Ludicrous Airline Practice???

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

This is definately not a first world problem. It transcends all classes. Take the red eye out of the Phillipines or India and you’ll see the laborors suffering in the same system. Nobody likes it, but hating your customers has ascended to an art form at most airlines.

Well to address the point somewhat more seriously, I agree with a previous poster regarding where the line is drawn. I’m not fat, but I have definitely inconvenienced fellow passengers, probably more in one single trip than most fat people in their whole air-travelling lives. Forgive the indulgence...

I travelled with the missus and my (then) 6 month old daughter to Australia last year. 15 hours to Changi then another 8 to Brisbane, there and back. We booked bulkhead seats as we had no choice due to the baby. Each plane had a 3-4-3 config and we took up two of the middle seats on each leg with the baby in the bassinet. She was pretty stressed the whole way on all four legs and she even got the shits on the flight back and we had to change her 10 times.

I bet the people around us absolutely hated us for the noise and smell we created. That’s not even counting the baby. We could’ve bought out the whole row but there’d still be a bunch of people behind us pissed off. We could’ve paid a ridiculous 10x premium to sit in First but then all the miserable rich gits would’ve kicked off big style at the upstarts with a sprog ruining the ambience of their champagne aperitifs. Maybe I should’ve left the missus and baby at home so I could enjoy a holiday whilst my wife could spend three weeks alone as a relatively new mother? Perhaps I should’ve told my friend I couldn’t be best man at his wedding in case I upset random people on a plane?

What I actually did was rely on fellow human beings having a smidgen of tolerance and understanding.

Travelling in economy is riven with misery whether you have a chubster sitting next to you or not, because as you say, airlines don’t care about the welfare of their passengers.

[Ssunnylee24]

Well where so you draw the line?
Airlines cant force some chubby to buy two seats.

[ashbaug2]

To jump back to the OP and his original statement about baggage fees...

[ArtNouveau]

Originally Posted by Ssunnylee24

Well where so you draw the line?
Airlines cant force some chubby to buy two seats.

Actually I think they can, but I'm sure no one wants to be the employee that has to say it.

[watchtabs]

Yep two tickets, OR, a dedicated space for larger folks that costs more.

[ashbaug2]

Originally Posted by Ssunnylee24

Well where so you draw the line?
Airlines cant force some chubby to buy two seats.

Actually, they can, and they do. Sometimes. The problems are 1) enforcement of their own rules (or lack there of, probably for PR reasons); and 2) Like you said, where's the threshold? What standards are they going off of? They're not exactly weighing everyone getting on a plane or making them step through measuring sticks to judge that they need a second seat, probably because of the PR nightmare it would create.

I was flying back from Hawaii with my wife last year and saw the airline, I think Hawaiian Airlines, tell a customer they needed a second seat, or they could reschedule them to a later, less full flight.

I'm 6'2", about 215 pounds these days. I have broader shoulders than most, and thick legs from a previous life lifting heavy weight. I'm crammed in like a sardine, but I try to make myself as small as possible by leaning into the bulkhead and not taking the arm rests.

I second (or third, or fourth) the sentiment that the airlines don't care about their customers, so they don't care how uncomfortable they are; they just want to fit as many paying customers onto their planes as possible.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

I booked a second adjacent seat on a long flight for an “instrument”. I think they presumed it was a cello or something, because I got both boarding passes and strapped my backpack into the spare seat. It was the only “empty” seat on the flight.

From what i gather that has to be in a seat and you pay for it so if they bump the cello (or whatever it was) they bump you too. A non essential seat for "comfort" can be bumped easier. Basically they can involuntary deny boarding of your second seat and give you a voucher for your trouble. since there was nothing in it to begin with its the first seat to go in an oversold situation.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Well to address the point somewhat more seriously, I agree with a previous poster regarding where the line is drawn. I’m not fat, but I have definitely inconvenienced fellow passengers, probably more in one single trip than most fat people in their whole air-travelling lives. Forgive the indulgence...

I travelled with the missus and my (then) 6 month old daughter to Australia last year. 15 hours to Changi then another 8 to Brisbane, there and back. We booked bulkhead seats as we had no choice due to the baby. Each plane had a 3-4-3 config and we took up two of the middle seats on each leg with the baby in the bassinet. She was pretty stressed the whole way on all four legs and she even got the shits on the flight back and we had to change her 10 times.

I bet the people around us absolutely hated us for the noise and smell we created. That’s not even counting the baby. We could’ve bought out the whole row but there’d still be a bunch of people behind us pissed off. We could’ve paid a ridiculous 10x premium to sit in First but then all the miserable rich gits would’ve kicked off big style at the upstarts with a sprog ruining the ambience of their champagne aperitifs. Maybe I should’ve left the missus and baby at home so I could enjoy a holiday whilst my wife could spend three weeks alone as a relatively new mother? Perhaps I should’ve told my friend I couldn’t be best man at his wedding in case I upset random people on a plane?

What I actually did was rely on fellow human beings having a smidgen of tolerance and understanding.

Travelling in economy is riven with misery whether you have a chubster sitting next to you or not, because as you say, airlines don’t care about the welfare of their passengers.

I have been on many long haul flights with screaming babies. Noise cancelling headphones fix that, whilst also providing a better audio experience for whatever entertainment is on queue. An activitated charcoal dust mask cures most smells, and helps prevent travel illnesses. Whereas, a hulking fat bastid draping his sweaty folds of stored cheeseburgers over you for 15 hours can’t be as simply mitigated.

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

I have been on many long haul flights with screaming babies. Noise cancelling headphones fix that, whilst also providing a better audio experience for whatever entertainment is on queue. An activitated charcoal dust mask cures most smells, and helps prevent travel illnesses. Whereas, a hulking fat bastid draping his sweaty folds of stored cheeseburgers over you for 15 hours can’t be as simply mitigated.

I have no response except to say this made me laugh.

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by pilotjim

Why is it that a....shall we say 'large' person, who literally cannot even fit into a single coach seat, can spill over into my girlfriend's seat to the point that she has to almost sit in my lap to avoid her neighbor's excess, can pay the exact same price for their airline ticket with no penalty of any kind, and yet when my gf's suitcase is 6 pounds overweight, we have to pay an extra 50 bucks.

*(true story) /rant

the fat pax can send a negative tweet, buy more food service items, and has money to spend down the road.

the bag --- neither.

fwiw, its full size folks who keep airlines from packing people in like sheep, not the skinnys or bags.

[Colin G]

Originally Posted by uscmatt99

There are a million ways to get annoyed while flying.

When I flew home from Mexico a few years back, the guy sitting ahead my wife and I was farting up a storm the whole way back. It was pretty gross.

I voiced my displeasure loud enough for farty pants to hear but did not confront him and make a scene. I really wanted to but my wife would not let me.

[Brew]

Airline MO #9: Make the cattle hate each other so they won't hate us.

[dmash]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Well to address the point somewhat more seriously, I agree with a previous poster regarding where the line is drawn. I’m not fat, but I have definitely inconvenienced fellow passengers, probably more in one single trip than most fat people in their whole air-travelling lives. Forgive the indulgence...

I travelled with the missus and my (then) 6 month old daughter to Australia last year. 15 hours to Changi then another 8 to Brisbane, there and back. We booked bulkhead seats as we had no choice due to the baby. Each plane had a 3-4-3 config and we took up two of the middle seats on each leg with the baby in the bassinet. She was pretty stressed the whole way on all four legs and she even got the shits on the flight back and we had to change her 10 times.

I bet the people around us absolutely hated us for the noise and smell we created. That’s not even counting the baby. We could’ve bought out the whole row but there’d still be a bunch of people behind us pissed off. We could’ve paid a ridiculous 10x premium to sit in First but then all the miserable rich gits would’ve kicked off big style at the upstarts with a sprog ruining the ambience of their champagne aperitifs. Maybe I should’ve left the missus and baby at home so I could enjoy a holiday whilst my wife could spend three weeks alone as a relatively new mother? Perhaps I should’ve told my friend I couldn’t be best man at his wedding in case I upset random people on a plane?

What I actually did was rely on fellow human beings having a smidgen of tolerance and understanding.

Travelling in economy is riven with misery whether you have a chubster sitting next to you or not, because as you say, airlines don’t care about the welfare of their passengers.

You can’t help having a child/the process of raising him or her, it’s human nature.

What’s not natural, is the morbidly obese stature some individuals are carrying, and then want to inconvenience others with.

[Art 1]

Weight it weight. The traveler and their luggage should be weighed. Once paid overage in LGA on my daughters bag, 5 lbs over. She weighed 110lbs. I asked the worker about the fat guy behind us weighing over 300 lbs. What could she say?

[pilotjim]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Well to address the point somewhat more seriously, I agree with a previous poster regarding where the line is drawn. I’m not fat, but I have definitely inconvenienced fellow passengers, probably more in one single trip than most fat people in their whole air-travelling lives. Forgive the indulgence...

I travelled with the missus and my (then) 6 month old daughter to Australia last year. 15 hours to Changi then another 8 to Brisbane, there and back. We booked bulkhead seats as we had no choice due to the baby. Each plane had a 3-4-3 config and we took up two of the middle seats on each leg with the baby in the bassinet. She was pretty stressed the whole way on all four legs and she even got the shits on the flight back and we had to change her 10 times.

I bet the people around us absolutely hated us for the noise and smell we created. That’s not even counting the baby. We could’ve bought out the whole row but there’d still be a bunch of people behind us pissed off. We could’ve paid a ridiculous 10x premium to sit in First but then all the miserable rich gits would’ve kicked off big style at the upstarts with a sprog ruining the ambience of their champagne aperitifs. Maybe I should’ve left the missus and baby at home so I could enjoy a holiday whilst my wife could spend three weeks alone as a relatively new mother? Perhaps I should’ve told my friend I couldn’t be best man at his wedding in case I upset random people on a plane?

What I actually did was rely on fellow human beings having a smidgen of tolerance and understanding.

Travelling in economy is riven with misery whether you have a chubster sitting next to you or not, because as you say, airlines don’t care about the welfare of their passengers.

I guess you make some valid points. But in all honesty, if I were a morbidly obese person, I simply would not buy a coach airline ticket. It just would not be fair to the person/s unlucky enough to have to sit next to me. Either buy two seats, buy a business/first class seat, or if need be, drive.

[.brian.]

Originally Posted by Ssunnylee24

Airlines cant force some chubby to buy two seats.

According to this article, it sounds like they can.

https://www.smartertravel.com/2017/0...sity-policies/

American Airlines

American requires passengers to purchase a second seat if they need a seatbelt extension and their body “extends more than 1 inch beyond the outermost edge of the armrest.”

The airline recommends that you buy both seats during your original booking (at the same rate). If you don’t book two seats in advance, you will be responsible for any fare difference on a second seat purchased the day of your flight.

If the airline can’t accommodate you on your scheduled flight, the airline will let you purchase two seats on a later flight for the same price as your original seats.

[Burlington]

It’s even more awkward for the offending person. I always try to turn up my patience and tolerance dials to an 11 when flying. It helps.


Sent using Tapatalk

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by pilotjim

I guess you make some valid points. But in all honesty, if I were a morbidly obese person, I simply would not buy a coach airline ticket. It just would not be fair to the person/s unlucky enough to have to sit next to me. Either buy two seats, buy a business/first class seat, or if need be, drive.

his issue was a physical one.

yours was an emotional one.

both can be cited as clinically challenging.

i think you could have upgraded to coach + or biz class too.

[pickettt]

Overweight passengers are always encroaching on my emotional support animal’s personal space.

[The Libertine]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

I remember when air travel was tolerable.

Me too, Grady. Sad how air travel has deteriorated, only question is how much further?

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by The Libertine

Me too, Grady. Sad how air travel has deteriorated, only question is how much further?

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

That is American Airlines Business Class.

[CRM114]

Originally Posted by pilotjim

Why is it that a....shall we say 'large' person, who literally cannot even fit into a single coach seat, can spill over into my girlfriend's seat to the point that she has to almost sit in my lap to avoid her neighbor's excess, can pay the exact same price for their airline ticket with no penalty of any kind, and yet when my gf's suitcase is 6 pounds overweight, we have to pay an extra 50 bucks.

*(true story) /rant

Originally Posted by dddrees

Rants are fun, but what would you suggest?

Force every airline exec to book, check-in, and fly as coach, non-special access passengers on every sector in their respective mainline and branded feeder systems. Have them write down their thoughts, feelings, and observations re problems along with providing solutions. Then, execute them.

Once that's done, bring in a new crop of execs to replace those recently slain to implement the solutions.

[TheVTCGuy]

As long as we are bashing on airlines I am going to throw a story in here, not exactly related but it shows an absolutely ludicrous practice from SouthWest airlines. I am Executive Platinum on AA, so usually fly them, but on this short flight to Vegas I got put on a SW flight. For 45 minutes in the air what the heck. The flight out was fine, then on the return my meeting got finished early, so I was at the airport about two hours before my scheduled flight. Had no luggage other then a briefcase. When checking in at the counter, the lady asks me: "There is a flight that leaves in 45 minutes you can make if you would like to go standby and arrive early." I said of course, that would be fine. She replies: "That actually helps us out because that flight is half empty and yours is over-sold, we will have to give out vouchers." "Glad I can help" I replied. Then she says:

"That will be $247" … ... … I asked her to repeat it because I couldn't believe my ears, but it was true, she wanted me to PAY $247 to go on this earlier flight. She explained the earlier flight was more a more expensive fare then the later one. But, I asked, if I don't take the earlier one, you will have to be handing out $300 vouchers to people on the over-sold flight (mine). She said yes that was true, how did I want to pay the $247? I told her to…. well, I said no.

I went to the gate, both flights were at the same one, and watched the earlier flight leave with maybe 30 people on it. Then, an hour later, my flight boarded and it was packed, they gave out at least three $300 vouchers to people that had been over-sold.

… … …

… .. …

WTF? How can an airline function with that kind of management decision making?

Needless to say I never have and never will fly SoutWORST again. What a ridiculous organization.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

As long as we are bashing on airlines I am going to throw a story in here, not exactly related but it shows an absolutely ludicrous practice from SouthWest airlines. I am Executive Platinum on AA, so usually fly them, but on this short flight to Vegas I got put on a SW flight. For 45 minutes in the air what the heck. The flight out was fine, then on the return my meeting got finished early, so I was at the airport about two hours before my scheduled flight. Had no luggage other then a briefcase. When checking in at the counter, the lady asks me: "There is a flight that leaves in 45 minutes you can make if you would like to go standby and arrive early." I said of course, that would be fine. She replies: "That actually helps us out because that flight is half empty and yours is over-sold, we will have to give out vouchers." "Glad I can help" I replied. Then she says:

"That will be $247" … ... … I asked her to repeat it because I couldn't believe my ears, but it was true, she wanted me to PAY $247 to go on this earlier flight. She explained the earlier flight was more a more expensive fare then the later one. But, I asked, if I don't take the earlier one, you will have to be handing out $300 vouchers to people on the over-sold flight (mine). She said yes that was true, how did I want to pay the $247? I told her to…. well, I said no.

I went to the gate, both flights were at the same one, and watched the earlier flight leave with maybe 30 people on it. Then, an hour later, my flight boarded and it was packed, they gave out at least three $300 vouchers to people that had been over-sold.

… … …

… .. …

WTF? How can an airline function with that kind of management decision making?

Needless to say I never have and never will fly SoutWORST again. What a ridiculous organization.

The earlier flight was empty because no one wanted to pay an extra $247 for the same crappy ride.

I don't think I've ever been on Southwest. Maybe I should keep it that way.

[CRM114]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

WTJ? How can an airline function with that kind of management decision making?

Needless to say I never have and never will fly SoutWORST again. What a ridiculous organization.

With one exception (the now-defunct Midwest Express) I'm not a fan of any airline (neither ones I've flown for, or on), but when it comes to management performance it's hard to argue with SW's un-rivaled 45 straight years of profitability while maintaining pretty loyal customer and happy employee bases. That's a rare combination in the competitive, domestic airline industry so they must be consistently doinging something right.

[imperio]

Originally Posted by pilotjim

Why is it that a....shall we say 'large' person, who literally cannot even fit into a single coach seat, can spill over into my girlfriend's seat to the point that she has to almost sit in my lap to avoid her neighbor's excess, can pay the exact same price for their airline ticket with no penalty of any kind, and yet when my gf's suitcase is 6 pounds overweight, we have to pay an extra 50 bucks.

*(true story) /rant

I understand your frustration. Fat tax on flights have been debated back and forth since air travel took off...

Also, I believe your extra 50 bucks payable is because your luggage has to be handled at various points by human beings. It's easier to carry a 10 pound bag than a 16 pound bag.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by imperio

I understand your frustration. Fat tax on flights have been debated back and forth since air travel took off...

Also, I believe your extra 50 bucks payable is because your luggage has to be handled at various points by human beings. It's easier to carry a 10 pound bag than a 16 pound bag.

Checked luggage competes with paying freight on many flights. Weight allowances allow them to plan cargo loads. Penalizing you keeps the luggage weight within tolerances by discouraging overweight bags.

[123Blueface]

Do what I do. Learn to force yourself to cough and sneeze. Wipe your hands all over your face as you fake it. Watch them fit in their seat all of a sudden.

If that doesn’t work, tell them you would like them to pay for half your seat.

As we say in Spanish, para un descarado, otro.

[Spartacus]

For my personal space, I almost always fly first class. Extra perk, overhead always has space.