a similar build, and I agree, some plane seats do seem too restrictive (I often come out with my knees aching). I can’t very well buy the seat in front of me and fold it down, haha, nor would I be able to afford it.</p>
<p>With all the computing power available these days, I surprised no one has tried “pay by weight and width.” 300 lbs and 30" wide pays four times what 150 lbs and 15" wide pays. Of course airlines would have to put adjustable arm rests in planes.</p>
<p>Or we could just leave current rules in place, and acknowledge that you can’t please everyone.</p>
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momlive:
That’s the way I felt at first also but it generally works out well. As long as you do the online pre-checkin very close to the time it’s permitted (24 hours before) you’re almost guaranteed to get into the ‘A’ section or at least the ‘B’ section as opposed to the ‘C’ section. I’ve found that all of the ‘A’ section and about half the ‘B’ section will have their choice of either an aisle or window for certain and the rest of the ‘B’ section can usually have one or the other. </p>
<p>I actually have come to prefer the SW method. After many times of paying top dollar for seats on AA or UAL and the like for a seat not far in advance of the flight only to find only center seats left because the aisles/windows were taken a month ago by those who paid less than half of what I paid, I found that I could always get my aisle seat on SW. The only time I haven’t is when I got to the airport early enough to catch the flight before the one I booked and switched at the gate at the last minute 5 minutes before the flight left in which case I’ve sometimes taken the last seat on the plane. If there are more centers available I try to find a smaller sized woman to sit next to. ;)</p>
<p>I believe you can buy “A” seating in advance now, for an extra $10.</p>
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I vote for option two.</p>
<p>“Or for that matter why should the purchase of an extra seat be limited to just obese people?”</p>
<p>Is it? I read that Yo-Yo Ma travels with his cello and buys it a seat in first class. Another musician told me that this is the only safe way to travel with a valuable instrument.</p>
<p>Yes, my son has to have an extra seat for his musical instrument.</p>
<p>I came across the woman’s blog. You can google–All The Weigh.
After reading her entry about the incident, my gut says that she set the whole thing up for publicity.</p>
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Oh yeah! The other part of the legs being spread is that the foot is then all the way on my side of the dividing line, leaving no room for my feet. So I politely nudge with my foot the first time and kick (oh my was that your foot?) the second time.</p>
<p>Consideration really is the key. I am less than five feet tall. It is usually silly for me to recline my seat very much so I don’t unless the seat in front of me is in my lap. I try to be aware of taller folks behind me. Which is pretty much everyone from fifth grade on up.</p>
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Some people are so desperate to be famous, they’re willing to be “that fat lady on the plane.”</p>
<p>I too am tired of people oozing over on me & our family. We all have our BMI (Body Mass Index) on the lowest end of “normal,” and are happiest when we just get to sit with each other & don’t have to contend with those who ooze over. </p>
<p>Unfortunately the guy with season tickets to the opera next to us is so large that he has to sit in his seat at an angle to even fit into it. Fortunately he usually brings a smaller-sized guest that is often the one who ends up sitting next to us instead of him (only 3 operas a year, but still awkward for those operas).</p>
<p>I see nothing wrong with arirlines charging people who don’t fully fit into their seats with armrests down & no oozing, but see nothing in the near future suggesting that they will be coming to some great solution any time soon. </p>
<p>Don’t understand why we should have to pay for our tickets but have other oozing into our seats & most of my flights are 5+ hours apiece, so it can be quite uncomfortable.</p>
<p>All the seats shuld be like 1st class. They cram everyone in and its not fun especially when you have to sit next to someone and you dont know them. That hapened to me once.</p>
<p>I can also imagine given the reports that a desire for publicity could be involved. I’m not at all “obese”, just a 5’6" formerly very thin person that has put on some weight over the years ,particularly after kids. I’m really struck by some of the comments here though , references to “fat”, “spillage”, “oozing”,etc. I can’t imagine a morbidly obese person feeling ok after reading some of these comments. I do however agree that expecting a person that cannot fit into one seat to pay for two by a business is not unreasonable.</p>
<p>I’m a normal-size person and have experienced more than my share of people oozing into my seat, especially when I used to commute to NYC. Why does this woman feel she “deserves” something extra without paying for it? If she is morbidly obese, she should buy an extra seat. The airline doesn’t make as much profit to fly her, and she should pay proportionally, just like we currently do with our luggage. So glad I didn’t see this on the Today Show. Can’t stand publicity seekers like that.
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I would imagine that they would feel worse about the terminology “morbidly obese.”</p>
<p>At least obesity relates to(as far as I know) a medically acceptable definiton of things , as opposed to being defined by how much you’re “oozing” or spilling over on other people. Perhaps someone who has these issues will comment further. I’m not “obese” so can’t truly know what comments would seem offensive .</p>
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<p>If all the seats were like in first class they’d all cost like first class, or close to it. The reason they cram three seats across is to get more paying customers on the plane. If fewer customers can fit on the plane the ones that do get on will have to pay more for it.</p>
<p>What you and a few others on this thread apparently want is first class-sized seats at coach prices. Ain’t going to happen.</p>
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<p>This I agree with. I’m tall but not extraordinarily so (6’1"), and when I sit in coach on most airlines when the seats are fully upright my knees are already wedged up hard against the seat in front of me. I can’t count the times I’ve had my knees painfully crushed by the person in front of me suddenly slamming his/her seat back into my space by reclining it - usually without any care whatsoever to the damage they may be inflicting. And what’s worse is the pilots promote these injuries by almost always annoiuncing over the PA system: “So just lean back and relax and enjoy the flight.” I’ve learned to be ready to try to dodge a flying seat back right after that announcement becasue it gives so many people the idea.</p>
<p>And ladies, one reason why guys so often sit with their legs spread on a plane is because they are taller than you, and they often pretty much HAVE sit that way to allow room for the reclined seat in front of them. They and I couldn’t sit with our legs crossed or pointing straight ahead in coach even if we wanted to.</p>