If you thought that airlines were only after your hip-space; think again: leg room is going to be further reduced as well (or may have already BEEN reduced). Long-legged? Airlines don’t care. Maybe tall folks need to just go on and shrink a bit too, eh?
Costs are being cut everywhere in airlines: no free meals, barely a grudgingly give “snack”; yet you aren’t allowed to BRING drinks of your own (unless you’re good at packing tiny 3 oz servings of juice and lasting for a flight on those); the number of bathrooms are cut, seat width is reduced and now seat pitch….when does it end?
Another head-shaking example that truly in this sort of capitalism there is NO concern for the passengers or patrons. The bottom line is always profit, not quality. So I wonder…who is next in this cramping? What room will airlines save if they can next get rid of a bit more shoulder room to cram in another column of seating? Might make things tighter around those broad-shoulders folks but who knows; it might be coming.
Just an interesting twist in the ever declining service provided by the very expensive public transport we call “flying” that I wanted to point out. Is air travel going to go the way of trans-Atlantic ship travel?? What would replace it if the airlines are all truly in such dire economic straights and will not be able to continue?
June 11, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Very good point. I hate flying, not because of the actual flying but because I am claustrophobic and being in that tiny cramped seating arrangement for so long DRIVES ME CRAZY…..Xanax anyone.
June 11, 2009 at 1:47 pm
@Eric: Xanax is quite possibly the only thing that can redeem air travel.
Actually, I gave up air travel when it became clear that “airline security” was little more than theatre of the absurd. Now they have machines that can see right through your clothing and, to be honest, I’m just not willing to give up that much personal privacy for the “privilege” of being stuffed like a sardine into a flying aluminum can.
June 11, 2009 at 2:38 pm
CTJen that analogy makes me laugh because I often refer to the “aluminum sardine can” of airplanes
Security measures just baffle me sometimes….checking for the most minute of sharp objects…and yet folks carrying bombs are still able to smuggle them onboard? Gah…but a bit off topic there, sorry!
June 11, 2009 at 2:06 pm
To be fair, you can bring drinks you bought at inflated prices inside security.
We flew JetBlue recently after being terrifically cramped for eight hours on a transatlantic flight, and it was like choirs of angels. Legroom like on a fucking train, individually-controlled TVs (when we took a night flight overseas, we were kept awake by the TV screens flickering all night), the flight attendants were really kind and professional (unlike AA, where we’d been able to hear them bitching about their jobs all night), and they gave us a snack even on a one-hour flight. I don’t mean to sound like a shill but oh man it was amazing. And somehow they can do it on the cheap — why can’t everyone else?
June 11, 2009 at 2:13 pm
This is why I take Amtrak whenever I can.
June 11, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Why don’t we all have personal jet-packs yet? We were SUPPOSED to have personal jet-packs by now!
June 11, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Pegkitty mine’s in the shop…with my magic wand. :p
June 11, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Screw that, I want transporters like on Star Trek!
June 11, 2009 at 8:56 pm
WORD!
June 11, 2009 at 3:11 pm
i discovered you can take an empty reuseable water bottle through security and a)either fill it up with a water fountain or b) nicely ask the coffee place or fast food shack to fill it up with water. This saves me tons of money when I fly. You can even bring packets of emergen-c or i would imagine crystal light or something through if you don’t like to drink plain water. I’ve done this several times with no hassle. I refuse to pay $3.00 for bottled water!
June 11, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Michelle that’s a good idea for something that has really bothered me about flying. Thanks for the tip!
June 11, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I brought an empty Sigg bottle with me last time I flew and did just that.
June 11, 2009 at 5:33 pm
GAH! This is why I wanted to scream to so many douchehounds on about how it was perfectly fine to impose the fatty flying rule “What on earth makes you think you aren’t next?”
Not to mention, this kind of thing is good ammo for those capitalist thumping bigots who claim that it’s not about discrimination, it’s about airlines making a buck and redesigning seats to be larger would cost the airlines money and make tickets more expensive. Yet, they can totally spend the money to redesign their seats smaller. And ticket prices will probably still go up. *headdesk*
June 11, 2009 at 5:43 pm
“And ticket prices will probably still go up. *headdesk*”
Not to mention all those fuel surcharges that got slapped on when fuel was SO much more expensive than it is now (presumably airline fuel has gotten cheaper too) but have never gone away (BA, I’m looking at YOU!).