Quote:
Originally posted by Larry_OHF:
My opinion is that he should only pay for one seat. Because two seats now become his one. And therefore, he is only occupying one seat. I think that would be fair. I mean...how much money could airlines lose? How many people are large enough to take up two seats and fly frequently? Not enough to make or break the airline.
|
I am in agreement with Larry on this - but it really isn;t that simple, and it does create a couple of problems that would need to be ruled upon.
1) If a person needs two seats, then that needs to be declared and proven at the time of ticket purchase. Airlines deliberately oversell flights, and should not have to compensate additional people if they are surprised "on the day of the flight".
2) How do you judge that the person needs two seats to fit, rather than needs two seats to be comfortable. Most of the time I travel in economy - and while I fit in my seat, it can be pretty uncomfortable on long hauls. I always give a little cheer when the seat next door is empty, and I can lift the armrest and stretch out. There needs to be some means of deciding who gets the extra space. Do you then start weighing the passengers? - a 325 lb guy gets an extra seat and 299 lb guy doesn't? Hmmm - so now is the 299 lb guy being discriminated against by not getting the extra room?
Perhaps the best solution that I see is to set aside or create some business class size seats (one row would be 4 on a domestic flight, say 10 on an international flight) WITHOUT the extras that they pay for (ie provide the same meals and service and entertainment as economy), allow purchase at minimal surcharge (say 10% - because some larger people might prefer to pay simply for the comfort factor), and allow people over a certain size (and that could be extremely tall - not just limited to overweight) the priority right to purchase them. If the seats in this category are presold, a purchaser has the option of buying two seats (if they positively have to be on that flight), or booking on another flight. The policy would act much the same as the policy for free flights with frequest flyer programs (ie only a certain number of seats - so book ahead). The seats would only be freed to be sold to the general public (ie waitlisted passengers) within 48 hours of the flight.
I don't think the proposal would be too much of an inconvenience or revenue loss for the airline. It also gives oversized people a routine opportunity to exercise that should cover at least 90% of eventualities.
Open to any other suggestions though - lets hear them [img]smile.gif[/img]
Edit - WOOHOO - I am level 20
[ 02-08-2003, 04:06 AM: Message edited by: Davros ]