Cattle class sucks!

FORANE

FORANE

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FORANE
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I flew southwest this morning out to KC. I'm taking the rainbow aviation LSRI course this weekend. That's great but the ride out here had me feeling like a sardine in a tin can. Commercial air travel ain't what it used to be.
 
FORANE said:
I flew southwest this morning out to KC. I'm taking the rainbow aviation LSRI course this weekend. That's great but the ride out here had me feeling like a sardine in a tin can. Commercial air travel ain't what it used to be.
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What model 737 was it? Some of the newer ones ain’t half bad.
 
midwestpa24 said:
No offense, but you chose a low cost carrier and expected luxury? That's like buying a DC-3 for the fuel economy.
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First time flying southwest...
Didn't expect luxury, but enough room for a little oil between me and my adjacent sardine would be nice.
 
FORANE said:
First time flying southwest...
Didn't expect luxury, but enough room for a little oil between me and my adjacent sardine would be nice.
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You didn't get the standard bottle of lube to slip between the armrests? SW really is slacking now. :biggrin:

My wife and I made the mistake a while back of upgrading to business class on a trip because the cost difference was practically nothing. Now there's no going back. Don't do it!
 
If the complaint is the amount of space between you and the person next to you, that's not the industry's fault - we're all just getting fatter. The 707/727/737/757 has always been 6 across in steerage. Seat pitch and the seats themselves definitely changed, though!
 
midwestpa24 said:
You didn't get the standard bottle of lube to slip between the armrests? SW really is slacking now. :biggrin:

My wife and I made the mistake a while back of upgrading to business class on a trip because the cost difference was practically nothing. Now there's no going back. Don't do it!
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For some time now my wife has been putting us in first class. She didn't make this reservation. She's on a girl's spa weekend.
 
kayoh190 said:
If the complaint is the amount of space between you and the person next to you, that's not the industry's fault - we're all just getting fatter. The 707/727/737/757 has always been 6 across in steerage. Seat pitch and the seats themselves definitely changed, though!
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Not just fatter, but bigger overall. It probably relates to hormones in our food supply. And yes, the complaint is the amount of space between you and the person next to you. It was ridiculous. I felt like we were in college trying for the record of how many people could we stuff inside a Volkswagen.
 
Did the people you sat next to have the overhead bin already stuffed and then give you **** when you 12x4x8 carry-on maybe touched there giant hat?

Db Cooper wore a suit to hijack a plane and was less entitled than the people boarding in crop tops or pajamas
 
Racerx said:
Did the people you sat next to have the overhead bin already stuffed and then give you **** when you 12x4x8 carry-on maybe touched there giant hat?

Db Cooper wore a suit to hijack a plane and was less entitled than the people boarding in crop tops or pajamas
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The bins were pretty stuffed but I only carried a small duffel bag and was able to contort it over a purse in the bin.

There was a heavy couple in the first row that got to keep one seat empty. The woman was probably north of 300 lbs. She put the armrest up and just claimed 2 seats as her own despite the flight being completely full according to the gate agent.
 
FORANE said:
There was a heavy couple in the first row that got to keep one seat empty. The woman was probably north of 300 lbs. She put the armrest up and just claimed 2 seats as her own despite the flight being completely full according to the gate agent.
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I have many airline stories (in the back, not an ATP). I was on a commuter plane with 2 and 2 seating. The seat next to mine was the only open seat. Door was about to close and I was quietly enjoying my good fortune (Don't know the plane, but it was tight at 2+2). At the last minute a 300 lb'er walked on - Oh Crap!. She took one look at the very narrow seat and even though I'm not fat, not a lot of room. Turned around and never boarded. Sometimes it just works out.

On the other hand, I was flying to a tropical vacation, so wearing shorts. Big beef in the next seat asked to put up the armrest. In my most polite voice, I said NFW. I think I might still be chemically bonded to that leg if the armrest hadn't been there.

Business class or my plane from now on.
 
FORANE said:
There was a heavy couple in the first row that got to keep one seat empty. The woman was probably north of 300 lbs. She put the armrest up and just claimed 2 seats as her own despite the flight being completely full according to the gate agent.
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They may have purchased that seat, especially if they were in the first row as, those who do, pre-board.

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please do a write up of the LSRI course when you get back. I'm going to be looking into getting that one done when I manage to get back into ownership.
 
The last time airline travel was tolerable was during COVID when they had the middle seats blocked. That was awesome (well... relative to the previous and current state of things anyway). The terminals were easily navigable. Plenty of elbow and knee room onboard. The vast majority of people travelling were biz travelers that knew how the process worked so boarding and deboarding were easy-peasy. I had a flight home on the last Thurs that they had the middle seats blocked and an outbound flight the following Monday. I had hoped that it would take things some time to return the the original level of suckage, but it didn't. It was like a light switch flipped and misery ensued first thing Monday morning and has only grown worse over the years since.
 
Interesting choice of words. Any time I go into a crowded place like modern commercial airports with security it reminds me of the cattle chutes we had on the farm. We had a separate pen off every pasture with a series of corral gates that were set up to shuffle cattle single file in a line and into a stock trailer. It was intentionally too narrow for them to turn around so they could only go forward with little room to kick or cause any trouble. Anyway that's the imagery that comes to mind for me when flying commercial.

One more reason why I loathe those places.
 
Like sardines has a different image for me. I crossed the Atlantic on a troop ship. Berths were 6 stack, 8 foot ceiling. That is about 16 inches vertical space. Unless you were really skinny, you climbed in facing up or down, your preference, because you were not turning over all night.

I had a preferred bunk, second up, as I was on KP all the way over, and fell out at 5 AM, trying not to disturb others.

That IS like sardines!


Re cattle class, per Cowman, one of the neat features of those narrow lanes to the loading chute, if you goose the last animal in line, they surge forward, creating a wave of motion, which tends to continue. It does not take much poking to keep them moving, and they cannot turn on you.
 
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The whole airline experience deteriorates as time goes by. The cabin crew seem to be there for the ride. Passenger manners are nonexistent.
 
aaaaaah, an additional benefit of retiring.... not having to travel (airline) for business anymore.
 
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