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Actually, you are an animal, ever taken a biology course? and actually being charged by the pound would be quite fair, ever taken an economics course?
Speaking of economics, Let's say I book one seat, and pay $60 extra round trip for one checked 50 pound maximum bag. I weigh 195 pounds. The airline knows that more weight equals more fuel to move us to our destination, hence the $60 fee for moving 50 pounds of luggage....pretty common sense actually.
Why is it fair for the large person who weighs 100 pounds more than I do to pay the exact same fare, when they really should be paying the equivalent of 2 checked bags more....ie $120.00 more per round trip due to "excess baggage". No ? The large person is actually flying cheaper (per pound) than the lean person. Not only do they take up more room, and use more fuel, but they get a break per pound on the cost of transportation.
So the fatter you are, the cheaper (per pound) you fly. Just another way to look at it from an economics perspective!
Very true but we've all been there. I feel bad for the food addicts who abuse their bodies by over-eating to the point of obesity. I'd never intentionally embarrass them in public. Addiction is a disease, after all.
As mentioned, it's the hazards of the cheap seats.
I didn't say otherwise. Just making an observation. Personally, I fly first class because the chances of being around screaming children are greatly decreased.
Not really fair when you pay for a ticket and then get stuck between two people who take up more than their share of space.
Agree with this. Coming back from Dallas once I was seated between two larger passengers. Now, I’m no little guy as I have very broad shoulders. That said, I had to set in my seat twisted to one side the entire flight. It was either that or feel like I was shoe horned between these people. I don’t know what happened, but something in my upper back was never right after that. In fact, years later I still have a lot of pain in that area every single day. Unfortunately for me, my company stopped buying business class tickets for stateside travel and only provided the cheap seats. The morale of that story is to pay for the upgrade to business class.
This has happened with such insane frequency that it is unconscionable that there hasn't been regulation or industry change on the approach to the seating.
How about the fact that it's unsafe to be sandwiched in by people who don't fit in their seats? How about the back/neck/joint pain you get from contorting yourself away the entire flight?
I mean, come on.
How about the airlines having seats that accommodate the size of real people in the world today? I have family members who are 6'5" and they can't possibly sit in an economy class seat, they pay extra to select a bulkhead seat, or an exit row.
At present, more than 70% of Americans are overweight and over 36% are classified as obese. So people are getting larger, and yet the airlines have shrunk their seats again and again. Seat widths have been reduced from 19-20 inches in the 80's to 17.2 inches today. The distance between seats has been reduced also from 31-36 inches in the 80's down to 30-31 today, with a few budget airlines' seats spaced at 28" now.
Not really fair when you pay for a ticket and then get stuck between two people who take up more than their share of space.
That's why I like to fly Southwest and I actually LIKE boarding with the 'C' group. You have your pick of the plane that way. I look for other skinny people to sit next to and when we exchange "the nod" I plop down and hope to enjoy the flight.
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It's the fault of the airlines for packing people in like sardines.
Not at all. The airlines are in business to make money. The alternative to small seats is to either have a larger plane or a plane with few seats and, thus, fewer passengers. Either option translates into more cost per passenger. Larger planes cost more in fuel and maintenance and fewer passengers means that all the costs of flying the plane (pilots, crew, amenities, fuel, all the lease and overhead costs of renting terminal space, etc.) are shared between those fewer people.
I'm quite happy with the price of airline tickets. Your alternative is to drive....at the expense of your time, fuel, and maintenance on your vehicle. Or alternatively there's always rental cars, buses, and trains....maybe.
Seems there would have been a simple solution here.
It was a late evening flight out of Newark, NJ. My husband and I just wanted one drink and hopefully a little sleep. There were plenty of rows on the plane with two open seats next to each other, but my husband and I wanted three so that we could sprawl out a bit. We stopped listening to her after about ten minutes. The problem was that she wouldn't move. Maybe I should have paid her to move.
Speaking of economics, Let's say I book one seat, and pay $60 extra round trip for one checked 50 pound maximum bag. I weigh 195 pounds. The airline knows that more weight equals more fuel to move us to our destination, hence the $60 fee for moving 50 pounds of luggage....pretty common sense actually.
Why is it fair for the large person who weighs 100 pounds more than I do to pay the exact same fare, when they really should be paying the equivalent of 2 checked bags more....ie $120.00 more per round trip due to "excess baggage". No ? The large person is actually flying cheaper (per pound) than the lean person. Not only do they take up more room, and use more fuel, but they get a break per pound on the cost of transportation.
So the fatter you are, the cheaper (per pound) you fly. Just another way to look at it from an economics perspective!
Yes, I'll have extra cheese on that please :-)
Airlines don’t charge for baggage because of the extra fuel required. They do it because of the opportunity cost of free passenger baggage compared to well-paying air freight.
I don't think I have ever flown when I did not recline, as well as the person in front of me. That has never bothered me. Seats just don't recline that much - I've never understood why anyone would be bothered by that. But having someone beside me that so large that they are overflowing their seat into mine - THAT I have a problem with.
I'm exactly like you!
Why have reclining seats if you don't use them? It isn't like the seat in front of you is laying across your knees, and the tray fits just fine when it's down.
Maybe for someone obese the tray would be a tight fit on a big gut. Dunno?
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