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discrimination against solo travellers

discrimination against solo travellers

Old Mar 14, 2019, 5:20 pm
  #76  
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IIRC when resort fees were first introduced they were per person per night, not per room per night. To me, the former makes sense as many of the items included in the resort fee are really given on a per person basis or would normally be used more by two than one.
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Old Mar 14, 2019, 5:45 pm
  #77  
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at least with airlines, extras are optional.

Although I did find a travel agent, who charged less, the more passengers in the booking.

We had another family looking at doing same as us.

Airfare to USA in peak season was $1500 each for 4 of us, but if other family of 5 booked same flights, at same time in same booking & we made no more than 2 payments at same time, the price dropped to $1440 each(all adults). Guess there was not twice the work involved.

So it can pay to find a travelling companion, even if you don't share the same room.
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Old Mar 14, 2019, 7:50 pm
  #78  
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Originally Posted by GadgetFreak
I don't want to do the FT equivalent of crossing the beams or anything, but are solo travelers on B or C lists at weddings?
Only destination weddings where there's a resort fee...

Originally Posted by arcticflier
If two business associates were stuck sitting next to each other on that Southwest flight, I can only imagine they leapt at the chance to switch seats under the guise of helping a mother and child.
I'm used to traveling solo, even if multiple workers are going to the same destination. Usually we're going from dispersed parts of town and have very different hotel preferences. Some prefer a place with a lounge floor and don't go out, where I want to go wander around or visit with local friends when I'm not working. Business travel with people who want to fly the same itinerary/get dinner together/drive together etc. really ranks low on my list of enjoyable travel.
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Old Mar 14, 2019, 9:38 pm
  #79  
 
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Originally Posted by pinniped
LOL. We invited lots of single people to our wedding (all invited to bring their significant other of course).
Thank you for doing the right thing. I was invited to a wedding and my partner wasn't; our relationship didn't "count" because we weren't married (and we had both hung out previously with the bride and groom). I was asked to participate in the wedding and was provided with a list of married couples I had no interest in riding with.

I didn't go.

Seth
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Old Mar 15, 2019, 7:54 am
  #80  
 
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
Not talking about cruises and single supplements, nor restaurants with different seating policies, but just hotels.

You pay the same amount as another person, who has 2 or more. And yet you get less benefits.

Breakfast benefit? Only for one person. Even though supposedly it is "free breakfast" and not a discount. What if it is a tiny amount and you want two portions? Or if it is a food and beverage credit?
When prices are the same make your hotel reservation for two people. Tell them your wife or whoever is joining you later. You'll get two breakfast coupons.

Hobbits do this all the time so they can get Second Breakfast.
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Old Mar 15, 2019, 8:50 am
  #81  
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Originally Posted by Peoriaman1
I'm convinced that as a solo flyer, I must be wearing a sign that says "Ask me to switch seats with you" so that you and your spouse/partner/friend can sit together.
Just wear a no t-shirt. Alternative, and it works well, get to your seat and shut your eyes and try to sleep. It will greatly reduce the number of times that you'll hear this.
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Old Mar 15, 2019, 9:00 am
  #82  
 
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Originally Posted by pinniped
I've flown probably 500 solo Southwest flights and never been asked by the airline to change seats so that other travelers could sit together. I always choose aisle on Southwest, and would consider moving to another aisle seat, but have simply never been asked. I wouldn't have any issues saying no to a worse seat and seriously doubt Southwest would be willing to IDB me for it.

About once a year, I'll be on a WN flight where the FA gets on the intercom and says "we have a late-boarding family with a small child...anyone willing to move in exchange for free drinks?" That usually does it - everybody's happy. If they were forcing travelers to move to accommodate children, I would think at least one of those situations would have blown up into a big news story with a viral video by now.

I sometimes get the late boarder who is faced with nothing but available middle seats, and invariably they want me to move to accomodate their spouse/partner/friend/co-worker (and thus give up my window seat) so that they can sit together. My answer is always No if it involves me moving to a middle seat anywhere else on the plane. Ain't happening, sorry, no. One small advantage of open seating is that this situation is much less prevalent on Southwest than it is elsewhere, because on the other airlines, the seat-swapper-wannabe already has a connection to said middle seat; the spouse/partner/friend/co-worker is assigned to some other middle seat elsewhere. Sorry; not my problem if you booked late and all that were left were middles.
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Old Mar 15, 2019, 10:45 am
  #83  
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Originally Posted by Peoriaman1
I sometimes get the late boarder who is faced with nothing but available middle seats, and invariably they want me to move to accomodate their spouse/partner/friend/co-worker (and thus give up my window seat) so that they can sit together. My answer is always No if it involves me moving to a middle seat anywhere else on the plane. Ain't happening, sorry, no. One small advantage of open seating is that this situation is much less prevalent on Southwest than it is elsewhere, because on the other airlines, the seat-swapper-wannabe already has a connection to said middle seat; the spouse/partner/friend/co-worker is assigned to some other middle seat elsewhere. Sorry; not my problem if you booked late and all that were left were middles.
I find swap requests more common on WN because of the terrible "open seating" system. Nobody has a BP with a seat on it, nobody has paid more for THAT seat (even if they paid more to board early). The only claim you can make is "I boarded before you..if you want to sit next to your companion..get an A pass next time". I find it the height of cheek to board with the C's find only middles left, and demand someone in an aisle or window who boarded way earlier move just because they are alone. This also exacerbates the "seat saving" problem on WN.

Nobody NEEDS to sit with their companion if they don't have special needs..and if they do, get a pre-board.

I always say no.
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Old Mar 15, 2019, 12:07 pm
  #84  
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Originally Posted by sethweinstein
Thank you for doing the right thing. I was invited to a wedding and my partner wasn't; our relationship didn't "count" because we weren't married
Yeah, that's pretty close to the pinnacle of tacky. I was invited to a wedding once, and even got a follow-up call stating that the invitation was for 1 only. I said no. Figured it was a simple fishing expedition for money or a gift, which I did not send.

Originally Posted by Peoriaman1
I sometimes get the late boarder who is faced with nothing but available middle seats, and invariably they want me to move to accomodate their spouse/partner/friend/co-worker (and thus give up my window seat) so that they can sit together. My answer is always No if it involves me moving to a middle seat anywhere else on the plane. Ain't happening, sorry, no. One small advantage of open seating is that this situation is much less prevalent on Southwest than it is elsewhere, because on the other airlines, the seat-swapper-wannabe already has a connection to said middle seat; the spouse/partner/friend/co-worker is assigned to some other middle seat elsewhere. Sorry; not my problem if you booked late and all that were left were middles.
Yeah, I've gotten these too... I was responding to a poster who was sort of suggesting that airlines (or Southwest in particular) was demanding that single travelers move to accommodate couples (presumably under threat of being denied boarding without compensation). That is not the case.

Originally Posted by Betterthanyou
I find swap requests more common on WN because of the terrible "open seating" system. Nobody has a BP with a seat on it, nobody has paid more for THAT seat (even if they paid more to board early). The only claim you can make is "I boarded before you..if you want to sit next to your companion..get an A pass next time". I find it the height of cheek to board with the C's find only middles left, and demand someone in an aisle or window who boarded way earlier move just because they are alone. This also exacerbates the "seat saving" problem on WN.

Nobody NEEDS to sit with their companion if they don't have special needs..and if they do, get a pre-board.

I always say no.
I get it much more often on legacy carriers than Southwest, and I fly a lot of both. Southwest's system actually somewhat minimizes the total number of people who are split up - both with the open seating and the fact that a *modest* amount of seat-saving is generally accepted on Southwest. (I don't want to open that whole can of worms - Lord knows we have enough seat-saving threads on WN - but saving a middle seat in the back is generally acknowledged as okay.)

On a legacy, whole traveling parties that consist of non-elites are in scattered middles all over the place. Inevitably some of them start trying to bum trades off of people. It's a nuisance.

I'm okay doing a trade with someone who is polite and offering me a neutral or better seat. The people who have all middles just need to stow their bags and sit down in their seat assignments.
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