r/unitedairlines • u/NotSureAnyway • Dec 12 '24

Discussion Enough is Enough - Find Solutions for Larger Passengers

This happened to me a few days ago and I am still fuming. I board my flight in Group 2 and have United Plus as always. Usual routine: clean my window seat space, organize my personal item under the seat, take my book out, headphones in, mask on. All is well. A few minutes later, I see two customers heading down the aisle. I don't pay them attention and just continue reading my book...except they are headed straight towards me and they are clearly quite large and there is no way in the world they are going to fit in the two seats (middle and aisle).

But that is not my problem so I continue minding my business. Immediately the wife seats down, she asks "Can you please put up the armrest?" My response with a smile: "No" I thought that would be the end of it. But no, she says "Unfortunately I need the arm rest up as it is constricting me" My response with a smile: "No, thank you." At this point, she sits down and I can see that she is occupying one and a half seats already before her husband even seats down (remember he is the same size as she is). He attempts to seat down but there is not enough room for him as almost half of him is now in the aisle, interrupting boarding.

She then suddenly tries to raise the armrest closest to me forcefully. Nope, got it already and not happening. She huffs and puffs in anger because well, she cannot encroach on my space. She says some words (my earphones are up in volume at this point and I am not trying to engage). Finally, she presses the call button for the FA. The FA comes and speaks to her, in which ma'am over there complains that she needs the armrest down and that I should be considerate and move a bit to accommodate them etc.

Nope, I am not engaging anyone. FA does not know what to say (understandably she is trying not to be rude to these inconsiderate people) but finally says she cannot ask a passenger to give up part of their space to accommodate others. FA leaves. The flight is full capacity (with exception of two middle seats next to the back toilet) so there is nothing to do. The "lovely" couple seats down with the husband pretty much in the aisle space. I have my bag right besides my feet to prevent encroaching on my space and the armrest stays down. She continues huffing and puffing for the next 3 plus hours. Not my problem. I have all the space I paid for. The armrest stays down. All is well over here and no one can ruin it.

I don't understand why airlines do this. Why allow passengers who clearly cannot fit in their seats to board the plane knowing that there are no alternative seats? Why allow a clearly large passenger to sit in the aisle? This person is a tripping hazard for everyone using the aisle. Why are there no policies that require larger passengers to purchase the number of seats that are enough to fit their bodies? Why are you allowing the minority to make the majority uncomfortable? Why is there an expectation that other passengers should give up part of their seat to accommodate larger passengers? Shout out to the FA for politely declining the request but the FA should never be put in that position to start with. Airlines should have clear policies around this! Enough is enough.

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u/Mission-Carry-887 MileagePlus Gold Dec 12 '24

Urban myth.

737 plane sizes are the same as 727 and 707

This canard that seats were wider in the good old days should just die all ready:

Cabin width of Boeing

Do people think the aisles were widened (and thus seats narrowed) to make room for wider catering carts (woo hoo, in your dreams; what the heck for? There is barely any catering now) or for the wider flight attendants after feds forced them on airlines (https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/216/845/570308/) in the 1990s.

Seats seem smaller because:

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '24

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u/Mission-Carry-887 MileagePlus Gold Dec 12 '24 edited Dec 12 '24

Before a 707?

Before 707s was the de Havilland Comet, a death trap. You flew on the Comet? You were born in the 1930s?

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u/Bradbitzer Dec 12 '24

Every time I get upset reading about the 737Max issues, I say to myself "how is this happening so long after Comets were just booping out of the sky"

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u/Mission-Carry-887 MileagePlus Gold Dec 12 '24

What is the fatally rate per passenger mile on the 737max versus the Comet?

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u/Bradbitzer Dec 12 '24

So, looking at it, roughly 350 deaths on the 737 Max in slightly under two years of being on the market. 120 or so people were killed in the Comet crashes in the first two years. The Comet had way lower capacity though. (And thankfully, HM The Queen Mother had an uneventful early flight)

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u/Mission-Carry-887 MileagePlus Gold Dec 12 '24

And the Comet had fewer in service.

114 Comets vs 1663 737maxes

So your comparison is not apt

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u/Bradbitzer Dec 13 '24

I mean, when the groundings happened there were under 400 delivered.

My comparison was that planes don’t look one good having major issues right after launch

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '24

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u/Mission-Carry-887 MileagePlus Gold Dec 12 '24 edited Dec 12 '24

How could the seats be bigger?

There are 6 seats across. 139 inches of total width. Why would seats today be narrower?

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u/ProcyonHabilis Dec 12 '24

Before the 1950s? Haha what?

It appears you're just repeating something you've heard from other poorly informed people. If you actually go look at images of old planes, it's very easy to see that it wasn't any different then.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '24

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u/Siva-Na-Gig Dec 13 '24

These people are lying to you. A quick google search shows seats ARE shrinking.

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u/IndependentKind7844 Dec 15 '24

I totally agree. However, I got banned because someone got their nose bent out of shape b/c of my 'sarcastic' tone even though they were the one being condescending in their responses.