I have another idea for airlines to make a little more money, while doing a little better for passengers.
We all know airlines seats aren't getting any wider, but the passengers sure are. I have read and heard of a number of stories where the girth of one passenger significantly impinged on the personal space, not to mention comfort, of another.
This is a tough situation. It might be easy to blame the large person, but they are in a tough spot. They aren't trying to take up someone else's space. They would much rather not be in that position. By the same token, the person being crowded does have a reasonable expectation and property right to their seat space, and is being put upon in a way that would never be tolerated in other circumstances.
I know, one solution would be for the heavy person to buy a first class seat, or even two coach seats. But that is an expensive proposition. So, it is almost never done, meaning the airline gets no incremental revenue for the empty seats on that flight, the large person suffers discomfort and embarassment, and the persons seated by them suffer discomfort.
What if the airlines offered to let one passenger purchase and occupy two seats, for more than the price of a single seat, but much less than the full price of two seats? Assuming the flight was not fully loaded--as is typically the case--the airline gets incremental revenue, and the passengers all get to be comfortable (or, at least, no more uncomfortable than normal on a coach flight). Admittedly, the heavy person did have to pay more to bring about this happy situation.
What would be the right premium? I think 30-40%. Percent of what? Of the going ticket price. It would be a standard ticketing option--find your best fare, however and whatever that is, and you have the option to get the second seat.
Okay, I can hear some objecting "but flights are fuller than ever--a significant percentage of flights don't have any empty seats from which to squeeze incremental revenue". Granted. So obviously there would be some restrictions--don't offer the option on flights with a history of being full. Or don't offer it far in advance on flights that might be full (but let people convert, inside the short-term window, from single to dual seating).
Or, how about this two-tier variant? For a 40% premium, you would be guaranteed double-seating. For a 25% premium, you would get double seating, if it is available; if not available, you would be refunded the 25% premium. Talk about incremental revenue! (I suppose the crediting process could be a hassle.)
Or, maybe the whole thing isn't such a major problem...
10:29:05 PM 
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