If you’re too round to fit between the armrests in an AirTran Airways coach seat, you’ll may soon have to purchase two seats in order to fly.

As I reported on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin, AirTran is being integrated into Southwest Airlines and, beginning March 1, 2012, the airline will adopt Southwest’s current “customers of size” policy.

According to AirTran’s recently updated contract of carriage, air travelers will be required to purchase an additional seat if the passenger, “in the carrier’s sole discretion, encroaches on an adjacent seat and/or is unable to sit in a single seat with the armrest lowered.”

That matches the wording of Southwest Airline’s customers of size policy, which states: “Customers who encroach upon any part of the neighboring seat(s) should proactively book the needed number of seats prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width.”

The width of coach seats on AirTran’s current fleet of airplanes is 18 inches.

Previously, AirTran did not have a specific “customer of size” policy in its contract of carriage and, instead, gave gate staff and crew members authority and responsibility to work out seatmate-of-size solutions on a case-by-case basis.

“Did air travelers who are large pick AirTran over Southwest because AirTran didn’t have such a strict policy? I think they looked at the ticket price,” said Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com.

“AirTran is basically becoming Southwest,” Seaney said. “The two airlines are merging their boarding process, their fleets, their award program and their attitude. So this is just a normal course of business.”

George Hobica, president of AirFareWatchdog.com, said he’s not surprised to see AirTran adopting Southwest’s policies.

“It’s probably a good thing for the comfort of all,” he said. “But I wonder if [the policy] is observed more in the breach than the practice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen passengers that are way too big to fit in one seat getting a free pass.”

(Image courtesy msnbc.com)

Categories: Airline policies, Seatmates of Size
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Whenever the conversation turns to people who are too large to fit into the seats on an airplane, (skinny) people always suggest that airlines charge passengers by weight.

Now Air New Zealand has done it.

Air New Zealand's Pay what you Weigh program

On Air New Zealand, check-in is now known as weigh in.

What do you think?

Will it spread to other airlines?
Will some passengers complain?
Will there be lawsuits?
Will you pay?
Will you pay more attention to that Richard Simmons “Fit to Fly” safety video?
Will you realize it’s April 1st in New Zealand?

Categories: Air Travel, Fun Stuff, Seating, Seatmates of Size
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We want Wi-Fi

Slowly but surely airports large and small are getting with the program and making free wireless Internet access available in the terminals.

The latest major airport to join the party: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

Hooray!

Packing tips from Olympic athletes

Curious about what some Olympic athletes do when they’re traveling – or getting ready to travel? Them you may in interested in the video clips the folks at VISA (a 2010 Olympics sponsor) have posted of athletes talking about what they pack, how they prep for a trip, how skier Ryan St. Onge just had to have an airport burrito, and what Olympic Hockey player Angela Ruggiero packs in her carry-on.

Just as interesting, is the fact that the credit card company is giving away a trip to the Olympics – for life. To enter, you just need to charge something on a VISA card.

Seat tax on Air France for Seatmates of Size

And, just a day after announcing that it was introducing “the lightest and most comfortable short-haul seat in the world,” on some of its planes, Air France announced that passengers who cannot fit into a single seat (on any Air France flight) will have to pay for a second seat – at 75% of the cost of the first seat.

The new policy applies to tickets purchased beginning February 1^st for flights April 1^st and beyond.

Think the new rules may apply to you? Here’s the policy for Passengers with High Body Mass.

What do you think? Should seatmates of size be asked to pay for more than one seat?

Categories: Air Travel, Baggage, Carry-ons, Charge by weight, Contests, Events, Fees, Food, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Obesity, Seatmates of Size, Sports, Wi-Fi
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No matter your weight or your width, the next time you fly make sure you know your airline’s policy on “seatmates of size.”  Better yet, if you can find your airline’s customer of size policy, print it out and carry it with you.

It may help you avoid a pain in the butt and it may save you some bucks.

Last week, United Airlines laid out its new policy for “Passengers requiring extra space.”  It says that passengers who can’t fit into a single seat in their ticketed cabin; need more than one extender in order to buckle their seatbelt and; are unable to put the seat’s armrest down when they are seated may have to purchase a second seat if there are no extra empty seats on their scheduled flight.

What’s the policy on other airlines?  Find out in my Well-Mannered Traveler column posted today on MSNBC.com:  What a deal: one person, two fares.

You may surprised.  Some airlines don’t post their policies and just say they’ll “work something out” if a passenger can’t fit in one seat. Other airlines are very specific about their rules and make it easy to find them – but you may not like what you read.

Categories: Obesity, Seatmates of Size
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This week United Airlines joined Southwest and several other airlines in formalizing and posting a  “seatmates of size” policy on its website.

(From a 2007  Well-Mannered Traveler column on this topic, courtesy MSNBC.com)

Although the policy was quietly posted on the airline’s Web site some time ago, it went into effect just this past Wednesday, April 15th.

The policy will please passengers who find themselves squeezed in next to someone who doesn’t really fit in their own seat and will disappoint travelers who feel that, rather than charging large passengers for more space, airlines should just be putting larger seats on all airplanes.

You can read the current policy here but, in a nutshell, the policy states that if you don’t fit into your seat with the armrests down, if you need more than one seat belt extender to buckle your seat belt, or if you simply do not fit into a single seat in your ticketed cabin, then you may end up having to purchase a second seat and fly on a later flight.

The key word here is may.  Which is not what the policy first stated.

Last Wednesday, the policy United posted on its Website stated that passengers falling into certain categories MUST by an extra seat.  By the end of the day, however, the wording had been changed to better reflect the policy an airline spokesperson  said was the “real” policy: that before charging anyone for a second seat, United flight crews would try to find two adjacent seats for the large passenger at no extra charge

I think that’s a big  difference.  And I’m glad they changed the wording. Read about how the wording got changed in my Well-Mannered Traveler column, The Skinny on United’s seatmates of size”, on MSNBC.com.

And tell me what you think….

Categories: Obesity, Seatmates of Size
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