A passenger flying New York to Hawaii paid for an extra legroom seat but once on board, a pregnant woman started asking people to switch seats with her. She was assigned a seat farther back in standard economy. And she was shaming people that refused, saying they “wouldn’t understand what it feels like to be a woman carrying a baby in this summer heat.”
While both Delta and Hawaiian Airlines fly New York JFK to Honolulu non-stop, and both offer extra legroom seats – Hawaiian “Economy Comfort” and Delta “Comfort+” – there was additional discussion of the issue that suggested that the “comfort” seat the passenger paid for was on Delta.
About 15 minutes before takeoff, a visibly pregnant woman was walking up and down towards the front of the plane. Her and a flight attendant look around for a moment, talk a bit, and then the lady approached me asking if I would be willing to switch seats with the her due to her condition.
I politely declined. I explained that I had specifically booked this seat because I’m pretty long (I’m 6’4 tall) and that I needed the extra comfort and space. The attendant seemed understanding and went to ask other passengers near me, but no one volunteered.
The woman flew in back. Every time this passenger walked back past her to use the lavatory he “felt awkward” and “guilty” as a “young man without the burden of carrying a child.” He knows he could have “sacrificed a bit.” But should he have had to prioritize her comfort over his, which he’d paid for?
- Normally I’d say that it’s up to the passenger to purchase the product that they need for their comfort. If they cannot afford that product, then they might rely on family or friends (or the baby’s father) to help them. But it’s not the responsibility of a stranger.
- If you wish, you can criticize an airline for offering seats with too little space. But if they added space to every seat then their cost per seat would be higher – and so would fares. Airlines are not a high margin business! So you’d just be advocating to make everyone pay more for more room, not just those who value it.
- However, it appears in this telling that Delta was offering downgrade compensation in the amount of the difference between what the passenger paid for Comfort+ extra legroom seating and regular coach. That suggests to me that the airline had somehow overbooked Comfort+ – they weren’t just trying to find the pregnant woman a free upgrade for her comfort. And in that case, it’s Delta’s screwup – but still certainly not the passenger’s responsibility to suffer.
And if there was somehow an overbooking of Comfort+ seats such that Delta would offer a downgrade offer, then Delta should have been offering a lot more than just the difference in fare to make this right.
As for the pregnant woman – if she was supposed to be in extra legroom seating and somehow got bumped from that section, and regular coach was unbearable, there are other options! Take compensation, and then get rebooked. For instance, Delta flies New York JFK to Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Detroit to Honolulu. If flight times don’t allow, insist they rebook onto a different carrier. Fly the next day.
No sympathy here – if she needed extra leg room, she should of paid for such a seat. It is no one else’s responsibility. Just another Karen…
Who’s to say someone wouldn’t wear a bump body suit to fake pregnant if they got special treatment? We know people fake handicaps, fake military status, and fake elite status as it is now.
No sympathy. She knew she was pregnant, right? Buy an extra legroom seat, or pay up to business class, or stay home.
I don’t think it’s Delta’s screw-up. Maybe she was on the upgrade list — but if she had **paid** for Comfort+ she would have justifiably been angrily pointing this out to the FAs. She would not have relied on guilting other passengers. Or at a minimum pointed out to everyone that Delta overbooked and as a result were screwing the pregnant lady.
The average man is 5’7″, the average woman is 5’4″. I happen to be 5’9″ and never have had an issue with legroom in domestic.I do understand for those who are 6 feet or more that legroom is an issue. As for being pregnant, that is more of a lower back discomfort than a legroom issue. Those premium seats have the same back support (or lack of..) as standard seats. This woman just wanted something for free. She had the option of buying a seat and chose not too.
Does Delta offer a premium birthing experience in the sky?
Why didn’t the person who wanted the extra-legroom seat offer to buy out the occupants? Ronald Coase would have provided a present for the child’s birthday.
Wow, a reference to Ronald Coase on this blog. That’s pretty deep.
Surely she knows what causes that condition.
I lived in Brazil for several years. (Brazil being a prarily Roman Catholic country, as far as faith goes.)
There pregnant women are given priority in almost everything (lines seating, etc) because pregnancy is demanding, and their culture recognizes the reality of that.
Remarkably civilized place, Brazil.
America used to be.
Looking forward to President Boden debating an adjudicated rapist / 34 count felon for the most important job in the world.
Biden vs. Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho
Should be good.
As a person who is 6’6″, I understand the idea of being uncomfortable on a plane. However, I pay to ensure I do not have to endure that level of torture. Let’s be honest, a 45min ride from PHX-LAS, I don’t care much at all, its a bus ride and you might catch me in the back of a Spirit or Frontier plane. On the flipside, Phoenix to Anchorage nonstop, I am comfort+ at an absolute minimum. Being pregnant is a choice, being tall is not but I will still say, if you want more comfort, pay for it. Just so many years ago, they didn’t even have comfort plus, if you couldn’t cough up the cash to ride up front, you suffered equally in the back.
lucky it wasn’t jay Lynn Chaney…
tho I doubt if looking at her anybody would know if she was pregnant or just been at the all you can eat buffet
Why was she flying visiably pregnant to Hawaii? If she was going home, that’s one thing. If she was going on vacation, WTF?
One is not responsible for another person’s poor planning. Further, if Delta fouled up her reservation, it is Delta’s responsibility to place the passenger on a plane with the PAID FOR upgrade. I am retired but have flown for business over 30 +/- years. Far too often, I have observed scams concerning early boarding, “upgrades” and like-kind bovine residue. No, not my problem. Pay for it or suffer the consequences. If you cannot afford the upgrade, take Amtrak.
I’m sorry, airlines are NOT PROFITABLE? Give me a break, they made $7.8 Billion net.
You get what you pay for and plan ahead. Go on a long flight, probably 9-10 hours, don’t pay extra for comfort + then you’re stuck in comfort minus for a long time. So because her cheaping out, someone else who did plan ahead is supposed to be in the back!
Most pregnant woman will fit in a regular coach seat. When getting ready to buy a ticket, she should have consulted with her doctor to figure out if she needed to buy a extra room seat or buy an extra seat for comfort. Any fault was entirely hers or possibly that of the airline if they didn’t provide the upgraded seat she paid for.
As far as I am concerned what the airlines do now is criminal. All to make a profit seats are ridiculous small even when you upgrade flights are packed no food tiny snacks up charges for everything. When you fly in the 7o and 80s 90 sthe prices were reasonable you had plenty of flights leg room and meals included free baggage check now it’s a giant shit.. show
It’s not as if she became pregnant an hour before departure. She could have purchased seats in advance to make her flight comfortable.
the width of the seats hasn’t changed
it’s the collapse of personal space by removing 6″ of pitch
yes, at the time of deregulation in ’78, all US carriers had a standard coach pitch of 36″
and the seat backs were 4″-5″ in depth (“thickness”)
when someone reclined in front of you the top of the seat was still in front of your knees
remove the closets, squash the lavs, and add 8 extra rows
personal combat, everyone for themselves
I pay for the service I want. I’m not going to downgrade for anyone, I don’t care who or what they are suffering from, you need to book the class and service you need, if you don’t then, that’s that.
Not a clue why being pregnant in the summer has anything to do with needing extra legroom flying since planes are air conditioned and well known for being too cold much more often than too warm and all seats are cold, not just coach. Meantime, need the extra legroom, then pay for it when you reserve your seat. In addition, pregnancy does not usually make one’s legs longer so the extra legroom is not really the issue due to pregnancy. Want more legroom or wider seats or whatever, reserve them rather than booking a coach seat. Makes no sense to expect anyone to give up a more expensive seat they did book and pay for so they could have extra room to be more comfortable, especially when they have long lets, so you can have the extra room just because you are pregnant or want the added space. Can’t figure out how to book a ticket in the seat you want, then you will definitely have issues taking care of a baby, which is much more demanding than seat booking on an airplane.
Sounds like most of you have not been pregnant. Chances are she wanted/needed extra leg room in order to allow her to elevate her feet to decrease swelling, which can be a big problem during pregnancy. My guess is she may have requested it as an accommodation (yes, pregnancy can be considered a disability), so the airline attempted to accommodate her by offering to compensate someone to give up their seat.
Another possibility is that she needed extra leg room to allow her to use the tray table. Without extra leg room, it’s quite possible she would not have enough space to open it. That’s a long flight to go without the use of the tray table.
@dean WTF? Visibly pregnant women are not allowed to go on vacation?! Pregnancy starts to show at 16-20 weeks. Most airlines allow pregnant folks to fly until at least 36 weeks. Pregnant people work and do normal stuff, often right up to the start of labor.
@Ron, the average height of an America man is about 5’9″. While the worldwide average is 5’7.5″, I’m guessing the average height of men on planes may be >5’9″, as taller men are more successful (I’m short).
@Holly, Gary stated airlines are not high margin businesses (i.e., they don’t have a large per-seat “profit”). Costco is a firm with high profit and low margins.
@Gary, even if DL was offering to compensate me with the difference between what I paid and regular coach fare, I would refuse simply because I don’t trust any airline to use the coach fare I would have paid when I booked (over the full coach fare on date of departure).
To all, is it just me? If she had paid for regular coach, I am uncomfortable with an F/A being involved and asking folks. She wants to get a free upgrade, she shouldn’t be able to have the F/A ask for her.
He shoulda “misgendered” the woman. THAT woulda been a good story 🙂
@Dave W, I understand why she got a flight attendant involved but I also see it as adding pressure for rightfully seated passengers to give up their seat for what is probably a significantly worse one and not get reasonable compensation for it. Reasonable compensation does not mean just the return of the extra paid for the upgraded seat as it should probably be at least double that amount. Why doesn’t the person wanting an upgrade wave around a couple Benjamins as a sweetener and add to that if necessary?
Sorry, but I never used any of my pregnancies to my advantage. We’ve been having babies for thousands of years now, and work around it. If the airlines REALLY cared, they could bump her up to first class!
I’ll try a similar ploy at the next concert I attend. “Hey, i’m hard of hearing or bad eyesight so I need to switch seats with one of you folks closer to the stage” wonder how that would go down?
This whole post is the whole reason people try this. Felt guilty every time she walked by? Please. Honey you knew you’re pregnant. You need a specific seat then book it. So tired of this shit. Her pregnancy isn’t anyone’s problem.
Lexy Green is the only sane one on this thread.
In my travel group, I tell them the seat we bought is the seat we keep.
Pregnant, Infirm, Children are not to be seated in Emergency Exit Rows that is where you find legroom seats.
Her body her choice
NO sympathy at all. He bought the seat. She didn’t. A purchased seat selection belongs to the person that…purchased the seat. The purchased seat overrides the upgrade list. If the purchaser is upgraded to, say Delta One, then that seat then goes to the next person on the Comfort + upgrade list. The airline has done nothing wrong.
@Tracy, you realize the logical problem with your post? Or, you are being deviously subtle, and I applaud that.
Pregnancy is NOT a disability. Let’s not play that card.Please stop the blame game and try some personal responsibility for a change folks!
Person saying at 5’9″ has no problem with legroom…I guess delta must have better legroom that most. I for one have never found enough legroom to be comfortable.
They don’t overbook Comfort+. They don’t want to piss off the people who pay more for their seats. They’ll overbook economy. Offering compensation was a courtesy for her.
“Honey you knew you’re pregnant. You need a specific seat then book it.”
LOL, Shawn, spoken like someone who has never booked a trip far in advance. I booked in March for a trip in December.
Michael J. Madden: If you cannot afford the upgrade, take Amtrak.
As a retired Amtrak employee, we would love to provide a train for this passenger, but west of San Francisco there is a small problem.
@Zebraitis….you reply aged horribly.
As far as pregnant women…if you don’t pay for something, don’t expect it.
*your, not you
I wouldn’t have changed seats either. If someone wants to offer me a better or equivalent seat I’ll switch, but not for a significantly worse seat. The fact that I would have paid for the seat only makes it worse because she’s trying to get something for nothing.
As to the airlines, there’s really no excuse for the extra rows of seats to make the seat pitch uncomfortable even if you’re just 5’3″ like my wife.