Yeah unfortunately I wasn't the one footing the bill for that flight, it was a business thing and they totally cheaped out. I was going to upgrade to a big seat but they were all taken.

Honestly, if I had to do it over again I would have skipped the free flight and paid for my own lol

 

I've always seen availability/option to get the big seats - they're pretty nice...so that jacked my IAH-DEN flight up to $62

oh and back on topic, since we're talking about the Leaf - it would take you something like 10 days to drive 1000 miles, LOL - enjoy!

 

Er...no. They still have to meet their takeoff margins. Carrying more people means they can carry less fuel or cargo to make up the difference.

It's a comfort question, not a safety issue.

 

It's called Weight-and-Balance. And, on heavily-loaded aircraft, it has to be carefully calculated, vs. available runway length and atmospheric conditions, before each take-off. In the military, the aircraft's Loadmaster is responsible for that.

 

100 miles a day? Even with overnight recharging, I think most drivers could do a little better than that.

 

I'm aware of that. I was addressing your claim that with a full load of passengers "the wings and engines can barely lift the planes off the runway", which implies a safety issue. A full passenger load doesn't imply a max weight takeoff by any means.

 

yeah i took spirit once... hands down the most uncomfortable seat and flight i've ever experienced. in contrast, was on southwest recently... man they're doing it right, still.

just took an easyjet flight within europe and it's all a la carte and cheap but not bad, especially since we got their 'plus' seat and 'speedy boarding' (think line jumping like at disney ) options... i got a coffee on board that was about $3.50 for pretty lousy coffee, but that's ok.

 

Yes, it depends on the load of cargo, baggage, and fuel besides. Jet fuel weighs 6.8 lbs. per U.S. gallon...and there are often several different fuel tanks on the aircraft that spread that weight around.

But passenger-weight, nevertheless, can still be an issue. More than one airline has flirted with the idea, in addition to their other fees, of charging passengers extra that weigh over a certain amount, but I don't know of any (yet) that have actually done so.

 

turning over a new leaf? sorry, couldn't resist.

 

New Leaf is still a compact hatch EV.
We need a midsize sedan EV.