By Chrissy Iley
I had to make a last minute trip this weekend and we know last minute plane means exorbitant price. What I did not know is when I eventually found a bearable flight on United Airlines, which I was in the process of buying for $600, when I actually tried to confirm a seat there were no seats in economy left so they are forcing you to pay for economy plus. This means you have to pay $54 each way more for the same sized seat and no special service.
I then went to check other air lines to see if they would end up being cheaper and American Airlines were exactly the same. I got through the whole process only to find they were selling seats for even more money. It is a two-hour, 15 mins flight and to get it any cheaper I would have to go at 5am or make it a 6-7 hour flight with a stop over.
I returned to United and found that on the way out I could sit in the back row next to the toilet without having to pay economy plus. On the way back, however, I was in the expensive seat.
There is nothing wrong with United Airlines, it gets a lot of people hating it but it is no worse than any other. Nobody was rude to me, everything was clean and we left on time, which is the most you can expect from and airline these days. By the time I got on my return flight I stopped being angry about the plus situation. Not for long. The word plus leads you to believe you are getting something more. More legroom. A few inches – yes The seat is actually the same size but it does not recline so the other economy plus passengers behind you feels they are getting more space. So for 2.15 hours in my economy plus seat I was forced into a really uncomfortable upright position gave me the worst back ache.
So, plus…what I had paid for already, I had to go for heavy pain killers and as my back is still in knots so I need a chiropractor or massage. So economy plus is very expensive indeed. And it is plus all sorts of things you don’t want.
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