Flying the Cramped Skies, by Jeffrey Veen

Flying the Cramped Skies

I'm a very tall person, and I travel a lot. At 6'6" (or just about 2 meters even, for the rest of the world), I find coach seating in most airlines not just uncomfortable, but abusive. Nearly every carrier has chosen a seat pitch to be at least 2 to 3 inches shorter than my femur. And that means sitting sideways for the entire flight, knees in the aisle getting battered by the beverage cart.

Although I'm at the upper end of the height bell curve, I'm apparently not alone. A man named Ira Goldman has just created a $10 wedge of plastic that you can use to prevent the seat in front of you from reclining. Me, I just jump up out of my seat moaning and rubbing my shins.

The bigger issue, of course, is the beleaguered airline industry's attempt to skim a profit as the the low-fare carriers zip right around them. Case in point: on a cross-country flight this weekend, I was given a cardboard box containing a hamburger bun with a slice of turkey and slice of yellow cheese. My "meal" also included a bag of chips and a Twix bar. I ate better in 4th grade out of my CHiPs lunch box. The luxury of air travels has become nothing more than airborne bus service.

Update: Anil laments the substandard level of service he's been experiencing, as well.

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 27 October 2003 at 10:04 AM. It was filed under Travel.

Comments

1. On 27 October 2003 at 1:11 PM tim wrote:

dude, you can work out your kinks on the road sunday. you best have been riding lately because i'm gonna paste your arse if you haven't been :^)

2. On 27 October 2003 at 3:10 PM Mike Davidson wrote:

I agree about the conditions on airplanes and that is why I will never fly a connecting flight again for the rest of my life, if I can avoid it. It justs doubles the chances of having problems with the layout, the people in front of you, delays, etc.

The problem you're talking about stems from the fact that people just expect too much for too little these days. I mean, is it really reasonable to expect to fly from Seattle to San Francisco and back for $150? Is that enough to pay for plane upkeep, security, gas, labor, and all of the thousand other things an airline should be paying attention to? Up until the late '80s, flying was really a luxury way to travel. Flights cost more and you didn't make a flight across the country for a one-day meeting. Nowadays, people fly when perhaps they don't even need to (especially with teleconferencing and what not). And when they have to pay $225 for a flight up the west coast instead of $175, they get pissed at the airline.

Your issue is interesting because in a way, you could leigitimately call it discrimination. If a 400 pound person wanted to fly on a plane, would they make him buy two seats? I don't know the answer to that question, but I hope it would be no. So if you apply that logic to your situation, you should be able to buy a standard fare seat which is adjusted for tall people. This would create a bit of a logistical nightmare for airlines if they have to account for different sized seats, but to my earlier point, they could build this into the price of all tickets.

I, for one, would not mind it if the average price of my tickets went up by $50 if it were used to improve this and other situations such as safety, TVs in every seat, and internet access. Why does the standard airline experience have to be so low-grade? And don't say "Fly business class or first class" because those generally aren't that much better of an experience. Just raise my ticket prices by a bit, keep me comfortable, safe, and entertained, and I'll be happy.

3. On 27 October 2003 at 3:49 PM Matt Haughey wrote:

I can't believe it, but I, too, had a CHiPs lunchbox -- the exact same one and it was my favorite lunchbox of all time. If I remember correctly, I saw it in a store on Saturday while shopping with my mom and begged her to get it for me. She did and I admired its amazing graphics all weekend, looking forward to Monday when I could strut my way through school with the coolest lunchbox on the planet.

After eating from it and letting everyone see it, I, like my classmates, dumped the lunchbox into a giant pile in front of our 2nd grade class door, and went off to play on the swings with the remaining 15 minutes. When I got back to class after lunch was over, my lunchbox was gone (everyone else's was still there). It wasn't anyone else in my class that stole it, because I never saw it again and I even checked what the other 300-400 students were eating out of later that week, to no avail. It was gone forever.

Thanks Jeff, for opening up that old wound. :)

4. On 27 October 2003 at 5:01 PM jeff wrote:

Actually Mike, business class is significantly better. I've got all the room I need there, and the food is generally nice enough. But have you ever priced those seats? SF to NY for $3500? I upgrade with miles when I can, but I can't quite justify that price.

I would, however, gladly pay $1000 for that flight if I could have enough leg room, a tray table big enough for a laptop, and my own arm rest on both sides. Call it comfort class or something. Keep me away from those $200 fares.

5. On 28 October 2003 at 8:05 AM Mike Davidson wrote:

Yes, when dissing business and first class, I left out the phrase "for the money" at the end. So, what I meant was it's not that much nicer, for the money. For $3500, I'd almost rather buy 11 $300 tickets and reserve an entire section to myself. That's 11 oxygen masks so I'd be well respirated in case of an emergency, and in case of a *real* emergency, I could probably float to Hawaii on 11 seat cushions.

Not to mention the feast I could prepare with 11 trays of airplane food...

6. On 28 October 2003 at 3:49 PM josh wrote:

I know your pain! I am 6'6" also. I do feel somewhat safer than the average passenger because once the person in front of me leans the seat back I am not going anywhere! It would take a pretty hefty crash to unwedge me.

7. On 28 October 2003 at 5:52 PM brooks wrote:

There is more room between seats on American Airlines flights. I don't know if you've tried them or not, but it's been my experience that there's significantly more space. Also, if you try to get a seat in the exit row, that helps.

If you fly Southwest, you can sit in one of those weird sections where two rows face each other. There'd be a ton of leg room and you'd probably be the happiest in that situation.

8. On 28 October 2003 at 9:54 PM Guest wrote:

A simple solution would be to offer set prices for different sections of the plane. Not just 2 sections though, coach and first class. Make 4 or 5 sections with 4 or 5 set prices. Each price gets you a different kind of seat (size, leg room, etc.) If you want to pay $1000 to fly coast to coast then let it be available with plenty of room and good food. If you dont want to fly for $1000, but dont want to fly for $200, open up some $500 seats.

9. On 29 October 2003 at 3:25 PM Preston Jones wrote:

I hope you don't mind, but I was browsing through your source code and I noticed an error on your css.
img.cd-icon {
float:left;
margine-top: 0px;
marrgin-bottom: 0px;
padding-right: 5px;}
You spelled margin wrong twice. I'm not trying to look like a jerk by posting this. I just thought I'd let you know. I really admire your work by the way.

10. On 30 October 2003 at 7:20 AM Paul Watson wrote:

Would it be helpful if really tall people were seated at the front of the sections, the bit with no seat in front of you? I flew near the jump seat once and my legs stretched all the way to heaven. The only problem was not tripping up the steward as she ejected from her jump seat.

I am just a bit anti these blocks as I do put my seat all the way back because how else can you get a good nights rest on a plane? Certainly not sitting up straight.

11. On 30 October 2003 at 10:42 PM Preston Jones wrote:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm 6'4" so I feel your pain as well. The problem is the airlines aren't going to change their seating to give more room. =( I've only flown coach and it is deffinitely not a luxury. More like a temporary condition that you have to buck up about and deal with it.

12. On 5 November 2003 at 8:39 PM Andrew wrote:

I can *so* relate to your gripes. I have bad knees, and, after a long flight, sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to stand up.

I've run across a nice site, SiteGuru.com that lists the seat layouts for most commercial aircraft, highlighting good and bad seats.

13. On 13 November 2003 at 9:35 PM Tom Chi wrote:

Hey Jeff, there was just a segment on NPR today addressing the whole 'cramped legs for tall folks' problem.

Here's the link:
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1494712.html

Sadly, airlines are already looking to ban this solution.

Also I noticed that you have Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service on heavy Rotation. I'll put on my best Amazon impression and suggest that you check out DNTEL (since he's half of postal service) if you haven't already.

http://www.epitonic.com/artists/dntel.html

14. On 15 November 2003 at 4:35 AM guest wrote:

Even worse when you are 2 meters tall, have a 1 year old potential athlete on your lap, the flight duration is 7 hours and the seat in front of you is reclined. To top it all, the person in front of you has the cheek to ask if there is a football match going on behind.

15. On 22 November 2003 at 8:30 AM Christian wrote:

Jeff, I couldn't agree with you more (being 6' 4" myself). Have you ever flown Midwest Express or Jet Blue? Talk about a whole new type of experience--leather seats, leg room, nice food (Midwest Express at least). Puts the rest of the airlines to shame.

The only option for me on long flights is to hit the G&Ts and let that help to take away the pain...

16. On 9 January 2004 at 9:24 AM Ferguson Sandy wrote:

That which does not kill us makes us stranger.