bwallet

I once got to my seat and found a blind person next to me in the middle seat. She had a lovely golden retriever with her. Unfortunately, it left no room for my feet. Should blind people be required to buy two tickets?

As an aside, I discretely alerted the flight attendant who told the gate agent. I was upgraded on the next flight out. That was the only time from 2000-2004 that I wasn't upgraded domestically, and I didn't fly it anyway.

enconline

An interesting article on this just today.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/...west-airlines/

HookemHorns

Surprisingly not...but I swear the DL FA scheduling system has a caveat for RDU turns that says something about having a confirmed surliness rating before bidding the turn!

mkgrip

The issue of pricing and the issue of special needs should be separated.

If an airlines wants to or needs to cater to the special needs of passengers, it can, but it should not be on the expense of other passengers. It doesn't matter whether it's your own large body, your seeing-eye-dog, your big ego or your cello that is taking another seat, if a seat is taken it cannot be sold to anybody else. Similarly they can allow overweight luggage either at a fee or for free if they feel like it, but they cannot deduct the extra from the next passengers allowance.

Pricing is a different issue. If the airline sees it as a good idea and good for business to give you an extra seat for free (whether that is a cello, big ego or a POS) then they can do that. If they want to charge you for that extra seat (at regular, discounted or increased fare) that's their decision. I don't know why everyone seems to have an urge to come up with pricing schemes, even though it seems obvious to me that is completely up to the airline and the market.
The same goes for the crazy ideas like smaller seats for "Persons not of size". Well if somebody wants to found an airline that sells cheaper tickets but only flies people under 5' then go ahead, it just might be that it's not a good business.

If some special need is deemed important enough to require legislation requiring the airline to cater to that need for free, then catering to that need is a cost of doing business, and the airline should cover the costs through other means, but still they cannot sell a seat that is required for something else.

Another thing that I've never understood is how some people feel that it would be unfair to charge a POS for an extra seat "because it's not their fault" but it is ok to charge a person with a plaster cast for extra seats (I guess that's their own damn fault then, even if they were hit by a DUI on a crosswalk)

allergictocoach

Full RJ FLL-MCO a few years back with a guy smashing me into the side wall.
Complained to DL. $80 fare netted a $100 voucher.

mck

Another thread makes mention of this, is there anyway to notify passengers who ought to buy 2 seats officially? Ideally through the airline?

People may not know that they have that option! Maybe if they were presented with the opportunity to buy 2 they would.

trlaura

I see no reason why they can't just make some type of a "size wise" cage that you have to walk through to board the plane. If someone doesn't fit, they have to buy an extra seat or not board. However, there should not be height requirement.

Liba

I think that most people know that they don't fit if they don't fit.

My brother is 6'8" and only flies business or first. He just doesn't fit in an economy seat.

Some people can't afford that so they pretend they fit instead.

MikeyZBT

Exactly. First try to put down the arm rest. Then, whether you can or cannot put down the arm rest, go say something to the Flight Attendant before the door closes.

CarmenOM

OK, this misunderstanding based on a misspelling is driving me crazy.

HookemHorns, you wrote that you were from the "gentile old-world school of travel." You probably meant "genteel," not gentile, which refers to someone who is not Jewish.

GMill asked, "Was the FA from the Jewish old-school of travel?" His/her question had nothing to do with the behavior of the FA; it was a joke on your misspelling/typo. Note the at the end of the sentence.

The behavior of FAs is not related to whether or not they are Jewish.

tgtg

This thread must get the record for the longest POS thread going unlocked... hmm...

-=tg=-

Ancien Maestro

Perhaps ExpertFlyer could query airlines for weight, height, etc.. That way we all know what we're getting into before boarding.

Don't jinx it.

FireforEffect

What about when the flight attendants are too large? I flew AA from ORD to ATL a year ago and there was a flight attendant who kept bumping into everyone as he went up the aisle. It was absolutely awful. I was not the only one getting aggravated by this portly gentleman trying to navigate thru the aisle. There really has to be a limit on size for both passengers and flight crew. No one should be affected by another party violating his/ her personal space. I wrote AA and all I got was a sorry. That was my first and last AA flight.

Ancien Maestro

I don't know if they can regulate body size necessarily..

Isn't there a law for size discrimination?

Although, I agree its' irritating when continuously bumped in the seat..

Plus I don't know what to say to the FA when certain body parts hit my arm or my shoulder..

One of the reasons why I prefer a window seat..

mkgrip

Discrimination is not discrimination if the trait you discriminate if its a valid and necessary requirement for the job. If you're hiring an actor to play Napoleon on a movie, you can "discriminate" black and women all you want.

What we are talking about here? You can't fire somebody because he or she has gained a little weight (and that's how it should be), but you can if they are unable to perform their duty safely. You'd assume that an FA would have to fit into same requirements as exit row pax for the same reason. I gotta say though that I haven't seen FA:s that wouldn't, so either that is not a problem to begin with, or they do indeed fire the one's that do not meet the criteria. Most of the time you get bumped it's not because of the FA size though...
And they do "discriminate" based on size already: many airlines have height restrictions for FA:s (basically: you got to fit into the aircraft, so you can't be too tall, and you got to be able to reach the overhead, so you can't be too short).