Please, Barbara, tell us how you TRULY feel!

[bicker]

http://travel.news.yahoo.com/b/b_correa/20061212/b_correa/b_correa17369

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, I have to agree with most of her points. I had a gentleman flying next to me, he was in the middle seat, his young son had the window seat and I had the aisle seat. It was a JetBlue flight, so my tv function pad was on the armrest between us. It was mighty hard to get my fingers to the touch pad with his arm on it!! There was a lot of 'oh, excuse me', 'oh, sorry.'...that kind of stuff with me trying to change my channels. So..he has two arm rests now and I have one, the one with no controls. Ah, I don't think so. Sorry but that's the price you pay for ending up in the middle. I know...that's the seat I usually end up in!

 

[jctwizzer]

sounds reasonable to me...she forgot the ones who recline into your lap....I usually blow gently into their hair....which works once in awhile

 

[antmaril]

sounds reasonable to me...she forgot the ones who recline into your lap....I usually blow gently into their hair....which works once in awhile

This is the thing that really gets me - reclining into my lap. Oh boy, that gets my goat. Absolutely no concern or regard for the person behind you. If you are ever sitting behind me, you'll be glad, because I NEVER recline the seat. Of course, if the seat behind me is vacant, that's another story.

Just because you can, doesn't me you should

 

[Tasmen]

The last time I flew made me never want to fly coach again if I can avoid it mainly because of some of the points brought up in that article. It saddens me that we've turned into a society where people take little thought or care about how their mememe actions may effect the person sitting next to you on a plane.

 

[AllyBri]

Don't get me started. But it's the quickest way to get from here to there.
So you just have to put up with the nonsense.

 

[NotUrsula]

For years now, I've adhered to the unwritten rule that he who gets the middle seat gets BOTH armrests as a consolation prize. Since you have nowhere to lean, it's either that or sit with your arms crossed for the entire flight.

However (and it is a big however), in cases where there is a set of personal entertainment controls in the armrest, the person sitting in the seat that the controls work for gets the controls, which in practice means the person sitting in the aisle seat on the starboard side gets the armrest to his/her right. I still think it is kind of that person to let the hapless middle seat occupant use the back 3 inches of that armrest to prop an elbow when needed. (Of course, if you are sitting with your own child, you can lean into the child's space, so a center-seated person with a child sitting in the window spot should lean thataway.)

Also, just FYI, even if you are in Florida in the summertime, put a shirt with sleeves in your carryon to wear on the plane. I really don't feel comfortable sitting skin-to-skin with a total stranger, though elbow to wrist is more or less OK. (For men who feel they MUST sit with their legs splayed, your legs count, too -- pack some long pants if you are seated next to anyone who isn't family!) Last time I flew back from Florida in the summertime alone with DS, a man who had obviously come direct from the parks sat next to us in the aisle seat, with his family in other rows (this was on SWA, he boarded late): The guy was wearing a MESH wife-beater T and a pr. of spandex athletic shorts -- both white. He was a large man, and I spent the entire flight trying desperately not to touch him or his apparent underclothing. (We won't even discuss the abundant body hair.)

 

[goofy4tink]

Yep, I always try to fly in long sleeves/jeans....for that very reason!!!! I'm usually more than happy to share the armrest, but since the gentleman sitting next to me was in fact sitting next to his own child, I figured he could have leaned that way a bit, but that didn't happen. I will say that his son was very well behaved though. As was his daughter in the seat behind them, with his wife. That was some consolation.

 

[CarolA]

I love it. Especially the overhead part. I (a woman) figure if I can't get it up there it goes UNDER the plane. No questions.

(And if your 22" carryon is STUFFED to the gills, all the pockets are stuffed and you expanded everything you could CHECK IT.... chances are it's not going to fit and it's RUDE to hold up boarding while you unpack in the aisle!)

 

[disneyldwjr]

sounds reasonable to me...she forgot the ones who recline into your lap....I usually blow gently into their hair....which works once in awhile

I generally fly SWA and perhaps their seats are different, but, I have yet to be bothered by anyone reclining their seats. I cannot even see the top of their heads.
As to blowing your germs/breath on someone, how rude!!!!! I also recline my seat cause there is nothing worse than napping with your head constantly falling foward and snapping your neck. Of course, I do ask the pax behind me if it would bother them. Happily, all have said "sure, no problem".

 

[OhMari]

I have a flight for 2:30 p.m. I will not be drinking anything from 9:00 a.m. till I get to Orlando. Otherwise, I would be one of those obnoxious people that get up every half hour to go to the bathroom. I was told their is nothing wrong with me-had it check out. Just a person that goes to the bathroom a lot when I drink any liquids.

 

[Lizziejane]

I'm probably going to get flamed here, but my pet peeve is the large person sitting beside me who takes up half of my seat. Invariably, they get there before me, and lift the armrest completely so that they have more room (in other words, they can spill freely into my seat).

I do sympathize with them - these seats are not built for anyone weighing more than 150 lbs. That being said, I didn't pay half price for my seat, so why do I only end up with half a seat? I end up having to scrunch into half of the already ridiculously small space and end up with all kinds of kinks in my neck and shoulders.

I'm sorry, but some people really do need two seats. I don't know if they should be made to pay for the second seat or not - I'm not getting into that arguement - I just know that I shouldn't be expected to provide the extra space for them when I've paid for my space fair and square.

 

[flying_babyb]

what gets my goat is the people who see that Im 4 foot 10 and still expect me to magically stuff my carry- in in the compartment (thats 5 foot 5")

 

[ducklite]

what gets my goat is the people who see that Im 4 foot 10 and still expect me to magically stuff my carry- in in the compartment (thats 5 foot 5")

I think it's pretty presumptuous to expect others to help you with your personal belongings that you could have checked.

And if you are 4'10", your arms should have no problem reaching the 5'5" overhead to lift a bag in--that's no different than me getting things down off a six foot shelf. While it's not the most convenient, it's certainly doable without risk of injury--provided the item isn't huge and overly heavy. If your bag is too heavy for you to lift into the overhead, then it shouldn't be up there to begin with.

Anne

 

[simzac]

I thought it was a well written article, and I agree with everything written.

 

[ducklite]

I'm probably going to get flamed here, but my pet peeve is the large person sitting beside me who takes up half of my seat. Invariably, they get there before me, and lift the armrest completely so that they have more room (in other words, they can spill freely into my seat).

I do sympathize with them - these seats are not built for anyone weighing more than 150 lbs. That being said, I didn't pay half price for my seat, so why do I only end up with half a seat? I end up having to scrunch into half of the already ridiculously small space and end up with all kinds of kinks in my neck and shoulders.

I'm sorry, but some people really do need two seats. I don't know if they should be made to pay for the second seat or not - I'm not getting into that arguement - I just know that I shouldn't be expected to provide the extra space for them when I've paid for my space fair and square.

No flame from me. I think that obese people should have to pay for a second seat unless they can get a letter from a doctor stating that the obesity is due to a endocrine disorder (or something along those lines) not controllable by medication. In other words, if with proper diet and excercise the person would not be obese, then they need to buy two seats. If it's truly a MEDICAL disorder, then they would be accomodated. The idea of giving someone a free seat (that the rest of us are footing the bill for) because they CHOOSE to not take care of their bodies is beyond irritating to me. I think Bicker will agree.

That said, my 175 pound 6' husband can fit into a seat with no problem. His knees don't go to his chin, and he doesn't spill over into the next seat. I laugh when I read that 6' tall men have had thier knees bruised because the seats were too close. Right.

Anne

 

[flying_babyb]

Hate to agree but I agree. My whole family is larger. I have a 4x freind who needs two seats and dosent complain about buying two.

 

[UConnJack]

This is the thing that really gets me - reclining into my lap. Oh boy, that gets my goat. Absolutely no concern or regard for the person behind you. If you are ever sitting behind me, you'll be glad, because I NEVER recline the seat. Of course, if the seat behind me is vacant, that's another story.

Just because you can, doesn't me you should

If you want to sit at a 90 degree angle and rigid as a board in an unreclined seat, then that is your prerogative. "Reclining into my lap" is a huge exaggeration; seats only recline 6-10 inches, hardly into your lap. If this bothers you, then recline your seat and solve the problem. Most people recline their seats, I think it is expected.

 

[bicker]

Actually, the typical recline is about 4-6 inches. Regardless, reclining a seat is an appropriate use of the space you're given. Extending your arm (or any other part of your body) over into some stranger's seat to either side is not appropriate.

 

[Lewisc]

My opinion is passengers are entitled to recline their seats. We're just using our seats as designed.

Some frequent flyers assert that when some legacy airlines reconfigured their aircraft, reducing pitch by adding extra rows of seats, they didn't restrict the recline to reflect the reduced pitch.