Would you pay $120 for a better seat in a 9 hour flight?

hollie.weimeraner

I have never paid extra for seats as me and my wife don't need extra leg room as we aren't that tall (5' 8" and 5' 4") and fortunately have never had an issue since we started flying abroad in 1982, until last year.

We went to the US in September with BA and as we were booked on a connecting flight from M/C we were able to book the SF seats before the LHR booking opened up. We were really lucky and booked seats F and G 24 which is a centre row of 3. On the flight out the seat next to my wife was empty.

On the way home we flew from Las Vegas and booked in 24 hours early on a 747. When we got settled we experienced what we are always frightened of - the guy next to my wife must have been 30 stone and spread over into my wife's seat and leg area despite asking him to keep his legs in front of him he insisted on using her leg space.

The flight was absolutely rammed so there were no other seats in economy but once airborne the cabin crew managed to find us 2 seats right at the front of World Traveller plus which was excellent.

My point is if you are worried about legroom then it's probably worth paying extra for seats but I see the biggest problem is peoples expanding waistlines and the airlines reducing the width of their seating (as I believe BA are doing on their Boeing 777's this year).

I think this has been muted before but people that are the size of 2 average people should be made to purchase 2 seats (waiting to be flamed now:rotfl:)

novelty-socks

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

I think this has been muted before but people that are the size of 2 average people should be made to purchase 2 seats (waiting to be flamed now:rotfl:)

I'm not really sure how this thread ended up here, but I think the real story here is that you had some pretty bloody good customer service from British Airways! If anything, this story sounds like an argument for booking a couple of middle seats and hoping that someone on the larger side sits next to you!

Gleeful

Deleted_User wrote: »

All seats on a plane have a forward-facing view unless you're in a FAs seat.

FWIW,unless someone else is paying and now I'm retired that's unlikely I always travel in the cheapest seat.
A middle seat is only inches away from any other seat.
I'd rather have the $120 to spend on booze.

I think he is referring to the pilots seats? Which face forward and have a view

lady1964

Deleted_User wrote: »

All seats on a plane have a forward-facing view unless you're in a FAs seat.

Not necessarily, BA Club World has some rear facing seats in the middle of the cabin.

ARandomMiser

For short haul flights I wouldn't pay extra but for long haul I am happy to pay extra (especially if I can put it through company expenses ).

Be aware though that some airlines do not always release all seats for online check - they keep some back so that they can try to keep families together - however when it comes to check-in at the airport they will try to give you the seat type you want (assuming one is free).

shaun_from_Africa

lady1964 wrote: »

Not necessarily, BA Club World has some rear facing seats in the middle of the cabin.

It's not only the middle of the cabin that has rear facing CW seats.
A 3 class 777 (World traveller, WT+ and CW) usually has 48 CW seats and 24 of these are rear facing.
These are all of the window seats and the centre 2 in each middle block.

marsman802

This has been interesting to see the attitudes of people happy to stump up that extra cash these day.

FWIW I'd do the same (on long haul only) but my point on the above is the near unanimous view that most would do it.

sandsy

I'd be more likely to pay it for a night flight than a daytime flight.