https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2025/08/2...
The requirement to buy the extra seat beforehand makes sense because Southwest no longer has open seating and someone who bought that extra seat would need to be moved during the boarding process, but they wouldn't know what seat is open.
It’s ridiculous that seating is so tight that there is no way for me to be comfortable for any significant flight and it’s miserable for anyone other than a child around me.
Whenever I can, I fly in a premium cabin. But if that’s not an option, I’d rather drive 7-10 hours than fly economy.
There is a problem with heavily obese people taking up significantly more horizontal space than is actually fair, but it's absolutely compounded by the airlines shrinking the per-passenger space to the size of the average passenger.
What if an airline wanted to charge by the pound? Or by the cubic metre? “Identify how you please! We just move matter. If the matter requires oxygen, water, or 2.5 pretzel sticks, we will gladly sell that too! Looking for extra savings this summer? Try our new sweat lounge! Your precious bodily fluids are fungible, so sweat them out now and reconstitute when you arrive!”
For what it’s worth, I’m very very strongly in support of socializing things like this and would prefer to live in a community that is of the leave a penny, take a penny mindset.
Carryons are by far the best experience for a passenger - your bag is there with you and you don’t have to arrive at the airport early, nor wait around at baggage claim. All business and frequent travelers would pay extra for this.
Meanwhile, carryons are worse for everyone else, and for the airline! They massively slow down the boarding and deboarding process while you wait for people to heft their massive suitcases up into the bins.
Fewer carryons means faster turnarounds which means more profit.
Thank you for listening to my talk.
bookofjoe•4h ago