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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that plane seats are WAY too small?

129 replies

HennyPennyHorror · 16/04/2019 10:27

I've just flown long haul...a 7 hour and then a 12 hour journey.

I am a small person, short and light....about a size UK10. It was AGONY. My back hurt and my legs hurt and I was so uncomfortable on the 12 hour stretch that I thought I'd go loopy.

I really felt for the man next to me who wasn't at all fat but was a very big guy....tall and with huge shoulders and all that. He was obviously worse off than me....how on earth do people who're larger cope? It must actually hurt them?

I think having three seats together as they do on Emirates is awful...and that as people are now larger than ever, they should seriously consider making them bigger.

OP posts:
TigerCubScout · 16/04/2019 12:17

Why are people flying to NZ four or five times a year?!

NakedAvenger · 16/04/2019 12:17

@greenelephantscarf err, I do. And I fly over 60000 miles a year. Half the cabin are asleep, the other half are watching stuff, reading or pottering. I choose to potter, for my own health and sanity. Only suggestions. It's not a summons to take my advice

CountFosco · 16/04/2019 12:18

When my PILs returned to the UK after living in South America in the 1970s they took the boat. They were established middle class and yet even for them a cross continental flight was too expensive. The price of flights has gone down rapidly since then.

NakedAvenger · 16/04/2019 12:19

@TigerCubScout because I live and work in NZ. I have friends and family in the UK whom I like to see and an office in the UK I have to visit each quarter.

FiveShelties · 16/04/2019 12:19

Tiger - I fly NZ to UK regularly because my Mum is in the UK.

grasspigeons · 16/04/2019 12:19

That's interesting. Its quite difficult to keep moving around in a plane as often the staff get a bit irritated as do the other passengers.. I think in the safety briefing they ought to give a 'you need to move around' briefing too. Its easy to say its someones fault but there is a slight duty of care in that the airline knows the risk and how to mitigate it so they ought to make it easy too.

Yes DH is an outlier and normally the check in staff help him out so its only a problem occasionally and he knows the airlines to avoid.

And yes air travel is cheap and this is why. It was £40 cheaper for me to fly to Manchester than go on a train.

whyohwhyowhydididoit · 16/04/2019 12:20

I am a bit bigger than you OP, 5ft 2in and a curvy size 14. I don’t have a problem at all and find seats in economy just fine (including a 14 hour flight to Argentina). Perhaps it’s because my legs are short? I recently splashed out on premium economy for a long haul flight and (whilst I enjoyed the ready availability of alcohol without the long waits of economy) I honestly didn’t find the seats any more comfortable.

Crocusflo · 16/04/2019 12:23

it's a choice all passengers make - an expensive one - but it is still a choice.

Except if you cannot afford to upgrade your flights from economy, then you actually do not have a choice.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 16/04/2019 12:23

When my PILs returned to the UK after living in South America in the 1970s they took the boat

Ah, now that's the way to do it if you can afford the time
Even if it was on a modest ship rather than a whacking great liner, that must have been some experience Smile

NakedAvenger · 16/04/2019 12:27

I'm usually on an A380 which has a lot of room at the back or in the nose where the stairs up to business class are. Loads of room actually. No need to bother other passengers or the crew. Obviously I don't do it during meal service.

There's usually a gang of us down there doing our regular pottering and leg exercises!

BuzzPeakWankBobbly · 16/04/2019 12:28

Except if you cannot afford to upgrade your flights from economy, then you actually do not have a choice.

Yes you do.

Different flights, different days, different airlines, different connections, different destination, different mode of transport...

Lots of us didn't fly when we were younger because our families couldn't afford it, so we went camping or whatever. There's a strange assumption today that flying is an entitlement and if you can't fly then it is somehow an unfair and elitist issue.

If you can't afford the level of travel or holiday you want, you can't afford it. You either make do with lesser or adjust your plans. It's not a slur on your personal character.

TapasForTwo · 16/04/2019 12:29

It's the seat pitch that is the problem for me and my family. I have just paid an extra £75 for all of us to sit in extra legroom seats for a 4 hour flight. At £12.50 per person per flight it is worth it. We find the seats are plenty wide enough.

grumiosmum · 16/04/2019 12:35

The cost of different classes and types of seats on different airlines is determined by market forces - supply & demand.

It is bizarre that some people don't seem to grasp very basic economics.

Stpancras · 16/04/2019 12:36

If you need to fly long gaul, try and make it with Emirates - very much more comfortable than any other airline (I don’t work for them!)

MenuPlant · 16/04/2019 12:38

they're the minimum size they can be and still just about fit people, to maximise seats and therefore profit.

that's obvious isn't it?

same as tube trains commuter trains and so forth where they need to pack people on

you can pay more if you want more space

flying is way cheaper than it used to be

mushroom3 · 16/04/2019 12:40

I have 5ft11 with a 35 inside leg, I find my knees are pushed into the seat in front on some planes, no thought is given to the range of leg lengths, my elder son is 6ft4 it's even worse for him.

Lavellan · 16/04/2019 12:40

I have family in NZ and i loathe the flight. The long haul seats aren't as bad as short haul economy, but they're still awful to sit in for 24 hours. I nearly had a panic attack on my last trip as the man in front of me immediately put his seat down and left it there for 11 hours. I always make them put it up when they serve food but that's the only time you have the right. It was so claustrophobic and painful. Dreading the next time I make the trip. :( I really do wish my family hadn't moved there.

damnthatoneistakenagain · 16/04/2019 12:41

'People never used to able to AFFORD to fly.'

'Be grateful you get the chances to go abroad, my grandparents/great grandparents ya ya, used to be happy with a day trip to Rhyl!'

There is a strong vibe on here of...

'If you can't afford better/first class seats, it serves you right for being poor! You should have worked harder in school. Stay squashed and uncomfortable you grotty peasants.' Hmm

And no, many people do NOT have a choice to go first class if they choose 'different flights' or 'different connections.' Some people do talk such shit! Some people on here are living in a different world I swear!!!

This fucking place sometimes!!! Angry

TapasForTwo · 16/04/2019 12:42

So, pay for extra legroom seats mushroom. It's worth it.

TwinsTrollsAndHunz · 16/04/2019 12:53

Another airline seats thread?! They are getting to be like ‘how often do you wash your towels?’ threads.

Hmm
NakedAvenger · 16/04/2019 12:54

@damnthatoneistakenagain I can't afford to fly first class or business but I'm not a precious snowflake who can't hack sitting in a perfectly comfortable seat, watching films and being served food and drinks usually on request. I get on with it like most people. It's a tiny sliver of my life to amazingly get to the other side of the world fast, safe and frankly, in relative comfort. Are we really so cosseted to believe that is a hardship?!

The available options are are to go and suck it up, use another transport mode or not go at all. As PPs have said we didn't fly as children as it was out of our families price range so we didn't go further than the UK. My first flight was at 25.

Market forces demand the cost of everything. If you want a BMW you pay BMW prices. If can't afford a BMW and only a Mini Metro, wailing about how you want heated seats, cruise control and parking sensors but not pay for them is unhinged.

A plane is only so big. If you increase the space of a seat passenger income drops meaning you can't fly or you have to increase the price meaning the people you are trying to defend will not even be able to think about flying. Sheesh.

BuzzPeakWankBobbly · 16/04/2019 12:54

damnthatoneistakenagain - U ok hun?

corythatwas · 16/04/2019 13:00

Not all jobs pay enough to enable business class travel. As an academic it is part of my job to attend conferences and do research abroad, funded by fellowships which I have to apply for. These do not pay enough to fund business class travel. But if I don't do them it's going to come up in my appraisal. It's not about a luxury that I could refuse to treat myself to: it's about fear of losing my job.

SolitudeAtAltitude · 16/04/2019 13:02

I agree OP

DH and I don't do long haul flights anymore, since about 10 years...

We are both 6ft+ and our backs and knees are just in pieces (after the 17hr flight to Argentina we stumbled out of the plane...)

We can't afford Business. So the consequence is we don't do long haul anymore. Probably better for the planet too.

I can live with it, tbh. Lovely places to visit closer by [smille]

Someoneonlyyouknow · 16/04/2019 13:02

IncrediblySadToo

I would pay a little more to go back to how the seats used to be.

This.

I think they could lose a few rows and spread the cost amongst the remaining passengers, it wouldn't need to add very much to the cost of a flight. The step between economy and business class price is huge. The longest flight I've done is 10 hours and the thought of the discomfort is what stops me visiting (close) family in Australia.