Lack of legroom, uncomfortable seats flyers' biggest complaints

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  • 4

    sakurala

    I wouldn't mind paying for an upgrade as long as it really was something worth it. I find the "premium economy class" not to really be that much of an improvement but rather just a trick to get more money out of the customers.

  • 1

    MapleG

    If flying trans-pacific, I will certainly pay for an upgraded seat, specifically for leg room. Just booked a ticket today and agreed to pay more for a bulkhead seat that has virtually unlimited leg room, plusl only 2 in the row instead of the usual 3. For a 12 hour flight, it is worth it.

    For a 2-3 hour flight, I won't pay extra, but will just have to suffer being crammed in like the rest of the coach flyers.

  • 3

    Thunderbird2

    Funny how these surveys by internet companies are always aimed at Americans. We British and Europeans travel as well, you know. And yes, leg room IS a problem at times - especially on ANA planes.

    Sorry for the rant - just that sometimes it seems as if America is the only country outside of Japan as far as this site goes.

  • -1

    WilliB

    Well, that survey result is no surprise. I would so very gladly do without all these electronic entertainments and inflight menus if I could just have some more legroom (and maybe a little treadmill next to the pantry. But I guess airlines simply need to stuff as many people into sardine class as possible.

  • 1

    badmigraine

    What I find bothers me most these days are headrests that force your head forward. Sitting with my neck and head jutting forward like that on an international flight gives me the worst stiff neck muscles and head pain. Seats hardly recline much anymore. It'd be nice if my head could at least go flat on the seat back.

  • 0

    borax

    Reclining seats are one of the biggest problems in my opinion. How do you justify a marginal increase in comfort compared to an enormous decrease in comfort - to the point of being unberable - if the person behind you is anywhere near 6-feet tall? The reclining function should be removed from seats, or updated to the recently popular design where the seat back does not actually fall backward at all.

  • -2

    Probie

    I think Louis C.K. sums this up best:

    I was on an airplane and there was high-speed internet on the airplane – that’s the newest thing that I know exists. And I’m sitting on the plane and they go “open up your laptop, you can go on the internet.” And it’s fast and I’m watching YouTube clips – it’s amaz – I’m in an airplane!” And then it breaks down, and they apologize the internet’s not working. The guy next to me goes “phff - this is bulls%$^!” Like how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed ten seconds ago.

    Flying is the worst one because people come back from flights and they tell you your story and it’s like a horror story – they act like their flight was like a cattle car in the forties in Germany – that’s how bad they make it sound. They’re like “it was the worst day of my life. First of all, we didn’t board for twenty minutes, and then we get on the plane and they made us sit there on the runway for forty minutes we had to sit there.” Oh really what happened next? Did you fly through the air incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight you non-contributing zero?! You’re flying! It’s amazing! Everybody on every plane should just constantly be going “oh my God! Wow!” You’re flying! You’re sitting in a chair, in the sky! But it doesn’t go back a lot. And it’s not really – Here’s the thing – people like they say there’s “delays” on flights. “Delays” really? New York to California in five hours - that used to take thirty years to do that and a bunch of you would die on the way there and have a baby. You’d be a whole different group of people when you got there. Now you watch a movie, take a dump and you’re home.

  • 1

    Thunderbird2

    The reclining seats are a pain in the bum to be honest... there you are, trying to while away the hours watching Mr Bean and then some twonk in front of you decides to recline his seat all the way - the screen is then quite literally 6 inches from your nose... I can't sleep on planes, so there I am, in a darkened cabin, unable to watch the TV, or even read thanks to the afore-mentioned twonk in front of me.

  • 0

    Steve Fabricant

    I welcome the respite from internet access and would not pay a dime for it. But I agree that ANA has very cramped seating, and JAL transpacific flights are still using old aircraft with seats reminiscent of clapped-out Thai taxicabs.

  • 0

    wanderlust

    There does seem to be an smaller seat pitch on economy class in flights that involve Asian countries, and another for the rest of the world. It can't be comfortable when even an average height Caucasian's legs are less than 2 cm from the back of the seat in front.

  • 0

    fanofjapan2005

    I'm 6'5", 220. I shouldn't have to be penalized for that. I'll leave the percentage of overweight people -- be they unable to fit in one seat because of inherited DNA or whether they don't give a damn about what they eat, how much they eat, and how often they eat -- to resolve their problems.

    When I take my seat in a plane, two things happen: I immediately get gangrene of the knee caps; further, when the person in front of me (always) suddenly jams his/her seat back, it makes my head hit the bottom of the overhead compartment. (The knees are already numb.) Flying sucks pond scum for tall folks. Prices suck for everybody regardless sof size.

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