Bad seat choice!!

[greglow]

Again, the solution of two seats is good in theory, but please show the steps involved in buying two seats for one passenger using any of the airline websites. I don't think it's possible without an ordeal through customer service, etc. By all means, make it a requirement, but then you also need to make it easy.

Also, it's important to think about the other potential impacts. For example, I get a problem when I'm around smoke. Many people I sit beside on flights reek of smoke. That can make me ill. Should we ban smokers from flying as they are unpleasant to be near?

 

[serfty]

I'll bet he's happy to buy two seats for himself. Have you ever tried to do that though? I often want to buy all three seats in a row for my partner and I so we have plenty of space. But try doing that on the VA or QF websites. It needs to be made easy, rather than it being an ordeal. I'll bet if you pick two seats on either website, and try to assign the same passenger details, the site would barf.

It can be done - you do need to call - you pay the fare but you don't pay +++ on the 'comfort seat'.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....elocity/how-add-comfort-seat-extra-46158.html




http://www.australianfrequentflyer....program/qf-extra-seat-request-paid-63247.html

https://qantas.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/120/kw/comfort seat

 

[greglow]

Even then, everything would be more complex. Can you do it with points? What if you need to change the booking? I'll bet that every part of it is much harder. As I said, requiring it is fine but make it easy.

 

[Valerie Moffat]

As this man must have been seen at the Airport from when he arrived until he was seated it seems ridiculous that nothing was done. Left there he is a danger to himself and others.
Why was nothing done when he checked in..or maybe he had checked in on line.
The obvious solution is that he should never have got this far.
Putting him on the next plane with 2 vacant seats side by side for the flight, it should be noted for further flights and dealt with in the same way.
Valerie M

 

[Fruitcake]

Even then, everything would be more complex. Can you do it with points? What if you need to change the booking? I'll bet that every part of it is much harder. As I said, requiring it is fine but make it easy.

I have an 'EXST' booking with VA at the moment (mostly because I need to bring in some extra SCs to scrape in for requal). I had to book over the phone and the website is indicating that changes also need to made over the phone. I've also been told that I am eligible for points/SCs on the seat but I will need to call up (because technically the second seat is not in my name, it's assigned to "EXST Fruitcake" and thus doesn't match the name of my Velocity account).

I can, however, move my two seat allocations around myself, including splitting them over two separate rows.

So overall, yes, a fair bit of extra hassle. But less hassle than flying with lower status for the next twelve months!

Putting it online would seem to me to be a great idea to me, I suspect it would be reasonably popular. One of the reasons many don't book it is that they simply don't know it's possible.

 

[Duckman]

My son who is unfortunately overweight, but also 6'4, claims he was FORCED to buy a J class seat on QF SYD-LAX in August. He revealed this to me when asking me for some more money as it completely blew his budget.
He says he "was told by both the Qantas managers (I had to go through several "tiers" of support just to get a straight answer) if Iphysically cannot sit down then I can't be on the flight, as that would be unsafe (I wouldn't be able to buckle up for takeoff and landing, for instance)".

 

[En Route]

My son who is unfortunately overweight, but also 6'4, claims he was FORCED to buy a J class seat on QF SYD-LAX in August. He revealed this to me when asking me for some more money as it completely blew his budget.
He says he "was told by both the Qantas managers (I had to go through several "tiers" of support just to get a straight answer) if Iphysically cannot sit down then I can't be on the flight, as that would be unsafe (I wouldn't be able to buckle up for takeoff and landing, for instance)".

QF SYD-LAX is A380. The armrest between seats in Economy on QF A380's does not fully retract, so the "comfort seat" option is not an option.

(The QF A380 seats has long been of poor design, although extra leg room, problems include: Single piece tray (cannot partially fold down). No cup placement without folding down tray. Poor placement of USB and headphone sockets. Poor placement on entertainment control (hidden in armrest), and the non-fully retractable middle arm rests.) How can Cathay and Emirates get it so right and Qantas get it so wrong?

Lap belts can be extended, but sitting cross two seats would be uncomfortable (and impossible in economy on an A380), and may even be dangerous depending on the load capacity of the seat.

Easy to cater for smaller people, but larger ones are often an issue. An airline cannot size for everyone being large (like not everyone travels with infants), but a viable strategy should be in place to not disadvantage those who's size is over the 90th percentile (apart from just buy a more expensive class of ticket).

Seems like more than 10% of the male population is over 182cm tall (6 foot in the old scale) and would have trouble fitting in most standard economy seats.

 

[Quickstatus]

I have purchased an extra seat/comfort seat. I do it when travelling in whY with Wife but only on aircradftcwhere I can get a row of 3.

Process is:
Book online for A,C then ring up with PNR and book over phone extra seat.
MKe sure the EXST is going to be credited to your FF program.
You won't have to pay for taxes/surcharges for the EXST but will be entitled to the luggage allowance but not the meal.
At the airport checkin make sure your EXST is in B and not disconnected from you in another part of the cabin. They usually don't give you a boarding pass because boarding passes have to match the number of pax.

This is the part which makes me a little anxious as some checkin dragon could take that extra seat back if the flight is overbooked. So until the plane starts taxiing the EXST is not really guaranteed (unless you are really obese and are already actually occupying 2 seats.

A slightly different scenario:
I booked Miss QS with an EXST on a school trip to CDG (why can't they do school excursions to local park). She is VA WP and the day after doing return on CDG-SIN-SYD she had to do SYD-MEL-LAX-YVR.

I took a punt and put her in B and EXST in C. On 3 of the 4 sectors she got a shadow in A, essentially giving her 3 seats ABC. Flight was quite ful with only 3 other empty seats in her cabin. Not sure if this was an unadvertised VA WP benefit. She did not get boarding passes for EXST but there was no problem with it at checkin (sometimes they can't put the EXST in the same PNR and so in this case you have to notify checkin to go looking for it)


I support the idea of:

If you can't sit in seat/and or seatbelt won't fit, then the airline should get you a shadow. If a shadow is not available you will be booked on next available flight. Or you can guarantee a shadow by paying for an EXST. Even high tier status pax cannot be guaranteed a shadow. Also with all due respect it's easier to pay for an extra seat than to lose all those kg before a flight but the ultimate aim should be the latter.

I sat next to M Bridges all decked out in her training gear. I think I subconsciously sucked in my abdomen and had the lighter meal option when on a MEL-SYD recently.

There should be mock seats at airports that prospective passengers can test to see if they fit into this category but they won't do this for obvious negative publicity reasons.

 

[maxwelljames]

Overweight people like this should be required to purchase two seats or otherwise refused carriage. It is a safety issue as well as comfort and paying for what you require.

 

[RozInAus]

If you are bigger than the seat - you need to purchase 2 adjoining seats. Unfair? No, life is not always fair. There's a negative impact on those passengers nearby of course.

 

[lastrow]

What do you mean by a shadow?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

What do you mean by a shadow?

A spare seat beside you. Status pax do from time to time have "spare" seats beside them blocked by the check-in staff. Those "shadows" can vaporise thought!

 

[bat21]

I was overweight mainly due to a chronic back complaint where I have had two fusions and three lamenectomies amongst countless other procedures as a result of a car accident and of course my weight crept up to the point I weighed 118kg for a 176cm person. I couldn't/can't lose weight by excessive exercise so I went to a dietician 3 years ago. I was put on a controlled diet of 2000 calories per day and lost 32 kg through diet alone and kept it off. I still get to eat very well have a beer or three and one meal per week is a "freebie" where I can indulge in a full bacon & eggs brekky or pizza etc so losing weight in 99% of people can be done. I know this is not politically correct but have you ever seen a fat prisoner in a concentration camp? Please don't falme as that was what my doctor who is jewish said to me when he referred me to the dietician. It is a choice thing in 99% of the time and doesn't take that much will power just a simple want.

 

[Julesmac]

I don't understand why anyone thinks this guy is a danger....let's face it, in the event of sudden change of speed he'd be too fat to roll down the aisle

Coming back from LHR one time, QF as usual, MrJulesmac & I had a stinky woman sitting next to us. More of a stench actually. I asked the FA very nicely (and privately, and watched her face turn white when she got a whiff). I was delighted when the FA discovered another female passenger down the back was also Romanian (truly - I am not racially stereotyping I promise)) and put them together. We then had a spare seat, bliss, and were also given very good drinks service.....

 

[Denali]

PNG flight once and one of the pax had really bad BO. Im guessing most of us had due to the humidity and sweating but this guy just stank. HE got moved to J as Y was chockers.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

PNG flight once and one of the pax had really bad BO. Im guessing most of us had due to the humidity and sweating but this guy just stank. HE got moved to J as Y was chockers.

A not often disclosed upgrade method !

 

[slc767338]

Yes. Call your local Qantas office for more information about purchasing additional seats for personal comfort. Seat belt extensions can also be requested if required.
You can earn Qantas Points for the extra seat subject to current Frequent Flyer terms and conditions.

Given that extra seats earn points and presumably status credits... Fat people can Earn status in half the time? Swings and roundabouts I guess.

 

[serfty]

Given that extra seats earn points and presumably status credits... Fat people can Earn status in half the time? Swings and roundabouts I guess.

There at least one P1 member here who took advantage of that ( they are not obese however ).

 

[slc767338]

There at least one P1 member here who took advantage of that ( they are not obese however ).

Not surprising really. Pretty savvy bunch here. Anyway, getting back on topic

 

[Saintly]

Sometime ago I was travelling on an island hop single propeller type plane in Samoa where passengers have to be individually weighed and seat allocated accordingly to balance the load of the plane. Being amongst the lightest in comparison with the islanders I was the last to get on the plane and sat next to a huge lady. I was able to just put on the seat belt but noticed the seat was small & tight and bench like, very uncomfortable. Luckily it was only a 30 minute flight. When it landed and everyone stood up did I realised the seats were individual ones. Just that the passengers next to me with their huge bodies had spilled into part of my seat making it much smaller. I understand the boarding process is to ensure the small plane is properly loaded and balanced for a safe flight, but it definitely disadvantaged the smaller person.

In Australia, the worst case of an obese person I had experienced was on a QF flight. His waistline was so huge that he could not lower his tray table at meal time. He had to balance his tray on his tummy holding it steady with one hand and using the knife and fork with the other. I had to share my confined tray table for his drinks and coffee. Reading the newspaper was also not easy. Not a very comfortable experience.

I have nothing against obese people travelling on the same plane. They just need to be considerate and should not adversely affect another passenger's space or comfort. If that can't be help they should look at buying a EXST seat or pay for a business class seat.