Ever had this happen on a plane?

[CarnotaurDad]

As an aside, one European airline, RyanAir, does not have ANY seats that recline. They save money by not having to fix them. With fewer parts, the chairs break less often.

RyanAir is a good example of Southwest Airlines taken to its extreme. There airfares are insanely low, but:

* Nothing is served on any flight for free (no beverage, no peanuts).

* Everything costs extra. Even the Air Sickness bags.

* There are no window shades, as those cost extra money.

* They are notoriously slow in returning luggage. Some people claim of waiting up to 60 minutes for luggage to start arriving.

 

[lindaso]

This thread has been very amusing. We had a flight a few years ago when my middle DS was a toddler. He was sitting in his carseat and could barely reach the seat in front of him. I was grateful for that as an experienced mom flying with babies!! Well, the lady in front of him reclined her seat so now he can kick the seat with full force. Of course the lady starts to complain. I try to stop him as best I can and I tell her that he can't reach the seat if she doesn't recline it. She didn't want to hear that and got nasty about it. Who in their right mind would choose to recline and get kicked over being upright?

I flew with my youngest DS this past weekend on Jetblue and we had the aisle seat empty thanks to 2 nice agents sympathizing with me. Some lady comes and plops herself down next to me saying her TV doesn't work (the TV's weren't even on yet). DS starts in kicking the seat with both feet full force. The guy in front of him turns around, I say "he's 2, I'll do my best". The lady hightails it out of there saying "I'm going back to my seat, I need to sleep". Uh, bye now!! Luckily, between the TV and my activity bag, he barely kicked!! But that guy in front of him was smart, he didn't recline the whole trip.

 

[suzifli]

A few years ago my hubby and I were flying from seattle to la, there were some pre teen girls in the row behind us. They had Giga Pets, they are little computerized pets you have to care for, apparently shaking them repeatedly makes them happy, the child behind my hubby banged her giga pet on the back of his seat for two hours straight. It was not fun at the time, however we haved laughed about it many many times since.

 

[Tess]

They are notoriously slow in returning luggage. Some people claim of waiting up to 60 minutes for luggage to start arriving.

RyanAir must have been schooled by NWA in DTW on the luggage wait! Now, if RyanAir can perfect its lost luggage on a nonstop, then we will know that NWA is the educator. On our last trip from DTW to MCO to DTW, NWA failed to get our luggage out within an hour. Further, on the return trip, two of our three pieces were placed on a carousel at the opposite end of the baggage claim.

NWA also refused to attempt to locate the luggage, but did (in very unprofessional and snotty tones) tell us that it was in DTW, they just didn't know where, that they would look tomorrow, and we should just come back then. Um, I think not, we live 2.5 hours from the aiport AND if they knew the luggage was in DTW, why not find it now! Ultimately we were told it was just too bad our luggage didn't come up and if they didn't find it they would call us. They would also ship the luggage to us IF they did find it. We have still heard nothing from NWA.

BTW, we located it ourselves when we searched all of the carousels in baggage claim. We did not let the claims office know that however and we have never been contacted about our claim. Baggage handling at DTW/NWA is a nightmare--you wouldn't believe the sheer number of bags floating on carousels while we were there--that's what gave me the idea to check every carousel for ours. Some of the bags on ours had been from flights that were several carousels over--I suppose those folks are still awaiting word from NWA about their luggage too. Oh yeah, this process took us well over 2 hours (nearly 3) between the waiting--over 1.25 hours for the carousel to begin the revolving process--and then trying to get someone to help us locate the missing pieces. It was a pretty negative ending to an otherwise spectacular vacation.

Not a funny story, but just one more in the long line of can you believe it stuff! I can really appreciate the obnoxious kid stories though--It seems we encounter one on every trip. . .thank heaven my kids know how to behave on a plane! Although I sometimes have to reel our daughter in--she loves to chat with seatmates and you just never know if people want to go there. She's never had one refuse to give their life story to her and she's genuinely interested in the questions she asks--nothing too personal though. . .sometimes I wish I had her gift of gab.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I have to fly to MCO in less than 10 days and I really hope I don't encounter any people like the ones you've mentioned in this thread!!
I never recline my seat because there really isn't a difference to me. I've never had one that reclines very far, plus I'm just a little too concious of those behind me.

Trying not to stray too far from the subject....
I do have a pet peeve in the airport before we get on the plane. It really bugs me when people show up at the SWA gate to drop their bags in line then go somewhere to sit down or go to the shops. I thought you were not supposed to leave bags unattended? (If you really want your space in line then sit on the floor with your bags like my DD and I do!) There was a real problem with this on both legs of my flight earlier this year. I was tempted to say something because I didn't know whose bag belonged to whom. This day and age it's nothing I want to see happening a lot, okay, at all!!
Stepping off my soap box...

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Luckymommyx2
I...(snip).....I do have a pet peeve in the airport before we get on the plane. It really bugs me when people show up at the SWA gate to drop their bags in line then go somewhere to sit down or go to the shops. I thought you were not supposed to leave bags unattended? (If you really want your space in line then sit on the floor with your bags like my DD and I do!) There was a real problem with this on both legs of my flight earlier this year. ........

LOL! You're too nice. If someone dumped their bags near me and took off, I'd head for the nearest airline/securty person and tell them that the bags were unattended. Bet that's the last time that person would ever do that!!

In all serousness, in this day and age, how do you know that those "bag dumpers" aren't up to no good? And how do those "dumpers" know someone won't steal their luggage? Must be idiots in addition to rude and inconsiderate!

I never recline unless the seat behind me is empty , either - I hate having a stranger's head in my lap and wouldn't dream of doing it to someone else.

Best wishes -

 

[NotUrsula]

FYI, I've flown RyanAir on several occasions, and I've never had any difficulties or unusually long waits for luggage, nor have I heard that the waits were long, and I know LOTS of folks who fly them several times weekly. What they ARE well known for is not always getting all checked bags onto the aircraft; and if yours didn't make it, it probably won't unless you are going to be at your destination for at least a week. (They don't think it's worth the trouble of sending it after you and delivering it if you are coming back in just a couple of days, which is pretty true of most RyanAir passengers.) They also have very tight baggage weight limits, and if you go over, you pay big time. That keeps their fuel costs down, which has always been a major issue in Europe, where fuel is so much more expensive than it is here.

All RyanAir flights are quite short; usually under an hour, so not being able to recline your seat is really no big deal, and drinks/food *are* there, just not free. The real reason that you see them advertise such incredibly low prices (often less than $2 one-way for last-minute ressies) is that in the EU, airlines must pay tax on every seat, whether or not anyone is in it. Selling leftover seats just to collect the taxes keeps them from having to take that loss.

What wasn't mentioned is that RyanAir don't use jetways. They don't want to pay the airports the rental fee for using them. Since they are not required by law to accomodate disabled passengers, they can do this. They board via rolling stairs on the tarmac, and they board through both doors simultaneously, with all preboards directed to the rear door. The FA's also help load the supplies and serve as part of the ground crew; it's always fun to watch them in their high heels, w/ safety vests over their long sky-blue wool balmacaan overcoats, walking around the plane pulling wheel chocks. Since most of the flights are international, the FA's spend a lot of their time in-flight handling duty-free sales, which are also a source of revenue for the airline. Their turnaround time on the ground is VERY fast.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

This thread makes me glad to be short! I can't reach a thing on the top shelves of my kitchen cabinets, but at least I don't have to fly with my knees jammed against the seat in front of me. But my poor husband......

 

[sorchamac]

Well, after reading this thread I've made up my mind about where to sit on our SWA flight in Nov. I'm having DH and DS sit ahead of us, and me and DD behind. So I don't have to worry about an obnoxious stranger in front of me, and if anyone has any thoughts of being rude to DH he'll set them straight in a hurry

Sorcha