Originally Posted by
CZAMFlyer
I quickly tire of online judgments passed by those who believe if people simply weren't so cheap/fat/out of shape, all their flying discomforts would magically disappear.
I stopped reading the article around "my knees hit the seat in front of me".
I'd sooner say "if people weren't so tall" than fat or out of shape.
But I think "I wanted more legroom but all those seats were sold out" would be much more prominent in the article of that were the case.
Originally Posted by
eigenvector
Maybe the reason many infrequent flier pax don't buy preferred seats is that they assume the most basic option will not be something that may cause actual physical pain. Kind of like how when I go to the grocery store even if I buy the absolute cheapest bread I don't expect to find mold on it.
But that's the difference. I'm 5'11. Alice is 6'5. Bob is 4'3. We can all eat the same bread, but we can't all sit in the same seat, unless they can all fit Alice.
And making every seat comfortable for someone 6'5 and 500 pounds is not economical, because most people need a small fraction of that space.
And since space seems to be more of a limiting factor than weight on most flights these days, airlines are trying to do what they can with things like preferred seats, E+, PY, etc.
In the context of a 777, maybe a few rows of 3-3-3 Y with 35 inch pitch, sold as a surcharge such that it is exactly (35/31) * (10/9) = 1.26x the regular fare (i.e. you buy a Y fare, and get charged an additional 26% for the seat)? Same Y service, and you're literally paying for the extra space, and nothing more?