I am 205cm tall (6'8" in the old language) and most of this 'tallness' is in my legs, making airline travel an interesting experience.
In the past, Qantas staff have always made an effort to accommodate me in appropriate seating given my height. I have rewarded this by booking flights through Qantas where scheduling permits. I have even recently joined their frequent flyer program, after booking over 12 flights with them in 2009.
After arriving at San Francisco International Airport 24 hours prior to departure, in the hope of proving my height and physical functionality, I was informed that requests for additional legroom (ie. Emergency exit seating) could only be fulfilled over the internet, or via phone from an Australian office through an additional payment of $160 for the 14.6 hour flight to Sydney.
This offends my sense of principle as I booked the flight with Qantas prior to the introduction of this commercial condition relating to access of emergency exit seats and have since booked an onward domestic seat with Qantas based on their past performance.
While I concede that after describing the above over the phone to the attendant based in New Zealand, she offered to add a note to my booking requesting a bulkhead seat if possible (a marginal improvement in the unlikely event of it being realised), I am disappointed that Qantas chooses to require a payment for access to emergency exit row seats for extremely tall people such as myself.
I'd like to see a resolution to this situation and a positive outcome for all.
This experience has completely eroded my sense of loyalty to Qantas, and will probably result in my withdrawal from their frequent flyer program if it remains unresolved.
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