You are right, Penny, and you also touch on another marginalized group that airlines care far too little about: those of us with disabilities.

I have fibromyalgia, which adds to the misery of flying. But the fact that the seats are so small and uncomfortable also is a trigger for the fibro. I often take a month to recover after a round-trip flight somewhere.

This is a major issue with the two seat thing, because while yes, then I fit, the seats aren’t designed to be sat upon that way. For most people, that might be somewhat uncomfortable. For me, with the fibro and all the tender spots on my body, it’s pure hell. I feel bruised and battered afterwards for days on end and the fatigue that it causes feels endless each time.

Even something like seats being too low at an airport is so unacceptable. We KNOW there are disabled people (not to mention very tall people, for whom squishing into a very low seat can be uncomfortable or even painful, too). This is one of those issues with a lot of intersectionality. The airline industry screws over fat people, but also, sadly, so many other groups, too.

You’re right that people would pay more to be more comfortable, at least if they had the luxury of doing so. I think the average traveller would be happy to have more personal space on a plane at a slightly higher fee.