jybrick

Unless the GF was a FFer, who, upon seeing the situation developing, would probably have told him 'Sorry, the armrest needs to stay down!'

dsttexas

Why airlines let this problem end up on the airplane itself is ridiculous. That's too late. The boarding process knows whether there are any empty seats or not, and likely not, so the POS problem needs to be addressed during the boarding process, not on the airplane.

If a POS doesn't have 1st class, or two seats, then they should be stopped at that point and an alternative solution provided. Next available flight. Offer existing passengers their "generous" bumping process to free up a seat or two.

The FA's who get to deal with this need to get after their management to take this problem off their hands when they are usually no good solutions the FA can offer at that time of time pressure and passenger discomfort.

They do sometimes stop people with carry on bags that are obviously too big. The POS problem is actually a harder one to solve on the airplane.

Rebelyell

It's not a hard problem to solve at all. The airlines need to put some rules on their website, and explain exactly how they will be enforced. The FAs walk up and down the aisles and catch people with their seat leaned by a tenth of an inch prior to takeoff. They car certainly see if armrests have been raised.

The suffering passengers should not be forced to assert their rights, as it requires a level of confrontation for which they have not been compensated. The airline, on the other hand, has been paid to do this, and they should. The FAs should do it as part of the pre-flight routine.

Annalisa12

[QUOTE=dsttexas;24045058]Why airlines let this problem end up on the airplane itself is ridiculous. That's too late. The boarding process knows whether there are any empty seats or not, and likely not, so the POS problem needs to be addressed during the boarding process, not on the airplane.

If a POS doesn't have 1st class, or two seats, then they should be stopped at that point and an alternative solution provided. Next available flight. Offer existing passengers their "generous" bumping process to free up a seat or two.

QUOTE]

I am not making a joke about this but I am sure staff dead heading would not want to sit next to the POS and they would refuse, yet they make customers sit there.

I say give the passenger next to the POS the option of changing flights with compensation.

Ben and Jerry

Why should the person next to the POS have to accommodate the POS? The POS knows (or should know) full well they don't fit in the seat. They know what the procedure is: buy first or an extra seat. If they choose not to follow that policy, THEY should be made to disembark and take the next available flight.

If you want to ship a basketball, it's not gonna fit in a pingpong ball box. The shipper will not accept you trying to squeeze it in that little box to save a couple of $$. (And the other 2 pingpong balls will be less than thrilled as well )

mmff

Unfortunately, it is much easier to bully a normal sized passenger into having a POS invading his space than barring the POS from flying.

In principle, a POS would need to choose one of the following: pay for 2 seats, pay for F, or risk being offloaded without compensation and without guarantee of a free seat on the next available flight.

It should be the sole responsibility of the passenger to make sure he fits on the space he is paying for. However, this seldom happens and airlines cave far too often, as in this absolutely disgusting case.

timfountain

I fully agree with all that you have said except this "It should be the sole responsibility of the passenger to make sure he fits on the space he is paying for." I am not a POS, unless you count the width at my shoulders! I physically do not fit in any economy seat that I have ever tried, my shoulders are just too broad. What am I to do?

Ben and Jerry

United's policy:

If 3 applies to you, then technically you should purchase another seat.

WillCAD

If you physically do not fit in 1 seat and encroach on another passenger's seat, for ANY reason, you buy a larger seat or a second seat.

This is what I do. I am in the same boat as you - my butt fits in the seat (rather tightly, but it does fit), yet my shoulders are about 24" wide. Given that most coach seats, including the WN seats I always buy, are 17-18" wide, this means my shoulders would encroach. I used to spend whole flights hunkered over, leaning into the wall, to avoid encroaching on my seatmate, but that's painful and doesn't always work, so I started buying two seats and I'm much happier.

It is incumbent upon all people to take whatever steps are necessary to avoid infringing upon others. Pack your suitcase lightly enough to carry yourself. Pack your carry-on lightly enough to lift into the overhead yourself. Keep your personal odors in check. Keep your person in check (i.e. strictly INSIDE the seat(s) you paid for). Don't block the aisles during boarding or deplaning. Keep your personal sounds in check. And act to insure that these things apply to your children as well, since children are often unable to do so themselves.

rbwpi

+1^ Well said.

Calliopeflyer

While in some cases, it's obvious who is too big to fit in any given airline seat (regardless of class of seat), more times than not it's not obvious who will fit that bill. That's because all "people of size" (Lord, what a horrible euphemism) are not all big in the same way and don't all have the same body shape.

Actually, you in fact are a "Person of Size" if you are too large -- "Person of Size" specifically doesn't specify WHY a person is too large, only that they are. It could be muscular development, genetic bone structure, or acquired layers of fat -- either your size is too large, or it isn't.

No more than the guy on the left. If either is guilty of that, they both are.....To me, it looks like they pretty much meet in the middle.

Tchiowa

Pay for a seat that is big enough for you. It's not the fault of the person sitting next to you that you are large. Not fair to make him suffer for it.

timfountain

Well made points, thanks for all the feedback. You are of course all totally correct and I will start buying 2 seats, paying for the second one out of my own pocket as I don't think my employer will not pay for it. It may cost, oh I don't know, perhaps another $20k per year out of my pocket, but hey, let's not even think of blaming the airlines for specifying smaller and smaller seat widths, oh no, I'd never to that.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014...41941949066648

Ber2dca

You have to basically consider an airplane a public space. If you wait for a bus and a smelly or really large person sits next to you, well you either move or tough luck.

Airlines sell single tickets to big&tall passengers, they don't stop crying babies, drunk people, smelly people or people who have the cold/flu from boarding.

Coach travel is modern day steerage and works by a simple mathematical principle of optimizing available space. In doing so it treats passengers as numbers whose circumstances are irrelevant.

While the principle of mutual non-encroachment sounds nice in theory, in practice, the advice is more realistic in saying - if you don't want to risk a large or smelly or noisy or otherwise annoying person sitting next to you intimately close and thus intruding on your comfort level, don't fly coach or buy a second seat. While we may say that this puts the onus on the wrong end of the equation, it's also your only realistic option because the airline couldn't give two ***** about your comfort level.

mmff

Passengers have chosen, time after time, to have smaller seats for smaller prices. If you do not fit in one seat, you have to buy two. It's as simple as it gets.

Besides, although it's none of my business, I'd say that if your employer is not willing to cover your travel expenses in full, then you should probably look for a new one.