Dancing With The Airlines...

[Reef Tank]

so no fat jokes please, happen to be a few inches wider than the average coach seat so

I'm almost three hu, well, quite tall. I tend to dread sitting next to others my size. I've gotten good at tucking in my arms and sitting like a bird on a perch.

 

[cvchief]

I had more money than sense back then

So now you have less money.... ? *rimshot*

 

[TomZ]

I'm almost three hu, well, quite tall. I tend to dread sitting next to others my size. I've gotten good at tucking in my arms and sitting like a bird on a perch.

On my upcoming trip I'm flying to Coz two days before my wife (business commitments). On the return flight we got the last two available seats, not together. We're both small, her 5'3", I'm 5'6". When we sit together on a two wide row, it's awesome. When I sit next to a "larger" person it sucks. I pay for a whole seat. I want a whole seat, small as they may be. Maybe passengers should be charged like luggage: If you exceed a certain LxWxH dimension, you pay extra for a larger seat Average seat dimensions continue to get smaller, average humans keep getting bigger. It's just one more way the airlines treat us like excrement. The alternative is to pay for 1st class, which is nice, but usually 70% more. I say again, airlines iz da debbil. I hate commercial flying. I spent 2,000+ hours flying on C-141's (large military cargo 4 engine jet) as a flying Crew Chief. I was spoiled by slinging a hammock between cargo pallets, gently swaying (until made an unapproved practice for safety reasons), carrying my own bags to the plane, not going through TSA, and being able to tell the Loadmaster to frig off when appropriate. Did I say I hated commercial flying?

 

[WOODMAN]

Okay, the final outcome of this ''adventure". As I said above, we had confirmed bookings with US Air (via AA) for our return flight, but no seat assignments. I was unable to do anything with the gate agents until 24 hours before the trip, so we spent the whole week wondering how it was gonna come out. I drove up to the terminal on Friday (within the 24 hour window), but there was no-one there to talk to. They only man the check-in counters for a little while before and after a flight, then they disappear until the next day. Rats! So, okay, I went back to the hotel and fired up the computer and attacked the web check-in option. The hotel internet played with us a little- ("We are sorry, but Firefox cannot find the server..") but I figured that was due to too many guests trying to use limited capacity. I persevered, and eventually I got through to the USAir web site. Sure enough, they had already allotted us seats 5A& 5B, on both legs of the return trip. These were in the 'Premium' section that they initially wanted me to pay extra for, but no charge at this point in the game. The whole return trip went down smooth as a banana daiquiri, and they didn't even screw up my luggage. So, now we are back, and I guess it is time to start pounding on AA to refund the excess baggage charges and lost frequent flier miles that we ended up with due to their fiddling around with my trip. As I initially said, "dancing with the airlines..." Woody

 

[WOODMAN]

Now the final, final update. I contacted AA in the manner suggested by Chris Elliott in his superb website on travel troubleshooting, and lo and behold, they actually came through on the very first try!They sent me a nice email wherein they not only gave me a voucher good for $50 toward AA travel within this next year, but they actually credited both me and my wife with 1900 Frequent flier miles! Wow- this almost makes up for the circus they put my wife through last week when she flew back from Miami after helping my daughter deliver her car down to her new apartment. The flight was scheduled to depart at 7:50 PM, and they got to the check-in desk at MIA at 7:00 PM. (The flight was already checked in, she just needed to drop her checked bag.) "So sorry," they said, "You are too late to check a bag for this flight." My daughter and her couldn't believe it! They wouldn't take the bag! She was forced to leave the bag with my daughter (who then FedEx'ed the darn thing back to us) and carry on with the flight. She said MIA was a madhouse, and that might have had something to do with it, but still! I guess you just can't win. Dancing with the airlines indeed! Woody

 

[Mossman]

Now the final, final update. I contacted AA in the manner suggested by Chris Elliott in his superb website on travel troubleshooting, and lo and behold, they actually came through on the very first try!They sent me a nice email wherein they not only gave me a voucher good for $50 toward AA travel within this next year, but they actually credited both me and my wife with 1900 Frequent flier miles! Wow- this almost makes up for the circus they put my wife through last week when she flew back from Miami after helping my daughter deliver her car down to her new apartment. The flight was scheduled to depart at 7:50 PM, and they got to the check-in desk at MIA at 7:00 PM. (The flight was already checked in, she just needed to drop her checked bag.) "So sorry," they said, "You are too late to check a bag for this flight." My daughter and her couldn't believe it! They wouldn't take the bag! She was forced to leave the bag with my daughter (who then FedEx'ed the darn thing back to us) and carry on with the flight. She said MIA was a madhouse, and that might have had something to do with it, but still! I guess you just can't win. Dancing with the airlines indeed! Woody

Glad it worked out in the end.

As for Miami, AA does identify it as one of the airports that requires extra time to check in, but they still have the baggage cutoff at 45 minutes and your wife was there 50 minutes prior. That should have been fine. American Airlines Suggested Arrival Times On AA.com

Maybe you should contact them again to let them know how they screwed up in Miami and try to get some more miles/vouchers out of it!

 

[DandyDon]

Glad it worked out in the end.

As for Miami, AA does identify it as one of the airports that requires extra time to check in, but they still have the baggage cutoff at 45 minutes and your wife was there 50 minutes prior. That should have been fine. American Airlines Suggested Arrival Times On AA.com

Maybe you should contact them again to let them know how they screwed up in Miami and try to get some more miles/vouchers out of it!

I'm (choke) with Mossman there...!

 

[Mossman]

I'm (choke) with Mossman there...!

Sheesh, DandyD, don't be so surprised we can agree on a few things and disagree on everything else The world ain't black and white.

 

[BTravlin]

Sheesh, DandyD, don't be so surprised we can agree on a few things and disagree on everything else The world ain't black and white.

It was when I was a kid and I have the pictures to prove it.

 

[Reef Tank]

On my upcoming trip I'm flying to Coz two days before my wife (business commitments). On the return flight we got the last two available seats, not together. We're both small, her 5'3", I'm 5'6". When we sit together on a two wide row, it's awesome. When I sit next to a "larger" person it sucks. I pay for a whole seat. I want a whole seat, small as they may be. Maybe passengers should be charged like luggage: If you exceed a certain LxWxH dimension, you pay extra for a larger seat

Since our society is trending toward wealth redistribution all short people should be required to pay for my first class seat