fashionette2001

I apologize if my previous post was off-topic; I just see so many bad posts about service on Air France and have had only good experiences with them and less pleasant ones with Delta.

I had a particularly excruciating flight home once from NY on Delta. Several small children with parents who seemingly couldn't care less about their behavior.

Ironically, on that Air France flight, there was a young couple with a baby directly across the aisle and the baby slept almost the entire way across the Atlantic in that little carrier attached to the bulkhead area. It was really unusual!

PatrickLondon

Time to confess. I was on an internal flight in Canada a couple of years ago where check-in seemed to be a bit more harrassed than usual and I was asked to wait, during which it became clear that the flight was overbooked. A rather driven-looking businesswoman-type beside me started to make complaining noises as we waited without news and everyone else but us seemed to be called up, and I joined in (only a bit, I am British, after all; but I can do a mean tut). Eventually we were called, practically the last, and ushered into Business Class. I still wonder if that was because we were the most visibly disgruntled.

hdm

We took the train from Venice to Rome and they had great seats in the first-class car. The seat itself could recline but the 'shell' of the seat stayed in place. I'm sure these seats take up more room than the airlines would be willing to give up but it was a very clever design.

I also agree with a poster above that AA seems to have more room between rows in coach lately. I was surprisingly comfortable on our flight to Rome.

tuckerdc

PatrickL: "...do a mean tut." I love it!

About having seating assignments changed, this happened to us on at least one overseas flight and we were jammed into the five-across row. It is hard for me not to spend an entire transatlantic flight just sniveling when this happens...my claustrophobia and anxiety boil over.

I booked our Boston-London flight (coming up in about a week and a half) way last January and made sure to request seating in the two-across row. I've been nervous ever since (and getting "nervouser" as the date approaches) that they will re-shuffle the seating when we get to the airport. But this time, if it happens, I ain't movin' quietly!

sfowler

Sometimes business class isn't safe ...I upgraded coming home from Frankfurt last month and my seatmate was extremely corpulent -- he took up the whole arms rest area between the business class seats and every time he shifted his weight it felt like elephants stampeding. It didn't help that the crew treated us like economy class passengers too, barking out orders and generally being ungracious. If I had paid "full freight" I would have been furious. BTW it was American Airlines.

lyb

My niece recently flew to Hawaii and had a VERY large man sitting next to her. So much so that the arm rest between the two of them had to stay up because his body overflowed on her seat!!! My niece who can be overly compassionate sometimes, felt bad for him for a short while, apparently he was very apologetic, but after a while she was highly uncomfortable.

I haven't read each and every single post on this thread, but I think this brings back the controversy of very large people having to pay for 2 seats...if they are basically going to occupy two seats. I know that the ACLU gets all bothered and says it's discrimination, but what about the basic idea of getting what you pay for? Occupy 2 seats, pay for 2 seats --- including my niece who paid for one full seat and only got 2/3 of a seat.

As for rude people, when I returned from London to SFO (direct flight) last year, the man in front of me, (we were both sitting on the aisle) kept getting up and standing in the aisle and also felt the need to back up a bit so that he was right next to me. Therefore, his behind was right in my face and let's just say that if the airplane had run out of gas, he had plenty to spare!

I understand wanting to get up, I certainly do, but I go to the back of the plane so that I don't bother anybody.

Of course, would I give up traveling not to have to put up with the rude passengers? Hell no!!!

kswl

"The fat guy gets a ride, period, and it's the airline's responsibility to accommodate him without inconveniencing its other customers."

I don't know where you got this idea, RP. We were in Alaska last month and were asked--in advance---if we weighed 250 pounds or more when making reservations for floatplanes, helicopters and a high-speed (i.e. large) catamaran. If we answered in the affirmative, we would have had to pay one and one-half fares, as we would be taking up two seats. Out of curiosity, I asked one of the tour operators what the drill is when people misrepresent their weight. He said that if the tour is full, the person is bumped. If not, the extra fare must be paid (and they take the credit card info long beforehand).

Granted, these are not commercial airline flights. However, all laws in the lower 48 apply. I'm not sure how you are equating size and weight with religion, sex and race. What if a 600 lb person wanted to fly in a coach seat on a transatlantic flight? Obviously, he or she physically could not do that, and the situation is quite different from a person of a different religion or color wanting that same seat.

I have heard that some lawyers for the very obese have had varying degrees of success in trying to sue businesses or employers for "discrimination" under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That, too, is quite different than requiring airlines to give ONE seat to a person whose weight REQUIRES two seats. It seems to me that the practice of charging those 250 pounds and over a mere half-fare extra is a generous and gracious way to charge for the extra weight. (I guess the luggage allowance would have to be "biggie-sized" as well.)

tomboy

Is'nt it discriminatory against the fat and infirm when their use of exit-aisle seating is prohibited? (and justifiably so) So why is blubber overflow allowed?

kp

For our May flight from JFK to Cairo we were not given the chance to request seats--I'm a window person. EgyptAir assigned us both aisle seats. During the flight the attendant asked all the women in aisle seats to please move to center seats so the men could have the asile seats. The flight was full and many of the men were standing but there was no way I was moving to anything other than a window seat!