Space encroachment on flights

[candrew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba We could also both get aisle seats across from each other so neither of us is wedged in between large people.

+1

DW & I have been using this strategy for several years now. Most recently, we had 12 hour flights to & from Auckland. Each of us had an aisle seat in economy class across from one another and found it to be acceptable.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver I had this exact same thing happen to me, except I was in an aisle seat in first class. (I've gotten to the age that I will only fly first class...or not at all.) I was already seated when the woman sitting in the window seat arrived. I stood up to let her to her seat, and she immediately stuffed a large shopping bag under the seat directly in front of me. I sat down and tested the remaining space I had for my feet. There was room for one foot.....kinda. When I said that having no space for my feet wouldn't do, she was very put out and said 'well then you'll just have to get up again" which I did so that she could stuff the bag in the overhead. She then "huffed" for a few more minutes before settling down. Wow. Where do the feelings of entitlement come from?

I had a "lady" in front of me in the bulkhead seat, who had stuffed all of her stuff underneath her seat..It actually stuckout on my side and would have made me immobile for the whole flight. I politely got up and told her that's my space for my feet so you need to take your stuff out now. I got the huffy look and I'm like do you want me to call the FA or do you just want to move it? She moved it but wasn't happy about it.People

[CardsFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan I had a "lady" in front of me in the bulkhead seat, who had stuffed all of her stuff underneath her seat..It actually stuckout on my side and would have made me immobile for the whole flight. I politely got up and told her that's my space for my feet so you need to take your stuff out now. I got the huffy look and I'm like do you want me to call the FA or do you just want to move it? She moved it but wasn't happy about it.People

I had the same lady in front of me one time

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CardsFan I had the same lady in front of me one time

She gets around--she's flown with at least four of us!

[MRG]

The seats are shrinking.

One of the funniest I'd seen was flying from London to Edinburgh for a day meeting. I was with the CIO, a very large man, 6'4" and a good 300, mostly muscle. We were in business class, but it wasn't any better than coach. Three across and he's in the middle. His first mate arrives and dwarfs the CIO. shortly after the second arrives and he's bigger yet! Luckily it like 45 minutes in the air.

On the evening flight back to London the other two guys are at our gate. They quickly confirmed they were not sitting next to each other.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever She gets around--she's flown with at least four of us!

LOL My favorite part is the "are you serious" look they give you when you know they know they were being an A#$hat...

[GalaxyBoy]

I've had that woman on my flight too!

Then there was the small regional plane with the lady in a front seat who told the FA during the safety briefing to be quiet because it bothered her. On the approach to landing she refused to bring her seat up because it wasn't comfortable (she lost that argument). Upon exiting the plane onto the tarmac at O'Hare she cluelessly passed the stairs into the terminal and I heard one baggage handler say to another,"Where's that lady going? HEY LADY!!" Best entertainment I had in a long time on a flight.

[Silver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan LOL My favorite part is the "are you serious" look they give you when you know they know they were being an A#$hat...

I'm not sure that they do know they were being inappropriate, and that's what really bothers me most. Lack of insight. Lack of situational awareness. Belief that they have "rights" that supersede yours.

How does one get that way?

[gerntz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 A lot of trans-Atlantic flights are 2-3-2. But the IAH to AMS is always a Boeing 777 with 3-3-3 config, and always full, so we've learned to sit across the aisle because there is always someone in the middle seat.

I think the 2-3-2's in coach are all B767 planes. Ain't making many of those - too much aisle space for too few seats. Agree on picking across aisle seats except when having to get up when those inside need to.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver I'm not sure that they do know they were being inappropriate, and that's what really bothers me most. Lack of insight. Lack of situational awareness. Belief that they have "rights" that supersede yours. How does one get that way?

The Flyer Talk forum has an huge thread devoted to people labeled as DYKWIA - Do You Know Who I Am? people. These are the ones who insist they should be upgraded to 1st class, push ahead of others when boarding, and generally act like the rest of us are 'gate lice'.

[Amethyst]

She's probably related to the man who accused me of taking up "a lot of room" in the overhead bin with a leather briefcase, which happened to have flopped over on its side so he couldn't get his enormous barely-legal wheelie in. He could have just asked me to set the briefcase vertical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever She gets around--she's flown with at least four of us!

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by pacergal DH has a bad back and bad knees. We decided that in retirement, we would take less trips and fly First or Business class. We have pleasant flights and arrive at destinations feeling ready to go rather than cranky. It is far better for him to be comfortable and pain free.

Yeah, we gave up Coach in long-hauls a few years ago; DH was 15 years older, over 6' tall and had a creaky back. It cut down our travel to Europe but the trips were a lot more pleasant. Now that he's gone, I still book Business on long-hauls although I had to book Coach on the London-to-home segment of a round trip I booked to India for next year using miles. (I could have bought miles but they're crazy expensive.) I just got back from Canada and United's premium Coach seats were pretty nice- I upgraded on one 2-hour segment for $26 and would do that again. It's nice to have an option in between standard Coach and Business Class. The second leg of my trip home was in regular Coach and I really couldn't hold my head at a comfortable angle to see the seatback screen because i was too close to it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut The Flyer Talk forum has an huge thread devoted to people labeled as DYKWIA - Do You Know Who I Am? people. These are the ones who insist they should be upgraded to 1st class, push ahead of others when boarding, and generally act like the rest of us are 'gate lice'.

I believe "gate lice" is the term for people who cluster near the front of the line in the boarding area before their group is called, making it hard for people who CAN board to figure out where the line is.

[rodi]

Ok - here are my 3 horror stories.

The first is 20 years ago... and it was when the airlines were first starting to redo the pitch on the airplane to give less knee room. My flight over was fine - but my return flight was horrific. London to Philadelphia. I settle into my window seat in economy... even with seats fully upright my knees are pressing the seat in front of me. I'm 5'9". I remove the airline magazines and safety stuff and put it in the overhead - that gains me 1/2". The passenger in front of me does the max recline as soon as we take off... The seat is literally pressing hard into my knees. About an hour into the flight he turns around (not putting the seat up)... to admonish me because my knees are pressed into his back. Fortunately, the passenger in the middle seat looks at him and says - "would you like me to amputate her legs above the knees - she's scooted all the way back." That shut him up for a few moments. Then the meal arrives... he leaves his seat reclined... I cannot put my tray table down because he's so reclined. Again, the passenger next to me taps him and requests he sit up so I can eat my meal.... more glares. Ugh.

2nd story. A few years later.. I'm flying from San Jose to Philadelphia for business. Unfortunately, I was assigned a middle seat, as was my coworker. We're both stuck between LARGE men... Not so much fat (though far from thin).... older guys who were probably professional football players in a previous life. In my case - the mens shoulders fully encroached on my seat (from both sides) and they had FULL control of the arm rests. I spent the entire flight (6 hours) leaning forward with my elbows in my lap. Miserable.

3rd horror story. I was pregnant with my oldest (16 years ago). I was flying from Philadelphia to San Diego... I had the window seat. Two young women (20-somethings) sit next to me. Great - no seat encroachment, right? Nope - they proceeded to down several beers and pass out - sprawled. And I couldn't get past them or wake them in order to get out to use the rest room. (Did I mention I was pregnant - that's a big deal!!!).

Now I only sit in an aisle seat. Wish I could justify business/first class more but the cheap gene kicks in.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba I'm about 5'2" tall with a medium frame. On several flights over the last year, I've been seated next to guys with huge shoulders and big torsos, such that I'm losing 25%+ of my space to them. I'm wondering if plane seats have gotten much narrower, or what is driving this. On a shorter flight it's not a big issue, but it's really uncomfortable on long flights. Is the only way to avoid this to upgrade to business class? We almost always fly economy but upgrade to premium seats in the main cabin so we get earlier boarding and more leg room.

my last flight had a woman changing a dirty diaper and the other side eating a tuna sandwich. i swore off flying. the days of wearing a sport coat on a fight are dead. ill go business class if the need arrives, i dont care if its a 2 hour flight to florida, no more coach/economy/cheap seats for us.

[akck]

We were in an exit row, window and middle seats, and aisle seat empty, no one else boarding. I think they were waiting for passengers from another flight and they board with a person taking about a third of my seat. Turned out he needed a seatbelt extension and was told it wasn't allowed in the exit rows. He ended up moving to an empty row in back. Dodged a big one on that flight.

[Scuba]

Yes the guy next to me on the flight I took last week needed a seatbelt extension. Perhaps since the seats have shrunk so much, people large enough to require seatbelt extensions should be required to purchase 2 seats? The large people I've sat next to have not been rude about taking my space. They've simply been too large to fit in the alloyed space so their shoulders, arms, and hips ended up crowding me into a much smaller space.

[Koolau]

Last few times I've faced the 9 to 10 hour flight from Paradise to the Mainland I swear I'm going to upgrade to first class. When the time comes, I just can't pull the trigger and spend 3 times as much for the comfort. I could afford it, but just can not justify it at the time. I just resign myself to one miserable day of being treated like a side of beef. I do pick aisle seats if at all possible. That helps but then I really have to watch for the FA shoving a cart into the elbow.

What helps the most is thinking of what travel was like 100+ years ago. Mark Twain loved the Islands. To get there he had to take a several day train trip to the west coast and then many days on a steam ship. True, he most likely went first class, but Instead of a day, it most likely took close to two weeks each way. For the difference in travel time, I guess I can be miserable for a day. Perhaps what makes it less bearable is remembering when it wasn't like it is now. Seats even in coach had adequate, if not excess room. Security was minimal or non existent. Speed was virtually the same as today. Alas, to have cheap seats and security, one has to be willing to be miserable, I suppose. YMMV

[Scrapr]

A few years ago I accidentally booked Mrs Scrapr & myself on a cross country flight in First Class. It was wonderful. I had to stop the FA from refilling my whiskey glass. I don't think I was legal to drive when we got home. To be fair it was my favorite whiskey

Ever since on long flights it's up in front for us. We just got back from Sweden picking up a Volvo. SAS was beyond great. Lay flat beds. They had 3 & 4 course meals. And a buffet bar for in between meal food. And pleasant, friendly FAs. The last leg was United. That was a rude awakening

I think we are too spoiled now to fly Economy on long hauls.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrapr A few years ago I accidentally booked Mrs Scrapr & myself on a cross country flight in First Class. It was wonderful. I had to stop the FA from refilling my whiskey glass. I don't think I was legal to drive when we got home. To be fair it was my favorite whiskey <snip> I think we are too spoiled now to fly Economy on long hauls.

Yeah, what spoiled DH was the Bombay Sapphire gin and the made-to-order ice cream sundaes!

[sengsational]

When booking, and you look at the seating chart nowadays, and they want to charge you $35 to upgrade to an otherwise "ordinary" seat that just happens to be a few rows ahead of the free seat, you gotta wonder if the one you're paying for is going be next to a linebacker!

Would you pay extra to be in an "under 180 pound" row? For me, it would certainly be worth more than the same seat, 10 rows forward, with the same chance of having to give up shoulder room to an overly large neighbor.

Of course, that wouldn't work, would it, since it would concentrate the large people in rows together. What a disaster that would be!

Will there ever be a day when airlines will force larger customers to purchase larger seats?

I wonder if they could make a "kiddie row", where there would be one seat for a standard sized person, one seat for a narrow person (a kid), and one seat for a larger sized person. The kid could fly cheaper, and the larger person could pay a bit more. Seems only fair to me.