I make a few trips a year using Virgin Atlantic from London to Los Angeles in economy. I must say the flights are becoming more and more of a pain for me mentally but above all physically with a long back I struggle with back pain. Mainly due to my size being nearly 6'7 in height. I have tried to get one of them exit seats in the plane time and time again but get told inless I pay more money I can't have them. However what makes me even more mad is when I enter the plane and find the littlest old lady sat in one of these exit seats and find out that she was just given it!.

After arriving back last time a spoke to a friend who I have not seen for a little while. He seems to think that if you�re over a curtain height they need to try and give you more leg room automatically when looking at the government health and safety regulations for flying. Although this regulation is kept quiet it is there. Is this true? If it is, what qualifies for it and where can I find this info?

Since this thread is more about logistics than travel safety/security, I�m going to transfer it to TravelBuzz.

Please continue to follow it there.

Thanks.


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Cholula
Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator

There is no regulation which stipulates a carrier must give you a certain seat or row because you are uncomfortable in the seat - although many carriers do require people to purchase an additional adjacent seat if they cannot fit within the width of a single seat.

You may want to consider either flying in business on one of those discount trans-atlantic carriers and connecting to LAX, or buy up into Premium Economy for your nonstop flight.

if its biz travel, then you might have a case to have them pony up for prem econ.. or for the exit row

if not.. you may just have to pony up for it

Im thinking it is just a little more than just uncomfortable!!. When my legs are spread and still jamed up against the back of the seat in front(Then the guy in front tips his seat back!). I think there is an issue. Also all you people sat in your little seat taking full advantage of your head rest. Mine should be called a shoulder rest!. Not only that, if I was to perform the brace position in an emergency I could be smashing my head into the tv mounted in the back of the seat in front!!. Doing damage to my good looks for sure!!

What are all the tall guys in the world to do!

First of all, welcome to FT!

Unfortunately, I think the general consensus will be that what you need to do is find a way to get to the front of the plane. Either through upgrading or by purchasing a FC ticket.

I'm also 6'7. Occassionally I have to fly Y with my knees just about destroyed. One thing that I found that helps is to buy socks that are specially made to prevent deep vein thrombosis (dvt). I'm at work now so I can't tell you the brand that I bought, but I found them at an airport store, and they've made flying so much more comfortable, in J and Y.

A while ago, after spending ages trolling through airline websites looking at seat widths, pitch, etc, I tried to come up with a "Seat Value" ratio that took into account various things that affect comfort during a flight. Of course, I could only include measurable things, not cabin service or meal quality, for example. I'm no mathematician, and this is as far as I got;

V = T(WP)2
--------
C

where V is the "value"
T is the flight time in minutes
W is the seat width in centimetres
P is the seat pitch in centimetres
C is the cost in dollars (U.S.)

I figured that multiplying the seat width and pitch together and squaring the result would give this aspect the weighting it deserves, and is further multiplied by the time of the flight; the longer the flight, the more you want a big seat! This lot is then divided by the cost of the ticket. Therefore the value is reduced as the cost increases. I am quite certain that this formula is flawed, but I would be interested to see other possibilites in an attempt to express value for money of an airline seat! It could help in the comparison between airlines and routes, but, as already stated, does not take into account things like AVOD, food quality, lounge quality, etc.


By the way, would the OP have a bit more room if he flew LHR-LAX with ANZ rather than Virgin? Y has 34" in ANZ as opposed to 32" in Virgin, and according to SeatGuru, the ANZ seat is also a smidgin wider.