[theoddz]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

Jack,

I don't understand why airplanes require you to buy 2 seats. I just don't understand this at all. But yet they allow you to bring on a small dog/cat in a carrier to put under your seat. I am so confused on this.

I always ask for seat extenders. I have yet to be given a positive response by the plane waitress or whatever they call themselves nowadays. It is usually thrown at me or Rosie or whoever is sitting next to me. It is like I am imposing on them. I don't get it.

Andrew

Hey there Andrew.

I totally "get" where you're coming from in this post. I, too, am a "person of size" and I'm also a "differently abled" person, too, in that I've got two titanium knees and have limited range of motion/movement in them. I have, in the past, bought 2 seats and have asked for seatbelt extenders on many flights. What gets me more than the small seats is the lack of leg room, or space between rows of seats. I have to have the room of two seats because I have to sit sideways in order to not have to contort my knees into a position where I'm in agony. I don't know why they have undersized both seats and leg room on so many planes. I was bitching to my mother about it one day, though, and she's a smaller sized person. This is what she told me.

"All the airplanes have to sell is space. That is their commodity and that is their only way of making money. When a person takes up more than the allotted amount of individual space, the airlines expect that person to pay extra for the extra space."

Now, I certainly don't agree with charging some folks more money for "space for one person", but I see the airlines' point about wanting to get their money for space used. It's a double-edged situation. What I find to be extra chintzy on their part is how the airlines seem to have made the seats and leg room even smaller than before. My father and stepmother, who are both seriously thin and of short to average height (they're old), go back and to from Las Vegas to Honolulu, Hawaii, several times a year. They usually fly on Hawaiian Airlines. I've heard them remark on more than one occasion how the seats are even too small for them!! Now, if the airlines are purposely reducing the size of the seats in order to make even average sized people uncomfortable enough to have to purchase an extra seat, then I think that's a dishonest and shitty policy and one that everyone, thin AND plus sized, should be complaining about. I also don't agree with the way they charge for a checked bag, but again, it's a space thing and they have a right to get compensated for space used. The next shitty thing they'll be doing is charging for the space we use to store our wheelchairs and motorized scooters/chairs.

I'm a bigger guy, so I take up more space. I guess I need to pay them for the space I take up, even if it's just so I can get enough space for these titanium knees.

As for the shitty looks and snide comments from the asshole contingent, well....that's what your middle finger is for.

Sorry for the derail, folks.

All the best,
~Theo~