Too Tall To Fly? Passenger Forced to Stand for Entire Flight

abcnews/travel ^ | 12-30-10 | By LAUREN EFFRON

[rawhide]

When Brooks Anderson boarded a Spirit Airlines flight from Chicago to Ft. Myer's, Fla., to spend Christmas with his family, he said he didn't expect to be standing for the next two-and-a-half hours.

"I was in an aisle seat and I clearly didn't fit into the seat at all," he said. "I couldn't even stuff myself in there."

The 25-year-old is 6'7" and as he tried to squeeze his knees under his chin, his tall frame proved to be too big to fit into Spirit's tiny coach seat.

"This is the most crammed I've been by far," Anderson said.

Even though he was in the last row of the plane, Anderson said the flight attendants wouldn't let him stick his knees out into the aisle, so he was forced to sit with them jammed into the metal tray table on the seat in front of him.

"It's incredibly painful," he said.

Anderson said he asked to be moved to an exit row seat, which typically has more legroom.

"The stewardess and I talked before the takeoff," he said. "She asked if anyone in the emergency row would switch spots with me [but] came back and said, 'You're stuck'."

When none of the other passengers offered to help, Anderson said he decided to take matters into his own hands and asked if he could stand for the flight.

"I said, 'I need to do something about this, is it O.K. if I stand after the seatbelt sign is turned off?,'" he said. "She said it was O.K."

The space between economy class seats on a Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 is about 28 inches, which is below the typical 31 inches.

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Long article, click the link to read the entire article.

I emphasize with the guy as I am tall also. I know what it is like to spend an entire overseas flight squeezed into a sardine can.

That being said, one solution would be to pay for the bigger seats if needed, where in this case, would have given him the relief needed. So while I fault Spirit Airlines somewhat for their asinine policy of building sardine cans for the cheapest economy passengers, they do offer more legroom for additional money. But this would require personal responsibilty when situations like this arise.

When life throw you a curveball, you learn to adapt, even if it cost you more money than the average joe. Many people have learned such. Ask anyone who is disabled.

[dirtboy]

Being 6-7 myself, I can imagine what it would be like losing 3 inches of legroom - and I have short legs for my size.

[Responsibility2nd]

He should file a discrimination suit against the airlines like the fatso’s are doing.

[gov_bean_ counter]

I always thought is was men who needed the upgrade from economy to economy plus. No woman in the world is going to pay $200 for four inches...

[demsux]

I've been in that same seat...from Boston to Dallas and then from Dallas to St. Louis.

Stood the whole time, except take off and landing...really sucked.

[oh8eleven]

Passenger Forced to Stand for Entire Flight
From the article ...

"Anderson said he decided to take matters into his own hands and asked if he could stand for the flight."

Doesn't sound like he was forced at all.

[Red Badger]

Depends what those four inches are attached to.................

[Little Ray]

I think there is more leg room on the emergency exit aisle seats. They should traded him a seat there.
But I cant see any other way a 6’7” guy could ride in coach these days...

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

There is a Chinese engineer where I work. He goes 7’6”

I’ve always wondered how he got over here.

[rawhide]

Anderson said he asked to be moved to an exit row seat, which typically has more legroom.

"The stewardess and I talked before the takeoff," he said. "She asked if anyone in the emergency row would switch spots with me [but] came back and said, 'You're stuck'."

Nobody would trade with him. Bless the guy on the return flight who offered him his First Class seat.

[smokingfrog]

Barely a decent seat on the entire plane if this is an Airbus 320.

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Spirit_Airlines/Spirit_Airlines_Airbus_A320.php

[smokingfrog]

Spirit presently has 2 aircraft of this type in service, with 22 on order. Spirit’s A320 aircraft feature seats with no recline and 28” of seat pitch - the least amount of space of all US domestic carriers. Spirit has one row of “Big Front Seats” which are larger seats at the front of the cabin. Spirit charges to reserve seats per one-way segment. These fees will vary depending on duration of trip and whether the seat is aisle, middle or exit.The first aircraft of this type entered service on March 14 2010 and operates on the Fort Lauderdale to Washington DC route. The second, launched in April 2010, will operate Fort Lauderdale to New York LaGuardia. Two additional aircraft will enter into service by Summer 2010.

[MarkeyD]

I have trouble and I’m only 6’5”

[SeeSac]

I think there is more leg room on the emergency exit aisle seats. They should traded him a seat there.

From the article:

"The stewardess and I talked before the takeoff," he said. "She asked if anyone in the emergency row would switch spots with me [but] came back and said, 'You're stuck'."

[dirtboy]

I’ve had the person in the seat in front of my try to recline and then page the flight attendant when the seat won’t move. They’ll tell her their seat is broken, and then she looks back at me wedged in there and tells them, “No, it isn’t”.

[Ken H]

Is Brooks "Too Tall" Anderson too tall?

[al baby]

No woman in the world is going to pay $200 for four inches...

That sounds naughty

[Jack Hydrazine]

Having him stand like that for the whole trip violates FAA regs when taking off and landing.

[Little Ray]

Says pretty bad things about the folks on the emergency aisles, doesn’t it?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

That being said, one solution would be to pay for the bigger seats if needed, where in this case, would have given him the relief needed. So while I fault Spirit Airlines somewhat for their asinine policy of building sardine cans for the cheapest economy passengers, they do offer more legroom for additional money. But this would require personal responsibilty when situations like this arise.

The thing is, coach seats are built for smaller people - shorter, thinner, a body type that was far more common in the US of 1961 than 2011. When a significant percentage of your passengers can no longer fit comfortably in your most common seating and that percentage keeps increasing, recommending the purchase of luxury seats that cost many times the price of basic seating starts to become an unrealistic suggestion.

Airlines need to wake up. I'm only 5'11 and I'm unable to keep the soles of my feet on the floor in many coach seats because there's no room for my knees. Passengers who recline their seats fully are far too close to having their heads in my lap for my comfort. This kind of overcrowding can only lead to more people avoiding air travel like the plague.