Qantas to charge tall passengers extra fee

[Potemkin]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...08-952,00.html

Qantas to charge tall passengers extra fees
Article from: The Courier-Mail

May 26, 2009 12:01am

QANTAS will penalise the tall by charging passengers extra for reserving economy class exit-row seats on its international flights.

Passengers looking for more leg room will be charged an extra $160 on long-haul flights, and $80 per sector on short-haul flights to Asia and New Zealand.

The charge will net the airline more than $2500 each flight and will begin next month.

An airline spokesman said yesterday: "This will give customers greater choice and access to seats that offer more leg room."

Do you agree with airlines charging extra for exit row seats?

The move follows similar charges employed by Virgin Blue across its domestic routes.

Introduction of the fee comes at the same time the airline begins forcing its uber wealthy travellers to "slum it" in business class on selected international flights.

Qantas will cut its first-class service from 42 weekly flights because of a drop in demand caused by the financial crisis.

First to be cut back will be its 747 flights between Sydney and San Francisco and Buenos Aires and the daily service from Melbourne to London.

The 14 first-class seats will be blended into business class.

[Ter]

This is becoming surreal.

Carry-on luggage, more than one check-in luggage, the fat, the long, what next ?
I think elderly passengers should also pay some extra. They move too slowly.
And pregnant women ? They carry an extra person on them, pay, damnit.
Who else ? Oh, passengers who cannot speak English, that forces the airline to hire multilingual stewardesses. Pay, ...

Ter

[ob1]

[frodo]

Charge by weight.

[Oric]

charge by shoulder width

[A.T. Hagan]

Charge by volume. That's what we're really talking about. How much space you take up.

Charge by breathing as well. Breathe too much and you pay extra.

.....Alan.

[leistb]

Originally Posted by A.T. Hagan

Charge by volume. That's what we're really talking about. How much space you take up.

Charge by breathing as well. Breathe too much and you pay extra.

.....Alan.

And DO NOT burp or fart.

[rc]

Despite the headline, it does not appear that they are charging based upon height. They are charging extra for exit-row seating.

On American Airlines (and probably others), elite-level frequent fliers get first dibs on those seats. Apparently, Qantas decided to make a different business decision, and get a few extra bucks out of them.

They are charging more for better seats; they are not charging extra for "tall passengers".

[ob1]

Originally Posted by rc

Despite the headline, it does not appear that they are charging based upon height. They are charging extra for exit-row seating.

On American Airlines (and probably others), elite-level frequent fliers get first dibs on those seats. Apparently, Qantas decided to make a different business decision, and get a few extra bucks out of them.

They are charging more for better seats; they are not charging extra for "tall passengers".

But...If the extra tall passenger is required to occupy the exit row seat...then isn't that charging more for being tall? Am I missing something?So... which is it.Is the passenger being charged for being tall? ......or...is the tall passenger being required to occupy an exit row seat which just happens to cost more?

Is charging more for exit seating a form of torture? Nevermind.

[Ter]

The normal seats in economy cattle class are too close to one another. Passengers who are six feet tall cannot fit in them properly, especially here in Asia.
I will never fly an airline that charges me for a seat with extra leg space, using the toilet, for a carry on bag, or whatever.

I had a serious case of deep vein thrombosis in 2003.

Ter

[rc]

But...If the extra tall passenger is required to occupy the exit row seat...then isn't that charging more for being tall? Am I missing something?So... which is it.Is the passenger being charged for being tall? ......or...is the tall passenger being required to occupy an exit row seat which just happens to cost more?

Nobody is required to occupy the exit row seats. In fact, passengers who are too young or who are unwilling or unable to operate the emergency exit aren't allowed to sit there.

For example, a 7 foot tall illiterate passenger wouldn't be allowed to sit there, no matter how much he paid, because he wouldn't be able to read the instructions.

[rc]

for a carry on bag

Actually, if they started charging a small fee for carry on bags, boarding would go a lot faster.

Occasional flyers think they are jet setters because they read somewhere that you shouldn't check your bags. Unfortunately, nobody told them the corrolary of that rule, that if you intend to do this, you should pack light. Therefore, you have little old ladies carrying huge suitcases that only by some miracle manage to squeeze into the overhead compartment (they never seem to put them under their seat). These must contain valuable treasures, because they are paranoid that some baggage handler might throw them a couple of feet.

Invariably, these people always seem to be sitting a couple of rows in front of me, and I have to stand there in the aisle with my little bag while they vainly try to stuff it in.

If they started putting little coin operated lockers in place of the overhead bins, these people would either check their bags, and let the trained professional baggage handlers move them from Point A to Point B, or else start carrying a reasonable sized bag that would fit under the seat.

Yes, I know the bag might get thrown or delayed. If you have a bulky object, then you'll just need to learn how to pack it so that it can withstand being thrown and squashed under other bags. It's not going to damage it any more than by trying to squeeze it into an overhead bin which was designed to hold a jacket and a pillow.