The galley might be the best place really. And easy access to drinks & food too.
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No, thatâs not the issue. The issue is itâs a cutthroat business run by idiots. They canât admit to their boards and their shareholders that the have too many unprofitable routes and too many failing hubs. Prestige requires them to grow, not shrink. Yet they are losing money on their business. Thus they have to cut services and costs and add hidden âancillaryâ fees to make up the shortfall. And then they are surprised when they continue to fail. So what do they do next? Go out on a limb and buy another failing airline âfor synergyâ.
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Iâd sit on a spike for 8 hours if the flight was cheap enough!
Wanna go camping�
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Would you be kind enough to let me know which bus or train line goes from Tokyo to cities in the US, UK, Europe, etc.?
In regards to not flying coach, Iâd love it if you would mention that to any of my past employers.
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Awesome. Iâll just grab one of the many trains going from San Francisco to London.
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Why arenât you writing for Boingboing directly? You could have a standard âreasoned, sensible counterpointâ slot under each article. âI am already looking at the banana, Cory, and letâs face it Iâm not in need of instruction to do so, given that Iâm already reading the blog.â
In the spirit of your reply, more specifically, I think Iâd pay for this as a service.
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Aw, boo hoo - tell it to your great-great-grandfather. Between email, video conferencing and the availability of business class, the only thing you have to blame is your own fussiness.
If comfort is that important, cough up. If not, suck it up. Else donât fly.
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Keep it civil, please.
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From Narita to Europe, book Premium Economy on Air France or British Airways. Twice as much as an ultra-cheap economy flight on those airlines in my experience and totally worth it.
From Haneda to Europe, choose Emirates.
You do have a choice.
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I, for one, resent living in the amazing future where I can fly halfway around the world in one day for barely a weekâs salary, because the seats are too small. Give me a wooden sailing ship any day.
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No, I think economics requires it: all companies have fixed costs and variable costs. By expanding, an airline can distribute the fixed costs (HR dept, execs, buildings, maintenance infra) across a wider revenue base, thus becoming more efficient. The trick is the variable costs: fuel and labour mostly. SWA figured out how to hedge against fuel costs, and has a fundamentally different approach to labour (no antagonistic relationships with unions). Thus, they do well.
There certainly are problems with carriers that are trying to support new routes that may not have enough traffic to justify decent planes-- the tactic then becomes: 1) reduce price, 2) smaller planes, and 3) cram more people into the smaller planes.
Teleconferencing was supposed to reduce a lot of air travel-- and I think it has. It will be interesting to see what happens as that trend continues. The other thing I am waiting for is the collapse of the national carriers (Alitalia, Iberia, AeroMexico, etc.) that are propped up by their governments. In reality, there should really only be about 6 global airline companies.
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Iâm not sure where you got that: I never said only the rich should travel - in fact, the less comfortable ALL seats are in a plane, the better it is to discourage anyone from touring around for leisure.
If anyone needs to travel for emergency, the LAST thing on their mind is the 1st world problem of not having big, comfortable seats for my fat ass. It is the availability (more seats, less travelers) and safety that would (and should) be the priority. Smaller seat can at least provide availability part, AND make it more affordable (without making the airlines go under).
I think people who love to travel kind of get defensive about this because deep in their heart, they know that they are being wasteful most of the time. (added) Itâs funny when people get all fired up about the moral deprivation of Japanese whaling but being against fruitless traveling turn into class warfare issue.
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Sorry, communicating instantly with people all over the world isnât amazing enough for me; I demand to do it on my own provocative terms and will complain indignantly in the comments section if that isnât indulged.
You evidently didnât notice my earlier comment. Iâm not imagining it, Emirates does not offer a kosher meal option. Considering their origin, this is unsurprising.
Ah yes. Business class. How nice it must be to be someone with money. Itâs not a circumstance Iâve experienced before.
But you know, I guess I should have just turned down the full scholarship because my budget doesnât extend to business class. I mean, seriously, the nerve of plebs like me, thinking weâre real people.
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This is also the problem with Coryâs (apparent) line of thinking: the tradeoff for wider seats would be increased prices, which will more directly affect the poor than any possible chance of having to buy multiple seats will.
And itâs not like bigger people are regularly told they canât fly or must buy two seats; the more likely scenario is that they simply spill over into the aisle, the window, or onto their neighborsâ seats.
Finally, those who buy first-class and business-class tickets actively subsidize economy class passengers, so in all logic â[p]oorer peopleâ should be thankful for the âsuper wealthyâ passengers at the front of the plane.
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Lots of carriers have âeconomy plusâ airfares, where they sell seats with additional legroom. If there were more people buying these tickets there would be more airlines offering more of these seats. But it seems pretty clear that we like to complain about how crappy airlines are and pretend we would pay more for a better experience, except when it comes time to buy a ticket we simply choose the cheapest one we can get.
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I evidently am not somebody who ever eats airline meals no matter how long the flight since I find them universally inedible.
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How nice for you. I however have enough fast days in my calendar that I donât wish to add any more. That plus a fast metabolism makes opting not to eat on 12~19hr flights not high on my list.
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The real issue is not more legroom for an additional price - most airlines are eagerly touting how they are expanding legroom as this is a hugely popular feature and airlines are making a mint with these ancillary fees. No, the real irritant is seat width because there is nothing a person can do to become narrower.
Iâm a fairly short guy so legroom doesnât concern me much but I have broad shoulders and itâs absolute torture being crammed into a row with other big-shouldered men.
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