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Old 05-24-2012, 06:08 PM   #41
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I don't have a problem with them charging more for better seats - they do that all the time with first class vs. coach. They can do it between different coach seats if they like.

My concern is that I'd like to pay the extra when I'm making the reservation and know that I've got the better seat reserved (or not, depending on the mark up). I don't like waiting until check in and then hoping some frequent flyer didn't beat me to it.
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Old 05-24-2012, 06:29 PM   #42
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Other surcharges to watch for:

Barf bag
Seat reclining fee
Polite TSA agent
Having stewardess say "Ba-bye now"
Express bathroom line
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Old 05-24-2012, 07:04 PM   #43
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Tempers are already so short on flights. I feel sorry for the flight attendants who will be expected to shuffle seated passengers when Mom and her four-year-old are booked into middle seats. Who wants to give up the aisle/window seats that they've paid more for?

We lbym most of the time and drive most places, but I'm tempted to just bite the bullet and go for business class from now on when we have to fly somewhere.

And agree with the above that checked bags should be free and a fee charged for the carry-ons. Getting on and off the planes would be so much faster.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:54 PM   #44
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I fixed it for you. The "costs more fuel" is mostly a way of justifying the extra charge. I'm sure they'll add a surcharge for heavy flyers as soon as they can get past the political correctness thing.

They would charge you more for wearing a yellow shirt if they could get away with it.
Actually they had something on the news where some airlines are making some very heavy flyers buy two tickets... they interviewed a lady who has had to do that a few times... I think it was Southwest that charged her...
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:57 PM   #45
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I don't have a problem with them charging more for better seats - they do that all the time with first class vs. coach. They can do it between different coach seats if they like.

My concern is that I'd like to pay the extra when I'm making the reservation and know that I've got the better seat reserved (or not, depending on the mark up). I don't like waiting until check in and then hoping some frequent flyer didn't beat me to it.

The news article seemed to say that you could pay up front to get the seat... then at another time it appeared that they were reserved for frequent flyers...
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Old 05-24-2012, 09:43 PM   #46
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God knows flying isn't very fun this days between TSA and the airline desperate to make a buck (often to keep them out of bankruptcy). Hawaii flights are almost always full and sitting in middle seat with crying babies is pretty miserable.

Still given me cheap airfares over a regulated airline industry. I generally go to the mainland 3 to 4 times cheap. The extra 50-60% I'd have to pay in the good old days would mean either one or two less trips or another $1500/year. A 25x that additional spending means quite a few more months working.

The why I figure you can typically upgrade to business class for the same cost as the old fare would have been under regulation.
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Old 05-25-2012, 02:17 AM   #47
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Still given me cheap airfares over a regulated airline industry. I generally go to the mainland 3 to 4 times cheap. The extra 50-60% I'd have to pay in the good old days would mean either one or two less trips or another $1500/year. A 25x that additional spending means quite a few more months working.

The way I figure you can typically upgrade to business class for the same cost as the old fare would have been under regulation.
Agree. I fly a lot on business, including internationally. Sure it is crowded and the atmosphere ain't what it used to be. But I just bought a round trip ticket from the midwest to an out-of-the-way spot in Africa for $2000. That ain't bad. The trip is about 22 hours in the seat each way. To upgrade to business class would have been several thousand dollars more. Or about $50 for each hour in the air. About a dollar per minute. I just can't see it as worth it. It's not like they are pulling your fingernails out while you sit in coach and you are getting a body massage up in business class.

Deregulation has been a boon. And, as a bonus, I can dress comfortably without feeling out of place.
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Old 05-25-2012, 06:01 AM   #48
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And agree with the above that checked bags should be free and a fee charged for the carry-ons. Getting on and off the planes would be so much faster.
I've got to disagree here. You might get on/off the plane slightly faster, but any time you "win" there will be "lost" in baggage claim, waiting for your luggage.

I much prefer to ONLY fly with a carry-on (no checked bag) if at all possible, so I don't have to stand around in baggage claim for 20 minutes waiting for the belt to start moving. I value being able to walk off the plane, and continue walking right out of the airport.

All airlines I know of (I'm in Canada) allow 1 checked bag for free anyway, provided it weighs less than 50 lbs. Additional checked bags carry an extra fee, but the first one is free.

One caveat: I know the overhead bins will be stuffed by the time I get to my seat, leaving no room for my bag. So for my carry-on, I always bring a bag I know will fit beneath the seat in front of me. I prefer this anyway, since if I need to access it during the flight (and I'm not in the aisle seat), I don't have to disturb anyone to get out of my seat to reach my bag. I just slide it out from beneath the seat in front of me, featch/stow what I need, and slide it back. And there's no competition for that space - I never have to wonder whether there'll be any room left for my bag by the time I board.
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Old 05-25-2012, 06:47 AM   #49
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Slightly off topic, but I just don't get how numb fliers are with respect to placing and removing carry on luggage. Given how much down time there is in airport terminals they should have endless loop videos everywhere demonstrating such basic skills as stepping out of the aisle while pushing and tugging on your oversize bag to get it into the overhead compartment.

And how about taking your bag out of the compartment when everyone is standing there doing nothing but shouting into their cell phone to announce their arrival? Can't reach it? Ask someone to hand it to you - they aren't going anywhere anyway.


Rant over.
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Old 05-25-2012, 06:48 AM   #50
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................
One caveat: I know the overhead bins will be stuffed by the time I get to my seat, leaving no room for my bag. So for my carry-on, I always bring a bag I know will fit beneath the seat in front of me. I prefer this anyway, since if I need to access it during the flight (and I'm not in the aisle seat), I don't have to disturb anyone to get out of my seat to reach my bag. I just slide it out from beneath the seat in front of me, featch/stow what I need, and slide it back. And there's no competition for that space - I never have to wonder whether there'll be any room left for my bag by the time I board.
Just one problem - I'm 6 feet tall and have feet.
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Old 05-25-2012, 06:55 AM   #51
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If people want to carry on their luggage so be it. But, I resent being asked to take my very small carry on bag out of the luggage bin so some person can put a much larger piece of luggage into it. Why should I give up my leg room (limited as it already is) for somebody who wants to carry on her luggage?
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Old 05-25-2012, 07:13 AM   #52
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...I resent being asked to take my very small carry on bag out of the luggage bin so some person can put a much larger piece of luggage into it. Why should I give up my leg room (limited as it already is) for somebody who wants to carry on her luggage?
Amen to that, especially after I paid to have my similar sized luggage checked.
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Old 05-25-2012, 08:33 AM   #53
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Actually they had something on the news where some airlines are making some very heavy flyers buy two tickets... they interviewed a lady who has had to do that a few times... I think it was Southwest that charged her...
That's probably not about her mass, so much as her girth. I don't want to share a seat with someone who overflows into half of mine. If she were merely heavy while being dense (full of barium, or something), they probably wouldn't worry about the extra fuel to get the plane off the ground.
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Old 05-25-2012, 09:25 AM   #54
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I've got to disagree here. You might get on/off the plane slightly faster, but any time you "win" there will be "lost" in baggage claim, waiting for your luggage.
I was actually thinking of the airlines saving time and therefore money rather than the passengers (so giving the airlines the incentive to let me check my bags for free ). And people making connections whose bags have been checked through to the final destination (sounds ominous ) can get off to their next gate more quickly.

Sometimes at O'Hare the gate is so far from baggage claim that by the time we get to the carousel, the bags have been going around a couple of times.

But it's not going to happen anyway. And pretty soon anything carried onto a plane will be charged for.
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Old 05-25-2012, 02:32 PM   #55
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+1

The one "perk" I would gladly pay extra for would be to be guaranteed to be on a plane with no children (under, say 8 years old) on it. AT ALL. I'd gladly pay an extra $100 for that.

The other thing that irks me is that if my luggage weighs too much, I pay extra. But the 350 lb couch potato seated (inevitably) next to me pays the same fare as I do. How is that fair? They charge me more for a heavy bag because it costs more fuel to fly more weight. But if I weigh 170 lbs, and Joe Six-pack weighs literally twice as much, how come he doesn't have to pay any extra? My luggage weighs 2 lbs more than his (51 lbs vs. 49 lbs), I pay an extra $45. But he weighs 180 lbs more than me, and doesn't pay any extra at all. Absurd.
Tempting to put on every stitch of clothing and "wear" my luggage
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Old 05-26-2012, 06:28 AM   #56
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In the morning news, a proposal from Airbus Airbus Pitches Wider Seats for Overweight Passengers in the U.S. - Bloomberg

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Airbus SAS, seeking an edge over Boeing Co. (BA) in the contest to supply single-aisle planes to U.S. carriers, has begun pitching a version of its A320s with wider aisle seats that airlines can market for additional revenue.

The planemaker has begun talking to several U.S. carriers about the concept in recent weeks after getting B/E Aerospace Inc. to design a prototype. The A320’s 7 1/2 inch advantage in cabin width over the Boeing 737s would let Toulouse, France- based Airbus offer 20-inch aisle seats by reducing the middle and window seats to 17 inches, equivalent to the 737.

“Airlines are improving their margins by charging for bags, window seats, and food,” said John Leahy, chief operating officer for customers at Airbus. “But what most people really want is space, and that’s what we can offer. Every economy-class aisle seat would be almost as wide as a first class seat on competing aircraft.”

Adding two inches to one third of the seats in an A320 would hand U.S. airlines a marketing tool that they could target at the obese population, which has swelled to more than one- third of U.S. adults, according to Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey. Airbus has sought to win more business with U.S. airlines and ween them off the 737, which remains the world’s most widely flown commercial aircraft.
I would have described the proposal a bit differently.

For every row of three 18 inch wide seats, reduce two to 17 inches each and expand the third to 20 inches. Then charge a premium price for it without reducing the prices for the other seats. Don't worry that most of your passengers won't fit in the new narrow seats or that the new premium seat won't be wide enough for the people that really need it. They really didn't fit before, so this won't be much different but it will make more money.
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Old 05-26-2012, 07:31 AM   #57
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The one thing I wish airlines would charge for is carry-on luggage. This way i could be assured of getting space if needed.
+1

Very much agree. The tension and urgency to try to board early to ensure there is space for your carry on makes me uncomfortable. People just carry on too much crap.

I recently arrived at my aisle seat to find a carry on bag under the seat in front of me belonging to a very tall chap sitting in the middle seat. He claimed he couldn't sit in the middle seat for 2.5 hours with his knees drawn up to his chin which would happen if he put his bag under the seat in front of him. Sigh......... I called the flight attendent who made him move the bag to under the seat in front of him. He fumed the entire flight.
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Old 05-26-2012, 07:36 AM   #58
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If people want to carry on their luggage so be it. But, I resent being asked to take my very small carry on bag out of the luggage bin so some person can put a much larger piece of luggage into it. Why should I give up my leg room (limited as it already is) for somebody who wants to carry on her luggage?
+1
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Old 05-26-2012, 07:54 AM   #59
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This talk of airline loyalty really is hilarious. Maybe when someone else is paying the bill, sure. But when it's your money, every one of you is going to take the most economical choice of airlines for that trip to see your grandkids, assuming you don't just drive.
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Old 05-26-2012, 09:03 AM   #60
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Tempting to put on every stitch of clothing and "wear" my luggage
The TSA would have a field day! You would slowly peel out of 6 sets of clothing doing the barumba...as they undress you with their scanner...then they finally get to grope you...
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