muc2asia

On a recent MR, I was going from SMF-SFO...as you may know this is serviced by a turboprop...so the seats are small and the config is 1 and 2.

Being based in the East Coast and knowing the Colgan turboprops...the exit seats don't offer that much difference...but these Skywest turboprops had huge leg room in the rear exits. Understandably, I went for these seats.

So on the day of travel, the flight was running 30-45 minutes late...the GA were frantic, since every flight leaving that night seemed to be running late out of SMF.

In order to save time, the GA announces "I apologize to the the GS and 1K members...we don't normally do this but we are trying to save time, so can I have everyone line up with the people in the back of the plane upfront."

Given that I am in row 9, I step towards the front. The GA lines up everyone, asking them what row they were in. A COS comes up to me and asks what row I am in. He ends up in the same row.

He starts to chat me up and asks me various questions...to be honest, I am not in the mood to talk, for it was the tail end of my MR and I was just too tired and the thought that I was going to share my seat with him was not too pleasant. The GA walks up to me/the both of us and asks the usual question about helping out in the case of an emergency...I nod making eye contact the the GA...the COS nods too (which is funny...more to come on this)

Soon enough we start boarding the plane...I had no carry on luggage, so I just bypassed the guy collecting the carry ons and walked up to the plane.

I took my seat. The leg room was incredible...about the size of any normal business class seat. I had the aisle seat of the 2 seat side of the plane...I waited for the COS. The COS boards the plane...it turns out that he had the single seat on the left side of the plane...which is NOT THE EMERGENCY EXIT...

He starts staring at me...he could barely squeeze in and had to ask for a belt extender. He thought he was in the emergency exit seats and was feeling good about it. Mind you this plane was completely full, except the seat next to me.

As he stared, I stretched out, taking both seats and stretched out my legs diagonally.

I just thought it was funny that he assumed that he was in the emergency seat with me and then when he realized that I had two huge seats by myself, he just stared.

For 45 minutes...I felt like a special customer on UA (for once)...it was a "Priceless" moment.

raehl311

More often than not it means you're in a seat in front of an exit row.

I'm in the "no way!" camp. We all have the freedom to choose our lifestyles, and we're all responsible for the consequences. If you like to eat a lot and not exercise, then you buy the space you need to fit on the plane. I would not feel the slightest bit bad about it. Especially when the COS can buy up to F for TOD.

JaysonW

+1. Playing ignorant is so passive-aggressive, I love it!

sidestep

What if a PAX(non PoS/COS) had paid to specifically sit in an E+ exit row seat?
He/She should be inconvenienced because of the girth of a fellow passenger?

In some respects, SW does a really good job at enforcing this, just last night i was watching an old Airplane! episode where the GA identified a PoS and had her either buy a second seat on the flight she was on (ie displacing a stand-by PAX) or wait for a later departing flight where there were extra open seats.

the PoS tried to guilt trip her by saying she was pregnant, and not fat regardless of the policy where the armrests would not go down.

The problem should be addressed before PAX start boarding to limit the awkwardness of the situation and have a stand off on the plane.

hughw

The UA policy is that the COS (Encroacher) buys two seats, not that they find another seat for the Encroachee.

sidestep

Yes, I know, that was my point. why inconvenience the encroachee

Edited my post above to clear up the ambiguity.

LilAbner

This was very cool and you were very fortunate to have a FA help you. You are to be commended for your quick thinking!

I do agree with others that it becomes very uncomfortable (pun intended) to bring this issue up in front of the COS, and if the COS isn't dealt with properly, you are in for a very, very long flight. As others have mentioned also, getting a FA to help you, and especially handle the matter indiscreetly and professionally is another matter. Just getting a pre-departure from some of them seems to be torture, as leaning against the bulkhead while shouting orders to quit blocking the aisle sometimes takes priority over walking down the same aisle to check on passengers safety and comfort, during boarding.

colpuck

Thankfully the passenger knew that there would be a problem and there was a FA right there. The passenger offered me the window seat where his wife was, but I told him and the FA that I need access to the aisle. I see the sitaution the same as a broken seat. They can relocate to another aisle seat or IDB me and reroute accordingly and/or relocate/reroute the other passenger.

B787938

This is a great thread. I flew yesterday ex ORD on a 4 hour flight to the West coast. I was originally supposed to fly out the night before but due to t-storms in ORD I missed my cx (on which my UG cleared).

I thought I was lucky to get 7D on a 320...until I saw the very, very large man in 7E. The flight was completely full, and as he wasn't that large I thought it would be OK. Immediately after takeoff he finished a large bag of caramel corn and cheetos in about ten minutes flat, and then began reading a book. At that point, because he needed to hold the book every time he moved, his left elbow jabbed me in the ribs because his arm about was about 4 - 5 inches into my space. I was trying to get some work done and couldn't really even type let alone being jabbed in the ribs.

So, I asked him if he realized he was jabbing me in the ribs. He totally freaked out...told me he was a "big man" and had a right to take the space he needed...and seemed like he could care less about other people' space. He got so ticked off that I thought he was going to cause a serious problem. I diffused the situation by telling him to forget about it and that I was sorry. Really, I knew it was a full flight with 3.5 hours left with no other seats.

After a while, I went to the rear galley and told the FAs what had happened. The first reaction was from the purser who said, "can I buy you a drink"? I then heard all about their horror stories with large people. One of the other FAs said that I was totally in the right to let this man know that he was impinging on others space. At the end of the day, there was nothing any of us could do. But, I enjoyed the FAs comradeship in dealing with this unpleasant situation and it seems in line with UAL's policy on large people as outlined above.

Bigbit

I'll "weigh in" here as a COS. While I get offended by the posts where COS's get stereotyped as "sweaty" or "smelly", I am in general agreement on the space issue. It isn't fun for us either, feeling like you're in a torture appliance for whatever the flight time turns out to be. I agree that if you are "of size", then do what you have to do to make yourself and others comfortable for the trip.

So let me describe the life of a COS as UAL has "evolved" over the last 7-8 years. I've been a 1K for at least that long. In the old days, I had seat blocking, E+, and SWU's, which together meant that I could anticipate a comfortable flight for me with no inconvenience to others.

Then slowly but surely, those perks disappeared. First came Ted with no chance of F upgrades. Then seat blocking went away. Then UA retrofitted their international aircraft to lie-flat. A great upgrade if you could score one, but your chances dropped by a good 20 to 30%.

It kept getting worse. UDU came along, and domestic upgrades became more of a crap-shoot. Then UA dreamed up the idea of a minimum fare basis for the use of SWU's. So I'm supposed to buy a W fare, put in for the upgrade, and keep my fingers crossed. Now under COdbaUA, my upgrade chances are even worse, thanks to TOD Kettle upgrades.

I'm not denying that the size issue is MY problem, but UA hasn't made it any easier to deal with.

My newest scheme is to simply buy two cheapo economy seats. I get E+ as a 1K, but I don't even try to upgrade anymore. Of course, COdbaUA has made that impossible to happen in any case, as under the new CO rules, the upgrade priority of those on a group PNR now follows the status of the LEAST status-ranking passenger (used to be the highest-ranking under pmUA), so my upgrade priority is determined by the status of EXTRASEAT Bigbit, who has no status whatsoever - so I'm sitting in the back whether I like it or not.

It's now September and I still have 5 of my 6 2012 GPU's - the one I did use was to upgrade a colleague.

I could go on and on as to how delightful it is to fly internationally on COdbaUA with an extra seat since SHARES was adopted. No one knows how to handle checking in my extra seat with the extra seat having no passport; then my PNR gets split into two after the first flight, so I can no longer change to another E+ seat as my Extraseat has no status and is no longer tied to my 1K status. I have had gate agents refuse to scan my second boarding pass "as it will bias the passenger count", only to go to my connecting flight later that day to discover that they've given my extra seat away "because it was a no-show on the first flight".

I've written complaint letters to COdbaUA, and received a lame, scripted response in reply.

So let me tell you, it ain't easy being a COS, even when you try to play by the rules.

Just wanted to share the perspective from the other seat.

boiflyer

I remember reading a great tip in a thread some number of years ago. The poster stated they fly with a clipboard and when seated next to a COS, they put the clipboard upright between them and their armrest so the COS can't spill into their personal space. The COS just gets the armrest.

aacharya

Although I feel bad for you, your quote above is totally mistaken and incorrect.

dmurphynj

I'll also chime in as a 'big guy'.

It's not OK to insult one's color, race, gender, orientation, etc - but let's pick on the fatties. Gotta love the hypocrisy ...

Anywho - the way I see it - I fit in the seat with the armrest down, and could manage to not use a seatbelt extender if I chose... I do usually bring my own and use it simply because it's more comfortable.

I ALWAYS book a window seat so I get a little extra room that I can stuff myself into so as to avoid bothering the person next to me as best as I can. I do my best to try to land a row with an open middle seat - even sitting at the gate, checking mobile.united.com for (E+) rows marked o o X (or o o X). I sit with my arms crossed, never get up to use the lav (even JFK-SFO) and do everything in my power to make the flight as comfortable for you and me.

And yes, whenever I can, I book an exit row seat. Believe me, if we need to get out of the plane, WE'RE GETTING OUT OF THE PLANE. That's not an issue. Not even a little bit. I'll Hulk-smash that exit hatch and toss it like a shot put if need be.

Bigbit

OK, I double-checked the website for priority rules regarding upgrades and you are correct - although I believe it used to be the other way on pmCO, and thought the old CO rules had been adopted.

So I apologize for the inaccurate portrayal of UDU upgrade priority. However, I'm not sure whether to feel better or worse after learning about the correct process.

I used to do the extraseat thing with pmUA and would occassionally get upgraded for the domestic legs as part of UDU. I would then instruct the gate agent to ONLY upgrade me and leave the Extraseat back in coach. My thought process was that not only do I get a comfortable seat, but somebody in E+, although not upgraded, has just scored an empty seat next to them. Occassionally they could not fulfill my request, because once my seats had been upgraded, they could not force them back down to coach as my fare basis was no longer available, but when I could, I did as described above.

This year, I can think of at least 8 domestic flights where I had purchased an extra seat, and not once did I get upgraded. I assumed it was because of artificially low priority. Now that I know that both tickets should have ridden on my 1K status, I'm actually more frustrated and disappointed.

Oh well, it shouldn't come as a surprise...

SEA1K4EVR

Curious about the extra seat and upgrading.. when you buy an extra seat isn't the reservation for that seat on a separate PNR? If you're purchasing it at the same time as your regular reservation you might consider not doing that..and calling up to purchase it separately so that it's on a separate PNR. That way the extra seat should never interfere with your ability to upgrade.

Now.. I have never purchased one so I don't know if my suggestion would work..but since you can't combine separate reservations into one PNR, and you're allowed to buy an extra seat at any time it seems feasible to do them separately.

I totally have empathy for the big boys posting.. I topped out at 5'10 320lbs but had weight loss surgery in February of this year and I've lost 95 lbs.. all of these stories ring a bell for me.. I would always book flights where I was certain to be upgraded..and absolutely dreaded coach on the occasions where it was unavoidable..praying for an open middle.

The humiliation of asking for a seat belt extender was necessary sometimes..you really notice the differences in seat belt lengths on different planes (they vary a lot..and they are usually worse in F than in Y mostly because the F seats are wider but the seat belts are the same length).. I have failed on a few CPU's post 3/3 but now I don't dread flying coach as I did a few months ago.