Interesting

A friend of mine wrote this recently. There are no copyright issues, I have his written permission to use this. He is making an interesting and valid point.

"I have a tale to relate and a question to ask.

We boarded our plane to Tunisia and my heart sank. The wife and I had booked a window for Ann and the next seat for me. In the aisle seat was an enormous woman. Bugger! We got into our seats and she poured herself back into hers and then her excess fat flowed under the armrest and onto half of mine followed by more fat over the top. So no armrest for Martin and only half a seat for the next 3 hours.

The lady had to have the seat belt extension at full extension in order to fasten it, however she could not see it under the belly roll, so every time she wanted to get up I had to un-clip her. She couldn't have the in flight meal because there was no way that the table could be used, however she and the three other huge ladies she was travelling with made up for it by stuffing in family sized bags of revels and malteesers all of the flight. The fact that one of the companions was on the other side of the aisle meant that the crew had great difficulty getting the trolley up and down the aisle past the fat overflow.

Upon landing we then had to wait whilst everyone else got off as all of these ladies "required assistance" to get off the plane.

Whilst this is amusing in one sense here's the serious side. If there had been a survivable accident at any point in that flight Ann and I would be dead as we were effectively trapped in our seats. I'm not being fattist here, God knows I'm no slim Jim but it begs the question should people only be allowed to fly if they can adopt the brace position? Or should airlines provide double width window seats for these truly humongous people so that they don't trap people in the case of an emergency? I'm not trying to be offensive but I'm genuinely interested in what my friends think on this."

I feel for you.
I always try and book an aisle seat so that I can get up and down if I need when I'm travelling alone.
If I'm on a long haul with Mrs D we will go either PE and get in the 2 seats, or try and get G upgrades so there is never a problem with sharing a row.
On a recently flight I did notice one rather large lady in the middle seat of three. She actually had to have the armrest up even for taxi and take off. I think her husband or partner was next to her and fortunately he was slim.
I felt sorry for the poor chap in the window seat though.

I do agree that airlines should address the issue, but I can't think of any practical way of doing it.

Dick D

It's ironic that, as the population at large gets bigger, airlines continue to make their seat areas smaller.

I believe the official rule on most airlines is that if you can't fit in a single seat you must buy a second (but obviously without taxes & fees, so you're not paying double - and often there'll be a set price).

But of course "can't fit" is a bit subjective so in many cases it'll be down to the cabin crew on the day to resolve any issues.

I don't buy the argument that people who can't adopt the brace position shouldn't fly though - that would discriminate against millions of people be they large, tall, disabled etc. Cabin crew go through rigorous training in how to get people out quickly in an emergency and will be aware of those requiring help or extra time, or who may impede others adjacent to them.

This very same thing thing happened on a trip last year with Thomson, we had booked the extra leg room seats, but they don't come with extra width.

My OH had the window seat as he is large but not that he can't fit into a normal seat belt. I was in the middle then this man came to sit next in the aisle and everything your friends described happened. He also, sorry about this smelt rather badly :$

It was an horrendous flight and every time i wanted to use the loo i was frightened to ask him to move. I was going to mention it to the flight attendant, probably should have but there were no spare seats, so i just put up with it. v(

Was there not a suggestion by Mr O'Dreary at Ruinair that they should start charging passengers by weight ?
Brilliant idea but I probably could not afford a ticket!

Totally agree something should be done about the situation but no one has the guts to address it - the PC mob would have a field day.
But lets face in the event, all the emergency training in the would probably be irrelevant anyway - I would be the first one to admit in a situation whereby I could not get out because of an oversized person next to me, I would just climb over the top of them and in truth I bet the majority of people would!

This is a massive (pardon the pun) debate and one that I have quite a bit of knowledge about, I lost 10stone prior to taking my first flight last year!!

The reality that obesity is becoming more and more prevalent and from a younger and younger age, and this is becoming more of an issue for airlines.

SouthWest were infamous for their COS (Customer of Size) policies until a complete turnaround recently and they are now one of the best airlines for fatties to fly with, they will bump "normal" passengers to be able to accommodate customers who require two seats, and if a customer prebooks a second ticket they will happily refund it after travel regardless of if the flight was full or not.

VS was actually taken to court by a woman who claimed she was crushed by being forced to sit next to a fat woman (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2346319.stm) its an old story, but I think one of the reasons that VS introduced the Extra Legroom seats (non-exit row) and the SeatPlus concept in response to the growing problem.

My personal opinion, is that people need to take personal responsibilty of their own weight and life style choices, its not always that simple, but in the vast majority of cases, it is, and accept that there will be things that they cannot do in the extreme ranges of weight. Personally, having been at the very top of the scales, its not a position I want to go back to (hence my four visits a week to my local Virgin Active and no you dont earn FC miles ! ).