How Cope with tight airline seat space

 Tight economy class seats continue to be major air travel hassle. It is quite wrong in ordinary circumstances, but an oversized neighbor can sometimes make travel unbearable. A reader writes:

"What bothers me as far as the seats narrow in the economy is the invasion of another, more corpulent people in space, I have a ticket to occupy.". I do not think it's fair for people to have their precious space seat stolen by other flyers that do not correspond between the parameters established from their seats. Why do airlines establish rules for people? ?

In short, the answer is, "most airlines have rules, but most of the rules are vague and most is misapplied." And no rules are designed specifically to protect the real victims: travellers stranded beside or between oversized seatmates.

The current rules: what they say?

Tight economy class seats continue to be major air travel hassle.

Most of the U.S. lines say something about oversized travellers, either in terms of customer service or the contract of carriage, but commitments vary considerably: Southwest is unique in that it indicates clearly that "clients who are unable to lower the two armrests and/or trespass on any part of the adjacent seat" should be proactively the number before the seats need to travel "." When passengers buy two seats, and the flight is not complete, Southwest reimburses the cost of the second seat. Alaska States: "For the safety and comfort of your own, as well as your fellow travellers, you may be asked to buy a second seat on your flight if you cannot be accommodated by the seat below measures." American said it "requires passengers be able to sit in a seat with armrests down and attached safety belt." Travellers who are not can buy a second seat for the same rate as the original seat when they reserve. At the airport, travellers will sit next to an empty seat if available. If this is not the case, passenger have to buy a second seat on a flight available. Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, United and US Airways are less precise, saying that they can refuse to transport any person unable to sit in a seat with the seatbelt fastened.

Of course, anyone who stole recently knows that airlines often ignore even these modest "rules" in their haste to dispatch flights, and clear the lobbies. They dump the problems on the crew, who may or may not be able to organize a good solution.

… And what they say

I couldn't find anything in the contract of any line clearly indicating that a passenger with a reservation invalid, and the ticket is entitled to 100% of a seat. And if you're stuffed by a neighbour oversized on the same side, not to mention both sides, you may wind up with perhaps just 60% or 70% of the seat that you have purchased.

If a crew decides to work on the problem rather than simply ignore it, the solution is to move you, or the traveller oversized to another seat (or seats), depending on what seats are available. This is not a contractual obligation. simple common sense. Also, in theory, the crew could move you or your neighbor oversized until a spacious cabin, but - as I can tell - that happen very often. And if your flight is complete, once he left, the crew cannot do anything to solve the problem.

No improvement in sight