Up in the air: Standing room only for this passenger

There seems to be no end of airline challenges that include even lawmakers challenging ever- escalating passenger fees, and generally bizarre behavior. The latest: the passenger without a seat.

RyanAir only floated the idea of “standing seats” but at least one US Airways passenger got a taste of the real thing. He had to stand for a seven-hour flight.

And he was not flying any discount airline. He paid $800 for his ticket. So why did passenger Arthur Berkowitz have to stand?

The Daily Mail reported that Berkowitz boarded a US Airways flight from Alaska to Philadelphia only to find that he could not get past the "morbidly obese" man next to him.

The obese passenger (estimated at 400 pounds) could not fit in his own seat between the armrests (he had to leave them raised) and was spilling over into the next seat.

Flight attendants told Berkowitz that he would have to stand. The flight was full.

He asked to use a flight attendant jump seat. That was denied, so Berkowitz was unable to use his seat belt for landings and take-offs.

Perhaps this was a case of insult to injury: US Airways only offered the passenger a $200 voucher.

And when it comes to fees, here they come again: Spirit Airlines is adding a $2 fee to print boarding passes at its airport kiosks, starting on June 30.

.”Sure the fee is voluntary since you have the option to print the boarding pass prior to arriving at the airport. But is it customer-friendly? No. Then again, no one’s ever accused Spirit of being so,” says Smarter Travel.

“Is Spirit piling on the fees to cover the $50,000 bill it was issued earlier in the week? Kevin Gale at the South Florida Business Journal reported that the DOT fined the carrier for not disclosing the taxes and fees in several pieces of advertisement,” the site asks.

The airlines have also attracted the attention of politicians. A new bill proposed in the US Senate would limit airline baggage fees, which have become a major gripe for travelers but are a leading source of profit for the industry.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) introduced a bill that would prevent airlines from charging a fee on the first checked bag.

A statement said Landrieu plans to introduce additional legislation to authorize fees on airlines that don’t comply with the one-free-bag requirement.

“Many airlines consider checking a bag not to be a right, but a privilege,” Landrieu said in a statement.

Domestic carriers collected nearly $3.4 billion in baggage fees in 2010, according to the US Department of Transportation. Those fees accounted for only about 2 percent of their total operating revenue but represented a big slice of their $7.7 billion in net earnings.

The Air Transport Association says only about one in four passengers end up paying a baggage fee, but they still affect passengers who travel lighter and cram oversized carry-on bags into overhead bins.

And then, there’s passenger dissatisfaction with being put on hold when calling for information.

While smaller carriers Hawaiian and Alaska airlines fared best in a survey,  American Airlines also ranked in the top three, with an average wait time of just over two minutes, according to STELLAService.

The recently merged United-Continental posted some of the longest hold times with waits of 5:49 and 6:08 respectively. But Virgin America ran away with the dubious distinction of having the longest waits, with an average hold of more than 24 minutes in this survey.

By David Wilkening

Related News Stories: