Leg Room Apology

I apologize to all the people who sat behind me on the early morning JetBlue flight to Chicago last June 24.

My fellow travelers, I did not know that when I spent an extra $20 for the privilege of sitting in an extra legroom seat that it was at your expense.


I learned in a front-page article in The Boston Globe yesterday, August 20, that Southwest Airlines and JetBlue have begun compromising the one remaining element of passenger comfort of which they have been the last sole providers -- adequate legroom. Instead of removing a row or two to create the extra legroom seating, the airlines are now simply condensing the legroom in all the rows behind the privileged few.


We are being crowded in like mama pigs in a factory farm, like sailors in submarine berths, like residents in the Hong Kong stacked-shoebox housing.

Not to mention that for a long time, airline seats have also been crowded sideways. Who gets to use the arm rests? It's either the passenger in seat A or the one in seat B -- they can't both. With everything else going on that merits protest, will we travelers be able to bend airline policy back in the direction of customer service, comfort, and safety?  I ask you.