Quote:
Originally Posted by
gumbleby 
Except that as of right now, the airlines have no way to link one extra seat to two passengers (even if they are flying on the same ticket). I agree with Loren Pechtel that it would be great if they'd find a way to do that (at least with parties traveling together on a single PRN), so people wouldn't be forced into paying double just because they need an extra 2-3 inches of space.
As a marginal POS who chooses to fly First Class rather than book two seats because of the hassle factor involved, I'll mention a couple of other problematic issues that people often forget to mention when the "buy two seats" comments are made.
1. In the case of IRROPS requiring rebooking on another flight, you may not be able to get that second seat (even though you booked it). That may not matter on a leisure trip, but if you're flying on a deadline, this can be a huge issue. If I absolutely, positively have to be at my destination by X time, someone's getting squished in that situation because arriving late is simply not an option.
2. Larger people flying for work may be trapped by rigid company policies which won't pay for more than a single Economy seat.
3. Believe it or not, if the airline doesn't think you're big enough, they'll put a standby passenger into that second seat even though you paid for it. Sure, you'll get a refund (eventually), but you won't get the space you paid for, and the unlucky standby passenger is going to get squished despite your best attempts to avoid that. Southwest (where I do book two seats out of necessity, since they don't offer First Class) has given me the hairy eyeball more than once, and I've had to argue with the ticket agent to keep my second seat. (And I'm 5'2" and 240 lbs, so I'm not anyone's definition of svelte!)
4. Small but annoying: you can't check in online and receive electronic boarding passes on your smartphone.
There are a lot of problems associated with booking two seats (even on Southwest, which is by far the most accommodating airline for POS). It's time for an Economy Wide section on planes. And it's also time for the airlines and OTAs to give maximum height/width estimates for each class of seating, prominently displayed as part of the booking process, so people can tell before they buy their tickets which class of seating they should book. Most people don't even fly once a year, and a lot are in denial about just how tall/wide they are relative to what the Economy seating is designed for.