I am close to 2m and also broad (my shoulders stick out quite a bit) and I could not do that. Usually in this case the person in front and/or beside me will start complaining to the staff and they will relocate me. I have been put in premium and swapped with people in exit seats because I physically do not sit and every movement bothers people around me.
No :) I am almost 2m tall and not scrawny. In a lot of seats that is kind of torture. It was fine when I was 25, but at close to 45 it is just painful longhaul, but at least there I can sit. I cannot physically sit in some chairs in short EU flights without bothering everyone around me. Which is why they usually just put me somewhere else.
Indeed if I was 2 by 2 I would say I should book 2 chairs, but inside EU, especially northern EU, a lot of people are tall and in NL (where I am from) often taller than me and yet the seats are smaller than a lot of asian airline seats where I am the tallest. If you have to fly for vacation or very sporadically then it does not matter too much, but if you fly a lot and for work, in which case you want to feel rested, it is somewhat of a pain to go through the same thing every time.
Then ofcourse, you can say 'pay more'; the unfortunate thing is that EU internal flight business class is just economy with slightly more legroom and a free middle seat for a looooot of money. While, again in Asia, business class on short flights, means large chairs (2-2 arrangements with comfy chairs vs 3-3 cheap feeling plastic mini chairs in the same A320) for less money for the same distance.
The lack of a true business class within EU really stunned me. I really don't understand it.
I don't fit, at all, in Economy seats, so a proper business class seat is my only option if I'm going to fly.
I tried booking Business flights within Europe last year, but after re-checking flight details several times, looking on SeatGuru, and a ton of googling I realised there just wasn't any(1).
Instead, I ended up getting trains and ferries (and the occasional train-ferry, thanks Germany/Denmark) to go Amsterdam->Oslo->Barcelona->Amsterdam.
It took a lot longer, but at least I was comfortable, and I got to visit a bunch of extra places in between.
e: (1) okay, there are some 'secret' ones where a long-haul international aircraft is re-positioned, but these are hard to find, subject to an aircraft swap or outright cancellation at any time, and on limited routes and dates.
Yes business is in most cases a blocked middle seat. BA used to have more leg room but that was "enhanced" away
The problem is business demand varies wildly - some flights will warrant 50 seats, some struggle with 5, sp the cabins are varied -- by eliminating extra leg room BA squeezed in 12 more seats, which is £500 on a full plane. They figures that was better than losing 1 seat in business which itself is £500, because most people travelling in business are paying for the schedule and thus don't have competition.
the train often works well on the continent - especially with sleeper trains. Eurostar is less appealing thanks to the security theatre, and Paris is a pain to change in.
Yeah I know a few long haul ones, like Heathrow to Amsterdam with a flight that goes to Indonesia is a widebody with proper business. Because of the short stop and most people in Heathrow are boarding for Indonesia. But those are not common.
