As a person of similar height, I would happily pay 10% more
for a seat pitch that is 10% greater, just as airlines now
charge for exit rows, bulkheads, etc. Make a few rows
deeper, charge more for seats that pax reserve in those rows.
Don't need a hot towel or free booze, thanks,
just a seat that my femurs fit into,
but not at 2x
price of coach, darn it.
My problem is that's it's just not available - of my 4 transcontinental flights this year, all booked 2 months in advance - only on one leg was there a premium seat for me to buy (well on 2 legs, but they canceled and rebooked one of those legs - and no premium left on the rebooked flight. )
And they simply don't sell them on Bombardier CRJs that I normally fly.
PE is usually between 80-150% of the ticket price on routes between Asia and Europe (BA, Lufthansa, EVA). However PE tickets are usually more flexible on many routes and if the company is booking flexible economy tickets (usually around +75% of cheaper saver fares) then it is only a small price more to fly PE
I like to think of this as discriminatory. I'm a human being, yes, unusually tall, but a human who has no control over their height, why should I pay more to keep blood circulating to my feet?
But then the question is where does it stop, cos then little people get almost a bed while I'm getting just a seat.
Then you get obese people saying it's part of genes or they are naturally big boned so they want the wide seats. Then you get hipsters with ESAs wanting an unoccupied middle seat for their annoying dog/cat. Then the tall persons wants to sit next to their wife and kids too so they want the whole exit row for free. You dont have any control over height I guess but it's open a whole set of another problems if check-in staff start explicitly and openly profiling people. You probably find though, if travelling alone, and check-in early you can just ask for an exit room seat - only when check-in is managed by a 3rd party (check this) and the seats are already sold have I been declined, it's a request not a demand though.
Yeah I used to go early to do this, but more recently they've been far less lenient and far more airlines encourage (or borderline force) early check in. These days I just pay attention to the aircraft, I can sit in regular seats on widebody/long haul aircraft but can't do it on a320s or 737 class aircraft with budget airlines (there are surprising exceptions such as easyjet and ryanair but I think that's truly because of thinner profile seats)
I'm not even tall, but I have had flight anxiety/claustrophobia on flights before and I can only fly aisle seats. I'm often happy to pay for exit as well. What's the current markup on exit rows? 15-25%?
This is starting to happen. FinnAir has economy comfort on long haul, it's about 20% of ticket price for the upgrade, it's economy with just the legroom enhancement to 35"
