Wednesday, October 07, 2009

British Airways introduces "Tall Traveller Tax"

From today, people like me, who are over six feet tall, will have to pay British Airways an extra fifty pounds a flight to sit in emergency exit seats. (OK, so will everyone else, but this charge is discriminatory) Since these are the only seats in economy class that tall people can fit in without suffering great discomfort (and probable increased risk of DVT), this amounts to nothing less than a tax for being tall.

I fly a great deal on business. Sometimes my client will pay for me to fly business class, but this is increasingly rare in these tough times. In the past, I've turned up at check-in and requested a seat with extra leg room, because of my height. Provided I arrive early enough, I'm generally successful. Sometimes check-in staff offer it unasked as I arrive at the counter.

But with BA, that's now all gone, and it will cost me an extra 100 pounds on each return trip. In terms of taxes and levies, that's an outrageous percentage. On short-haul flights I can just about cope with the discomfort, although it's getting worse as the seat pitch is reduced and more seats are squeezed in. On long-haul flights, I will just have to pay up.

So, I'm starting a campaign to have this discrimination outlawed. Tall people will be standing up for their rights (and you will not miss us). BA be warned. The Tall Travellers are not happy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alan

As a 6ft4 man - I can only wholeheartedly agree. It gripes me to have to sit in a narrow seat, normally immediately behind the first person to push their seat back as soon as the seatbelt sign is exstiguished. What makes it worse is that often on flights when you see who has the legroom its people who don't need it such as children!