Cranky on the Web (November 19 – 23)

November 24, 2012 CF 3 comments

The EU’s Airplane Carbon Trading Program and What It Means – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
I took a look at the recently-suspended emissions trading system in Europe and the politics behind it.

Holiday travel and tighter planes raise likelihood of having larger seatmates – Cleveland Plain Dealer
I was asked to comment on another article about passengers who can’t fit in one seat.

Environment none

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Written by Mike on November 24, 2012. Reply

You have to be really, really big not to fit in an airplane seat, even in coach. I consider myself big at 6′ 1” tall and 260 lbs; however I have no problem fitting in a coach seat with the armrest down, and I don’t need an extender for the seat belt. I’m not exactly comfortable, but that’s as much due to the lack of legroom as it is the seat width (obviously I avoid the middle seat). I travel by air about 6 to 10 times per year and fortunately have never had to sit next to someone too big to fit. It’s easy to say that large people should either buy a first class ticket or reserve two coach seats but that’s surely too expensive for most. I’m confident that folks too big to fit in a seat don’t like it any more than their seatmates and would prefer to have other options. Perhaps the airlines should be required to have some “extra wide” coach seats, say 1 1/2 times the width of a standard seat (two to a row) that can only be reserved by people that meet certain size criteria. They could charge a premium price for this that’s less than the cost of 2 seats but enough so they aren’t losing money. If you try to board a flight but are too big to fit in a regular seat and didn’t reserve an extra large one, you could be given the option of upgrading to that if available or being denied boarding. No extra seats available? You have to wait for the next flight that has them. They could deal with unused extra large seats the same way they do for first class. Give your frequent flyers an upgrade. I sympathize with big people; however I think it’s wrong to make someone sit next to a person who doesn’t fit into their seat.
Written by David SF eastbay on November 24, 2012. Reply

Larger Seatmates:

Airlines better start doing a better job handling this type situation in the boarding area or before the plane takes off. If to many people start complaining to their elected officials in Washington, the feds will start passing laws to put more room in the planes.

Airlines don’t see to get it that they need to police themselves before the feds get involved and start passing laws they won’t like.
Written by Steve on November 25, 2012. Reply

Since when was a coach seat 25″ wide? They haven’t changed any since the 707 was introduced. Legroom has shrunk but coach seatwidth if anything is more than in those days due to lighter weight, thinner materials