MADPhil

This is interesting, because if the exit on one side is unusable then the aisle in front of the center seats leads from the other main aisle to the usable exit. You would think that it would have to be unobstructed.

chollie

The same potential problem currently exists on a narrow-body if the exit(s) on one side get blocked.

That said, except for takeoff and landing, there's currently no rule prohibiting having things on the floor by your feet - in a row or at a bulkhead.

MSPeconomist

Most airplane accidents that are potentially survivable occur during takeoff and landing (or when taxiing on the ground), not during mid-flight.

flyshooter

I had recent flight in which a really fat woman wedged herself through the armrests and once through, spewed out over into my seat. Since I was going to be uncomfortable for the four hour flight from ATL to PHX I decided to send a note to SWA. I suggested that since they have a fixture in each gate area for measuring the proper size of carry on luggage, they should consider one for passengers as well. It you don't fit...here...you will be required to buy another seat. An easy one would also be, if you need a seat belt extender then buy a second seat. It's quite simple. Well according to SWA it's not that simple but they graciously sent me a credit for $150 as compensation for my discomfort. Stop eating people!

lloydah

Jeez, how many people did she eat?

Efrem

As a T-shirt I saw recently in a Gloucester, Mass. store window said:

DIRECT MERIT

Eats shoots and leaves (Panda).

Eats, shoots and leaves (Hungry assassin)

Travel & Leisure

I am large enough to tell my friends that I outgrew coach a long time ago, when I fly F. When F is not available, I don't encroach on others space, tho. If a ruling were to be made, it might be if a flyer requires a seatbelt extender, whether airline or self supplied, that flyer should purchase an additional seat, because the adjacent seat will likely be empty if the neighbor moves anyhow. If a flyer has a medical condition causing the obesity, then that should be covered under ADA, much as other conditions are when flying. Yes, flights might have to add a couple seats for that. Those might offer upgrade opportunities if unused once the flight has boarded!

televisor

Not necessarily: on most widebodies that I've been on, there will be a passageway (usually between some lavs, or a galley) between the doors, so the space in front of the bulkhead seats is not the primary way of getting from one side to the other.

I also haven't seen bassinets in the cases where there isn't a separate passageway. Look at et row 29 on an LX A330. In that case, the center bulkhead seats are NOT bassinet seats (bassinets are at the bulkhead between business and economy, with no exits). I don't know whether these are marked as (child-free) exit-row seats though.

Rebelyell

If someone has a medical condition that causes them to be really tiny should the airline be allowed to put them in a really tiny seat regardless of what they paid?

The ADA is not supposed to require people to give things to disabled people for free. It is supposed to require people to allowed disabled people to do things at their own expense. No one should ever get anything for free for any reason.

davidflies

I read online that American Airlines policy is that a passenger must be able to fit in his seat without encroaching on the seat next to him and be able to fit with the arm rest down.

I just did a flight yesterday LAX-PHL on AA. I had the aisle seat and the guy next to me in the middle seat took up approx 25-30% of my seat. He could not put the arm rest down. My arm was smushed in his blubbery stomach and I had to sit crooked with my left foot in the plane aisle. I wake up today and my back is killing me from how I had to sit. And to top it off he shoveled potato chips in his face so fast the crumbs were falling out of his mouth and landing on me. Gross.

I paid for 100% of a seat, not 70% of a seat.

What would the best way to handle this type of situation be? I did not want to seem rude and bring it up and embarass the guy, but I really suffered as a result of AA not enforcing their policy. Has anyone here encountered this and what is the best course of action without humiliating someone or causing a scene?

DIRECT MERIT

I would have asked to be re-seated and, if the cabin was full and I had no particular need to at destination by a certain time, I would have off-loaded myself and asked to be accommodated on another flight. In the fall, I was assigned to a bulkhead seat next to a really fat person from LAX-MIA (long story short, ended up in an exit window instead), and probably wouldn't have tolerated it any longer than I did - about 2 minutes during boarding.

Annalisa12

Same.

LondonElite

Wondering how long it will take for this to go adrift and be locked...(but I would have insisted on being reseated as well.)

lloydah

Instead of having to ask to be re seated it is perhaps more pertinent to ask why the GS or CC don't automatically cope with this. The paying customer is again the one to have to initiate proceedings when those who are paid to do the job wait for the sky to fall in before acting.