LarryJ

I doubt that the COS is any more comfortable than the person who has to sit next to them.

Rebelyell

I don't know, I tend to think it is less uncomfortable to sit on someone than to have someone sit on me. Also, the fact that someone is willing to inflict pain upon themselves (by not buying adequate seating) does not entitle them to cause pain to others.

paperwastage

icelandair has that for economy comfort. middle seat is empty, armrests are adjustable to take advantage of the empty middle seat

https://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/20...ss-light-line/


Notably, the conversion process from Economy to Economy Comfort includes a movable armrest so that the 17-inch seat turns into something that feels more like an 18.5-inch wide A380 seat or similar.

rbwpi

I wouldn't care if the POS is comfortable. My concern would be that I'm comfortable. The POS created the problem by not buying an extra seat. Not my problem, nor would I allow it to be.

Efrem

That is standard for business class on all* airlines for flights within Europe. The number of business class rows can be adjusted to the requirements of each flight. There is often a movable curtain over the last business class seatbacks to provide some visual separation between classes. The middle seat is often covered with a table-like area that flips down from the seatback.

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*All that I've flown, anyhow. which is a bunch.

m.photog

NS LAS to IND years ago, I had the aisle seat next to a pair of 400 pounders that looked to much alike not to be brothers. My ticket should have been 50% off because that is how much seat I had. That was the old me, the new me would never stand for it.

DIRECT MERIT

Last month, LAX-MIA on AA's B773 service. I pre-selected 16D, (aisle seat, middle block, front row of Main Cabin Extra). 16E was occupied by an extremely large woman, leaving me with about 75% of my available seat width. At that point 16L was unoccupied, and the FA said I was welcome to take it if it remained unoccupied. In fact I sat in 16L for no more than about 5 minutes before its rightful occupant arrived, so back I went to 16D. Fair enough, but not happy to spend the next 4 hours next to the fat woman.

This where the story gets more interesting. A gentleman on crutches now approaches with another FA from somewhere further back in coach and sits in 16A - right by the emergency exit. I take my safety seriously (a friend was on the BA 777 that ran out of fuel on final approach to LHR), and I quietly told "my" FA that I was not at all happy about a guy on crutches sitting by the exit door, between me and my safety. I don't know what the FAA mandated egress time for a fully loaded 773 is, but if it's 90 seconds I think every single second counts. The FA, correctly sensing I might be about to off-load myself, asked the guy in 16A to swap with me - so somewhat accidentally I ended up in the exit window while he sat next to the fat woman in 16D. It was only when the guy on crutches moved over to 16D that I saw he had a prosthetic leg - which made me doubly glad he wasn't in 16A.

It may have come across as a bit heartless, but I want to be responsible for my own safety - or at least be 100% certain of my safety if I'm in someone else's hands. What would you have done?

janehoya

Apologies if this is a silly question but I'm not well versed with the plane configuration. Was 16D not part of the exit row, and as such, shouldn't it have been off-limits to the gentleman with crutches? Just wondering.

MSPeconomist

Or even the fat woman, assuming she needed a seat belt extender?

Taoyuan

Heartless? Sounds like a great recovery from a bad situation. Hopefully it teaches the other guy not to book the exit row (but probably fat chance).

lloydah

Shouldn't that be "chance of size.?"

Maxwell Smart

Putting the guy on crutches in 16A definitely sounds like it would be against regulations, and that second FA should have known that.

But in 16D? I guess it depends-- While the airline may certainly market them as 'exit row' and collect money for them as being 'preferential', are the seats in the center section of a widebody's exit row officially considered exit-row seats in terms of FAA regs on who is/is not qualified to sit in them?

Anybody know?

chollie

No, the center seats on a widebody aren't exit-row seats. That's why airlines are allowed to put bassinette holders there and/or seat families with infants there.

Exit rows are rows directly between an aisle and the exit.

Note: if you observe the FAs, the middle bulkhead pax on these planes are not asked the 'able and willing' question that the left/right seating sections are asked.

DIRECT MERIT

Brilliant.

janehoya

Thank you. Of course! I should have noticed that OP was talking about a wide-bodied jet.