gopher321: "TransEastern! You'll feel like you've never left the ground because we treat you like dirt!"

Soon they'll leave you behind since you refused to pay the fee that lets them scan your ticket.

Surely, you can't be serious!

If they'd just get reasonable sized seats, I'd forgive a lot of other crap.

Eh, eventually the airlines will realize that rather than charging customers $X for a given service, it'll just be easier to offer the service for free and just raise all the ticket prices by $X.

I prefer the window seat. Do I get a discount?

This article is why SWA is my airline of choice for domestic flights.

Wait till they start charging for the bathroom and to stand up in the aisles.

/you read it here first.

kidsizedcoffin: If they'd just get reasonable sized seats, I'd forgive a lot of other crap.

Airline seats ARE reasonably sized, and I'm 6'2".

You sound fat.

jagec: I prefer the window seat. Do I get a discount?

This article is why SWA is my airline of choice for domestic flights.

Window seat for me as well.

/gets too many aisle mates who feel the need to get out of their seats every 15-20 minutes

If the airlines really want to make some money, they should rig the seats so it costs $1 to recline them. However, the person behind you can pay $2 to prevent you from reclining, unless you're willing to pay $3 to recline, in which case the guy behind you can pay $4 to prevent that, and so on. Just insert your credit card, and then try to outbid those in front and behind you for your comfort.

I would be willing to pay $40 extra to not sit next to a fatty.

Prank Call of Cthulhu: If the airlines really want to make some money, they should rig the seats so it costs $1 to recline them. However, the person behind you can pay $2 to prevent you from reclining, unless you're willing to pay $3 to recline, in which case the guy behind you can pay $4 to prevent that, and so on. Just insert your credit card, and then try to outbid those in front and behind you for your comfort.

Give this man the Nobel Prize!

Prank Call of Cthulhu: If the airlines really want to make some money, they should rig the seats so it costs $1 to recline them. However, the person behind you can pay $2 to prevent you from reclining, unless you're willing to pay $3 to recline, in which case the guy behind you can pay $4 to prevent that, and so on. Just insert your credit card, and then try to outbid those in front and behind you for your comfort.

I would *totally* pay to not let the person in front of me recline all the way back into my lap during a 14 hour Chicago->Tokyo flight.

/was a sardine last time
//never again
///where do I swipe my credit card?

I think that charging an extra $25 so you can bring a single bag of luggage might have something to do with customer satisfaction as well. For my vacation this summer: Roadtrip. I'm sick of flying.

jagec: kidsizedcoffin: If they'd just get reasonable sized seats, I'd forgive a lot of other crap.

Airline seats ARE reasonably sized, and I'm 6'2".

You sound fat.

Bull shiat, you sound skinny

I am 6'0" and hate flying steerage because the seats are designed for children.

I have never understood why qnyone would want an asile seat.

Nearly all of the "benifits" are a myth.

Anecdote versus anecdote. Two enter, but only one will leave.

I'd pay extra just for them to be on-time, and if not tell me the truth about why they are not on-time

Was flying last month, got to the airport early and went to the gate to see if I could get on the earlier flight. There was room but they wanted to charge $50. I declined. My flight 2 hours later was oversold, so they had to pay people not to take that one.

shower_in_my_socks: FTA: "He theorizes that passengers having the toughest time accepting the changes are those who fly only a few times a year, while business travelers and those often on the road take the new atmosphere in stride - in part because they earn enough frequent-flier miles to be exempt from many charges."


You missed the biggest reason, @sshole: business travelers are usually flying on the company dime, and therefore don't give a shiat what you charge. It's the people paying their own way who are naturally going to get the most upset.

You got that right. Anyone who is actually working is defiantly an @sshole

moondo: Wait till they start charging for the bathroom and to stand up in the aisles.

/you read it here first.

They are already trying to do that: (new window)


ScottMpls: Surely, you can't be serious!

and I am serious and quit calling me Shirley

About 15 minutes ago I just paid $40 for extra legroom on a JetBlue flight, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies...


/ I'm short, I don't even *need* it.
// But it's a red-eye, and I'd like to have the room to recline/stretch as I sleep

ScottMpls: Surely, you can't be serious!

I am serious, and don't call me shirley!

Why would anyone want an aisle seat? You can't look out the window and you can't lean sideways against the wall.

I'm not a frequent flier so I do notices the changes.

On my most recent trip United sent me an email saying that if I checked in on line I would get a discount on my checked baggage fee. I normally avoid checking baggage but this time I had to and was surprised that it now costs money. So I go online to check in and pay my baggage fee. After navigating through about 5 pages involving upgrade options I eventually finish and found out that I had just saved $2 for my aggravation. Whop de Doo! When I get on the plane, I find that I had been assigned to the emergency exit row which has about the best leg room on the plane.

T.M.S.: I have never understood why qnyone would want an asile seat.

Nearly all of the "benifits" are a myth.

So you can grope the cart tart.

shower_in_my_socks
Eh... I've never like the aisle.

You sound short-legged.

Airfoilsguy: jagec: kidsizedcoffin: If they'd just get reasonable sized seats, I'd forgive a lot of other crap.

Airline seats ARE reasonably sized, and I'm 6'2".

You sound fat.

Bull shiat, you sound skinny

I am 6'0" and hate flying steerage because the seats are designed for children.

If you can't fit into a regular airplane seat, you are not human sized. Obviously it won't be as comfortable as your La-Z-Boy, but it's good enough for a few hours in the air.
Only in America am I considered "skinny"...everywhere else in the world, I'm normal to "big".

This is exactly the right approach. If everyone wants the window and aisle seats, they should cost more. If no one likes the middle seats, they should cost less. The real crime here is that three generations of airline executives never figured this out. They are the morans in this story.

The problem with charging for extras is that it gives airlines incentive to reduce standard service to make you NEED those extras.

I flew on United earlier this month, and declined paying extra for extra leg room. In the "standard" seat they then gave me, my knees were touching the seatback in front of me, and I'm only 5'7".

What next? Charge extra to activate the little nozzle that blows fresh air at you, then release a herd of pigs into the cabin? Start charging for water, then raise the cabin temperature to 100 F?

Boo. I like the aisle seat. I used to travel for work every week, and the aisle gives me a little extra room to scootch away from the idiot businessman who is taking up a seat and a half, because he can't put his knees together like the rest of us and/or who is trying to talk to me.

Just because I'm smart enough to put comfortable clothes/shoes at the top of my suitcase does not mean that I'm on vacation and don't need to relax on the plane just as much as you.

Second the SWA love, except when they're super cheerful on the last flight out of wherever on Thursday night.

Airlines do know that the operation of an aircraft is essentially a fixed cost, right?

A full seat at regular fare represents revenue. An empty seat regardless of the supposed fare represents a loss.

All the airlines are doing are increasing the number of empty seats per flight.

I think I can guess why they are all bankrupt.

jagec: kidsizedcoffin: If they'd just get reasonable sized seats, I'd forgive a lot of other crap.

Airline seats ARE reasonably sized, and I'm 6'2".

You sound fat.

It depends on the airline and the specific plane. I'm only 5'8" and on some planes my knees are jammed securely into the seat in front of me.

I think asian airlines are the worst for this. The service is terrific on asian airlines, but the seats are tiny.

jagec: If you can't fit into a regular airplane seat, you are not human sized. Obviously it won't be as comfortable as your La-Z-Boy, but it's good enough for a few hours in the air.
Only in America am I considered "skinny"...everywhere else in the world, I'm normal to "big".

I'm less than 5 1/2 feet tall, and I think the seats are cramped. They're just uncomfortable, not necessarily small. I always get sat between two fat americans though. Ugh.

Let us know how that works out for you, airline industry.

T.M.S.: I have never understood why qnyone would want an asile seat.

Nearly all of the "benifits" are a myth.

I'm 186 centimeters tall.

The ability to completely stretch out my legs at will so I can crack my knees makes the aisle seat very desirable. My head starts spinning and I go nuts if I can't stretch at will.

Prank Call of Cthulhu: Eh, eventually the airlines will realize that rather than charging customers $X for a given service, it'll just be easier to offer the service for free and just raise all the ticket prices by $X.

Actually that was the most retarded part of the article. On the one hand, they're saying people can't hang with higher prices, so they have to charge fees for what they're now calling extras (but use to be standard).

So they're implying that we're stupid enought to not know the difference between a $300 ticket and a $220 ticket with an $80 fee for aisle seat.

Pretty soon we'll have the equivalent of buses and limos in the air. People on business will fly the limos (normal flights), and vacation/family travelers will fly the buses (picture the flight in Tibet from Indian Jones, where they all had chicken coops and yaks on the flight with them).

Mark my words, the first all business class flights are only year or two away...

JohnCarter: I'd pay extra just for them to be on-time, and if not tell me the truth about why they are not on-time

Was flying last month, got to the airport early and went to the gate to see if I could get on the earlier flight. There was room but they wanted to charge $50. I declined. My flight 2 hours later was oversold, so they had to pay people not to take that one.

Ban overhead luggage and the flights would be on time. Sitting on the tarmac waiting for mouth-breathers to find room for their 2 bags and large coats is out of hand.

What the article fails to mention is that when this hypothetical consolidation and return to profitability happens they will not then roll back all the nickel and dime charges that they have broken the flying public to. No sir...they'll keep right on charging them.

Me? I now spend a great deal of time face-to-face with my customers on Skype, and when I need to travel, 90% of the time I can drive.

Oh, and all that bullshiat about the cell phone companies tacking on all sorts of added charges? I guess they missed the on-going price war between AT&T and Verison, eh? $69.99 for unlimited voice, data and text FTW!

jagec: If you can't fit into a regular airplane seat, you are not human sized. Obviously it won't be as comfortable as your La-Z-Boy, but it's good enough for a few hours in the air.
Only in America am I considered "skinny"...everywhere else in the world, I'm normal to "big".

as a non human sized 6'1" apparently carrying the majority of my weight in my shoulders and hips those seats suck ARSE for anything longer than 90 minutes (where i fail to fold myself into the smallest ball possible).

When at the window seat my shoulder will invaide 2-3 inches of your space and the other will be wedged against the wall, trying to fold my shoulders into a U, or if aisle invading the poor window seats persons area and the walkway.

if you are a narrow shouldered, narrow hiped, half human half alien freak sure the seats might be workable, otherwise not so much.

/kind of fatty

Flew on Delta from Copenhagen to Atlanta in December. I was looking forward to having my usual aisle seat until I discovered that they have installed what I found to be UNNECESSARY plastic filler things under the seat in front of me. Basically, I had less foot and bag space with no explanation as to the actual function of these hollow plastic fillers under the seats. Not only that, but they were only under the aisle seats. Go figure.

PawisBetlog: Prank Call of Cthulhu: Eh, eventually the airlines will realize that rather than charging customers $X for a given service, it'll just be easier to offer the service for free and just raise all the ticket prices by $X.

Actually that was the most retarded part of the article. On the one hand, they're saying people can't hang with higher prices, so they have to charge fees for what they're now calling extras (but use to be standard).

So they're implying that we're stupid enought to not know the difference between a $300 ticket and a $220 ticket with an $80 fee for aisle seat.

Pretty soon we'll have the equivalent of buses and limos in the air. People on business will fly the limos (normal flights), and vacation/family travelers will fly the buses (picture the flight in Tibet from Indian Jones, where they all had chicken coops and yaks on the flight with them).

Mark my words, the first all business class flights are only year or two away...

Already here: