A few months ago, I was flying back from Melbourne on a work trip.

I didn’t book the flights, so I didn’t book my seating. And as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t believe taller people should have to pay for the same amount of leg room as a shorter passenger. I usually try my luck to get exit row seating at the counter when I checked in, and this time I managed to get one.

However just before boarding I was called over to the gate and told that I would have to move out of the exit row into a normal seat because someone had paid more for the exit row.

I complained to the staff but there was no alternative. When I got back to Sydney, I called and complained to Virgin Australia directly. Almost two months later, I get the below response.

Dear Mr Taylor

Thank you for your feedback that we have received here within the Guest Relations department as we appreciate that you’ve taken the time and effort to contact us.  Allow me also to apologise for the delayed response, please be assured that your correspondence is taken very seriously.

 

Mr Taylor, I apologise for the disappointment felt when learning about the fees applicable to purchase our Blue Zone seating. In regards to your concerns about our seating, we understand that being very tall the Blue Zone seating is your preference. 

 

Virgin Australia has decided to offer this product so that we can better identify those guests who are seeking this service. This ‘Blue Zone’ product allows us to define a clear product and make it available to all of our guests at the time that they book their ticket. By paying the applicable fee it guarantees you a Blue Zone seat, however if there are seats available on board in Blue Zone, we do try to accommodate requests made by our guests’ if they wish to change seats during the flight.

 

Guests are also welcome to request this seating at the time of check–in for your flight, and if available our airport staff will seat guests who meet the requirements in legroom seat. We understand that you feel that it is unfair to have to pay the applicable fee for a Blue Zone seat. However, all of our guests’ deserve the choice of the extra leg room the Blue Zone seating offers and this is the only fair and equitable way to allow access to these seats. 

 

Mr Taylor, I appreciate this opportunity to explain without seeming to make excuses. I can only hope that you reconsider your position and include Virgin Australia in your future travel plans. 

Kind Regards

I do understand why the service would be in place for normal or short passengers - there’s a clear advantage to having slightly extra leg room on such flights. But by not providing the seats to taller people when they request it is pretty much dooming them to sore knees and an uncomfortable flight.

The response from Virgin didn’t really answer my question, so I’ve sent a follow up. I’ll post here if I actually get one.

Being tall guarantees you a life of being cramped in any form of public transport. In air travel, this usually means very sore knees, and difficulty in putting the tray table down without looking like you’re trying to give birth to your meal. That’s without the possibility of the person in front of you putting their seat back mid-flight.

One of the comforts that airlines have afforded, until recently when they started charging, was offering the tall person the exit row seating. The extra six or so inches of legroom is a welcome relief and makes flying feel much less like a loan shark has taken a sledge hammer to your knees for missing a payment.

Thankfully sympathetic check-in counter attendants will still give you the seat if you have to turn up to the airport early before your flight.

There is, however, a disturbingly growing trend of short people opting for this seating too. Please stop this, for your tall fellow passengers. It makes flying much more pleasant and leaves us much less grumpy than we might otherwise be. We might even let you ask us how tall we are.

If the first question is not related to whether or not a tall person plays basketball, it can be one of a couple of simple height questions.

The most obvious is: “How tall are you?”

The question itself is innocent enough. But when it is a question your friendly giant is likely to hear a minimum of 2 times a day when they leave the house, it has a much more annoying outcome.

Most of the time, the tall person will begrudgingly offer this fairly irrelevant piece of personal information to the stranger, and generally expects the question to come up, so will often answer it before they’ve finished asking it.

It would be considered a social faux pas of Larry David proportions to ask an overweight person that you’ve just met how much they weigh and similarly, you wouldn’t ask a dwarf how short they are and yet other physical dimensions of a person seem to be open season. Simply put: when it comes up at every single social interaction - from buying bread at the bakery, to catching the bus - it’s not about making small talk, it’s about pointing out how this person is different from you.

The next most common question/joke: How is the air up there?

Yes, the extra, you know, six inches or so that I occupy above you means I’ve actually left the troposphere and have entered the stratosphere. What’s that? You couldn’t hear me through the oxygen mask I need to breathe up here? Sorry about that.

Undoubtedly once you pass a certain physical stature in society, it is your obligation as a member of that society to join a sporting team. If you haven’t, it is important for fellow citizens to remind you of this obligation when they first meet you. It is not at all condescending and is always the most original question that one can ever ask a tall person. The tall person must act surprised as though it is the first time they have heard such a question and must endeavor to pay close attention as the concerned citizen tries to enlist new recruits for their own local basketball team.

If at first, the tall person rejects these helpful suggestions, you must persist, informing them that they are “wasting” their height and could in fact be millionaires based on their height alone, regardless of their skills, coordination or desire to play this particular sport.