Assault on the guests

[IdiotsAreEverywhere]

I know that too. I just can't help but think that it's a money grabber because after all, it is the airline making the seats too small in the first place.

The reason why I was angry at it was because the lady was not overly obese, I wouldn't even have called her obese, she just looked chunky but not seriously overweight, no more than what Queen Latifah used to look like.

[hobie16]

[quote="BRWombat"]I'm a 2-seater myself (just call me "Bubba," hobie. Wait]SWA is a great airline. I used them to commute between San Jose and Burbank for over two years. There were a few times where I was crammed into a seat but it was never more than an hour. My Bubba and Weiner experience was between DFW and SFO on AA.

One of the things I liked about SWA was when they had two rows of seats facing each other. Had lots of good conversations and I had so many free drink tickets I usually bought a few rounds.

[PirateJohn]

And what about the person sitting next to you? What about your discrimination of that person, because he/she cannot sit comfortably in the seat, but has to sit at a slight angle away from you ?

And how, exactly, is somebody "discriminating" against that person by merely sitting in their assigned seat? I think you need to look up the word "discrimination" in the dictionary.

It's the airlines that are making it so that people who are only about one sigma above the mean are getting too crammed in their seats to breathe. I don't think it's fair at all to blame that person because whoever is sitting next to them is also crammed in.

If airplane seats were actually a reasonable size, I'd agree with the airlines on this point, but they've gone waaaaay too far. They're treating passengers like cargo and blame the passengers when things go wrong as a result.

[hobie16]

If airplane seats were actually a reasonable size, I'd agree with the airlines on this point, but they've gone waaaaay too far. They're treating passengers like cargo and blame the passengers when things go wrong as a result.

Passengers can vote with their wallets and they usually do. I won't fly UAL on a bet.

[Kwahati]

Passengers can vote with their wallets and they usually do. I won't fly UAL on a bet.

I'd have to disagree on this point. Depending on where you live and where you're going, there might not be much route overlap in terms of airline coverage. In other words a lot of times, I just have to go with whoever will take me. There's only one airline out of my local airport, and the next closest airport is only seviced by two carriers. :mad:

[leftcoaster]

And how, exactly, is somebody "discriminating" against that person by merely sitting in their assigned seat? I think you need to look up the word "discrimination" in the dictionary.

It's the airlines that are making it so that people who are only about one sigma above the mean are getting too crammed in their seats to breathe. I don't think it's fair at all to blame that person because whoever is sitting next to them is also crammed in.

If airplane seats were actually a reasonable size, I'd agree with the airlines on this point, but they've gone waaaaay too far. They're treating passengers like cargo and blame the passengers when things go wrong as a result.

Main Entry: discrimination
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: bias
Synonyms: bigotry, favoritism, hatred, inequity, injustice, intolerance, partiality, prejudice, unfairness, wrong
Antonyms: impartiality
Source: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

That is the problem. They are not just sitting in "their assigned seat." They are also "spilling over" into mine. As I mentioned previously: when you, and I don't mean you, specifically, cross over the boundary that is your seat into mine, that is where your (again, not you specifically) rights end, and mine begin.

And I do agree with you about the widths of airplane seats. It looks like most of the seats are 17" wide. Some are 18" and that depends on the plane manufacturer and the airline. It looks like all Boeing 737's, 747's, and 757's have 17" seat width. In the Boeing 767, the width varies, depending on the airline. All Boeing 777's have 18" widths, and most Airbus's have 18" widths, except a few A319s (America West, Air Canada).

[LittleDollClaudia]

discrimination-Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. an act or instance of discriminating.
2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.

[Origin: 1640–50; < L discrīminātiōn- (s. of discrīminātiō ) a distinguishing. See discriminate, -ion]

—Related forms
discriminational, adjective


—Synonyms 3. discernment, taste, acumen, perception.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Hmmm...

[goose]

I don't fly much. I've never had someone else "spill" into my seat. If they did, you bet your ass I would demand another seat. I don't like having my space invaded.

Besides...if you buy a seat on an airplane you are entitled to use 100% of that seat. If someone is invading 30% of your space, that's a big problem.

[dash1bravo]

There was an article in the paper years ago about the guy who started SouthWest Airlines,he said "The customer is NOT always right" .I thought 'cool',a boss who understands.

If you can still find it (not sure if it's out of print) pick up a copy of "Nuts!". It's a biopic of sorts on Herb Kelleher, the founder if SWA. There's an entire chapter devoted to the "customer is NOT always right" philosophy. IIRC, the chapter begins with a story about a longtime regular on the airline who, at some point, claimed to have expeirenced a terrible flight... the agents wouldn't cave to her outlandish demands and she berated them for it. She wrote a letter to Mr. Kelleher explaining why she would never fly SWA again. He took it upon himself to research the situation and, after speaking to the agents involved, realized that she was just being an ass. And he as much as told her that in his response, effectively telling her that his airline was much better off without customers like her flying on it.

She actually replied to him and, after some reflection, agreed that she was way out of line. Brilliant!

[hobie16]

Herb is a one in a million CEO. SWA was sued by another company for some kind of trademark problem. Instead of responding with lawyers (Herb is one), he challenged the other CEO to a wrist wrestling contest. The other CEO who was a real jock thought Herb was kidding as he knew Herb was a three pack a day smokin', young Scotch drinkin', little skinny guy.

Herb was not kidding and rented a 10,000 seat arena for the event. He invited all of his Dallas employees to attend. He, of course, got beat three out of three and signed the papers to agree that SWA wouldn't do it again. But, he turned a minor legal problem into a huge morale booster for SWA employees. Where do you find guys like that?