This woman seated between two obese people is awful but so are they for not buying the extra seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me feel like I live on an entirely different planet. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight with empty seats - usually they're begging people to check carry-ons because it's full. So switching seats would be impossible. I also feel like 90% of the flights I've taken in the past 5-10 years have been Southwest. They always seem to have the most availability and are the cheapest. And Southwest doesn't do assigned seats. So all this discussion of "buy an aisle" or "ask the FA kindly to switch" is completely irrelevant to most flights I've been on.

You admit you fly one airline essentially and that their policies make it so you can't relate to these other suggestions. But you seem to be concluding chart these suggestions are out of touch instead of understanding that southwest is just different. Which it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me feel like I live on an entirely different planet. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight with empty seats - usually they're begging people to check carry-ons because it's full. So switching seats would be impossible. I also feel like 90% of the flights I've taken in the past 5-10 years have been Southwest. They always seem to have the most availability and are the cheapest. And Southwest doesn't do assigned seats. So all this discussion of "buy an aisle" or "ask the FA kindly to switch" is completely irrelevant to most flights I've been on.

You admit you fly one airline essentially and that their policies make it so you can't relate to these other suggestions. But you seem to be concluding chart these suggestions are out of touch instead of understanding that southwest is just different. Which it is.

You're forgetting that this is a DC forum, which would assume most of us are flying out of the same place. So to assume that a lot of other people on this board have the same experience as me is very reasonable. Hence my surprise that so many posters are discussing things that would not apply to Southwest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me feel like I live on an entirely different planet. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight with empty seats - usually they're begging people to check carry-ons because it's full. So switching seats would be impossible. I also feel like 90% of the flights I've taken in the past 5-10 years have been Southwest. They always seem to have the most availability and are the cheapest. And Southwest doesn't do assigned seats. So all this discussion of "buy an aisle" or "ask the FA kindly to switch" is completely irrelevant to most flights I've been on.

You admit you fly one airline essentially and that their policies make it so you can't relate to these other suggestions. But you seem to be concluding chart these suggestions are out of touch instead of understanding that southwest is just different. Which it is.

You're forgetting that this is a DC forum, which would assume most of us are flying out of the same place. So to assume that a lot of other people on this board have the same experience as me is very reasonable. Hence my surprise that so many posters are discussing things that would not apply to Southwest.

Why would you assume most people in DC are flying Southwest? I lived in DC my whole life until last year and haven't flown southwest since I was a kid. And I travel a lot. BWI is a hub but DCA and IAD are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me feel like I live on an entirely different planet. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight with empty seats - usually they're begging people to check carry-ons because it's full. So switching seats would be impossible. I also feel like 90% of the flights I've taken in the past 5-10 years have been Southwest. They always seem to have the most availability and are the cheapest. And Southwest doesn't do assigned seats. So all this discussion of "buy an aisle" or "ask the FA kindly to switch" is completely irrelevant to most flights I've been on.

You admit you fly one airline essentially and that their policies make it so you can't relate to these other suggestions. But you seem to be concluding chart these suggestions are out of touch instead of understanding that southwest is just different. Which it is.

You're forgetting that this is a DC forum, which would assume most of us are flying out of the same place. So to assume that a lot of other people on this board have the same experience as me is very reasonable. Hence my surprise that so many posters are discussing things that would not apply to Southwest.

I fly a dozen times a year and have done so for the last decade. I’ve almost never flown on Southwest. I don’t go to BWI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me feel like I live on an entirely different planet. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight with empty seats - usually they're begging people to check carry-ons because it's full. So switching seats would be impossible. I also feel like 90% of the flights I've taken in the past 5-10 years have been Southwest. They always seem to have the most availability and are the cheapest. And Southwest doesn't do assigned seats. So all this discussion of "buy an aisle" or "ask the FA kindly to switch" is completely irrelevant to most flights I've been on.

You admit you fly one airline essentially and that their policies make it so you can't relate to these other suggestions. But you seem to be concluding chart these suggestions are out of touch instead of understanding that southwest is just different. Which it is.

You're forgetting that this is a DC forum, which would assume most of us are flying out of the same place. So to assume that a lot of other people on this board have the same experience as me is very reasonable. Hence my surprise that so many posters are discussing things that would not apply to Southwest.

I fly a dozen times a year and have done so for the last decade. I’ve almost never flown on Southwest. I don’t go to BWI.

+1

I flew it twice 15 years ago. It was awful. Also, I don't fly out of BWI. I typically fly American (~75%) and a mix of JetBlue, United, Delta, etc. (~25%), depending on destination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the people in that row have their armrests down? I believe the airline requires that you be able to fit in the seat, with armrests down, or you need to buy an extra seat.

I was on a Southwest flight several years ago. The last seat was an aisle seat next to a large gentleman who was sitting in a middle seat and at least 1/4 of the open seat beside him. The armrest was up, there is no way it could have come down. I did not say anything, I am not small by any means. However, looking back, it was a very uncomfortable flight and I should have spoke up.

I had a similar experience a few years ago back flying Southwest from Chicago to DC.
I was one of the last people to board and had to sit in a middle seat. The woman seated in the aisle was extremely obese. There was a teenage boy sitting in the window seat. When I first sat down I didn't realize it, but they were mother and son. They bickered and argued the entire flight, with me sitting in the middle. Because the woman was encroaching in my seat, I had to sit in an awkward and painful angle. Thankfully Chicago to DC is just a couple hours flight.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar experience a few years ago back flying Southwest from Chicago to DC.
I was one of the last people to board and had to sit in a middle seat. The woman seated in the aisle was extremely obese. There was a teenage boy sitting in the window seat. When I first sat down I didn't realize it, but they were mother and son. They bickered and argued the entire flight, with me sitting in the middle. Because the woman was encroaching in my seat, I had to sit in an awkward and painful angle. Thankfully Chicago to DC is just a couple hours flight.

*ugh, not sure why the quotes in the previous post got so messed up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar experience a few years ago back flying Southwest from Chicago to DC.
I was one of the last people to board and had to sit in a middle seat. The woman seated in the aisle was extremely obese. There was a teenage boy sitting in the window seat. When I first sat down I didn't realize it, but they were mother and son. They bickered and argued the entire flight, with me sitting in the middle. Because the woman was encroaching in my seat, I had to sit in an awkward and painful angle. Thankfully Chicago to DC is just a couple hours flight.

*ugh, not sure why the quotes in the previous post got so messed up!

You were encroaching on the other posts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar experience a few years ago back flying Southwest from Chicago to DC.
I was one of the last people to board and had to sit in a middle seat. The woman seated in the aisle was extremely obese. There was a teenage boy sitting in the window seat. When I first sat down I didn't realize it, but they were mother and son. They bickered and argued the entire flight, with me sitting in the middle. Because the woman was encroaching in my seat, I had to sit in an awkward and painful angle. Thankfully Chicago to DC is just a couple hours flight.

*ugh, not sure why the quotes in the previous post got so messed up!

You were encroaching on the other posts!

Lol!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


All I know is when I see an outsized lady with a undersized gent, I'm thinking, "damn, her parents LOADED!".

You consider him an undersized gent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


All I know is when I see an outsized lady with a undersized gent, I'm thinking, "damn, her parents LOADED!".

Or maybe she gives up sex twice a day.

Um, he’s not in it for the sex. She might be the “breadwinner” though. If only they could afford first class, but then he’d have to sit next to his “beloved”. So, win/win for him??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


All I know is when I see an outsized lady with a undersized gent, I'm thinking, "damn, her parents LOADED!".

You consider him an undersized gent?

Not the guy in the video, but when I see the aisle/window/empty middle seat game being played - that wife ain’t so gentle, if you catch my drift. The husband is usually notably smaller in size. Probably just a coincidence, though.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long is the longest thread on DCUM?

Fire in upper NW hit 429 pages before it was locked:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/471170.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Again, we switch all of the time. Except if there is no one in the middle (very rarely these days). Why is that a hard concept for you to grasp?

INSANE.

I don't get this either. We're a family of 4, and when we fly to Europe the configuration is often 2-3-2. We reserve the 2 set, then take the aisle seats in teh 3-set. If a person shows up for the middle seat, we swap with them so a parent is in the middle seat, and a DD is on the aisle.

The trick is to book the last row, as the middle seat in that last row is usually the very last seat to get filled. So if you have just one open seat on the entire flight, it's likely to be that one.

Here's the issue: people who fly often know damn well that the couples/families that leave the middle seat open, more often than not, do NOT switch, and the middle person is stuck with that couple/family (usually as obnoxious as you would expect, having done that with the seats) for the duration of that trip. You can deny it all you want, but you are not me, and I have never once seen a couple/family fill/switch to the middle seat that they hoped would stay open. But there is an unstable poster upthread who insists on name calling, because it is clear she has been name called all her life. What it comes down to is that your problem is not my problem. Neither party was right. Let's leave it at that.

You haven’t flown with my family. I always book the ends and give up one or the other if the middle fills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


All I know is when I see an outsized lady with a undersized gent, I'm thinking, "damn, her parents LOADED!".

You consider him an undersized gent?

No PP that is a totally unrelated hateful remark about fat people as this thread has just become an excuse to call them terrible useless people.