Is it unreasonable for airlines not to provide wider seats for obese passengers?

I am overweight.
There is no way I will use the jab, heard too many people talking about side effects, and it is untested in the long term.

I am delighted for those who have used it and it has worked, but no way I would.
It sin't just about cost

Like I said... simple solution... go on the weight loss medication. They can afford a holiday so they can afford the jab.

Only cunts are judging

Other people realise that life is a bit more nuanced.

This thread makes me so sad. I used to weigh 24 stone (or more) and I just knew people were judging me. It didn't bother me but the insistence that they weren't didn't ring true and I see now that my intuition was correct.

That being said, when I had to use a seatbelt extender to fly, I was smart enough to realise that my weight was a big problem and lost it all.

However, I still feel very compassionate towards bigger people, in the main. I guess because my parents, brother, SIL/BIL, FIL, MIL are all grossly obese and I don't want people to be mean to them even if they brought this on themselves by their habits.

I don't know what the answer is when people won't take accountability for themselves and don't seem to recognise, or care, about their impact on others.

Airlines will just penalise us all under the guise of equality or inclusivity. We'll all end up paying more and receiving less.

Let's be careful about fostering an us and them which isn't skinny vs fat but, rather, corporate vs fliers.

Solutions seem easy in your world. They aren’t, otherwise these problems wouldn’t exist. Do you also think things like:
the unemployed should just get a job
the depressed should snap out of it
the anorexics should just eat
the overcrowded should just buy a big house
the homeless should just rent a flat

?

It is also true that if it's your hips and bum that encroach on the next seat then that's not ok, but if it's the shoulders, that isn't seen as a problem.

@ScholesPanda

People say 'they should buy two seats'
The reality is that if you pay for an empty seat, the airline will resell it to someone else.

As mentioned previously the actual reality is at some (mainly legacy) airlines at the booking stage you can buy a second, adjacent seat specifically for what is called comfort reasons and it will not be resold, even on a full flight.

Not sure if any of the popular Uk/Europe LoCos have such a scheme.

People say 'they should buy two seats'

The reality is that if you pay for an empty seat, the airline will resell it to someone else. Most airlines overbook all of their flights if they can and the T&C's often say they will fill any empty seats even if you have paid for them.

Airlines cram as many people on as possible and that is why flights are cheap (by historic standards).

I thought the OP's tone was actually quite measured and language respectful. I don't subscribe to the fat people are gross narrative, but I've been in OPs situation and it's unpleasant to say the least. On a train or bus, a relatively short journey, fine but on a plane, even short haul flights, there is little enough space as it is without someone taking over some of yours. I don't know what the answer is, but I've been there and hated it.

wtf, why should it be free 😂

People are also sometimes just fat because they eat to much! If they can afford a holiday then they can afford WLI too! Maybe they should do that instead.

Helicopters aren't 50 tonne plus plus plus up to 500 tonne airliners and as a result are much more sensitive to passenger/baggage weight deviations from the norm.

Going down the helicopter road of weighing everyone at somewhere like LHR or JFK at peak departure hours is a none-starter and if tried won't go down well with the on-line check-in last minute boarding cohort.

The current assumed weight method used in the airline world works fine if properly monitored and the weights used are subject to survey and sampling on an occasional basis.

No it doesn’t.

you’re weighed because of the safety requirements. Two people can carry the same weight very differently. I’m short, so I’m far and dumpy. But someone who’s five inches taller than me at my weight may look totally different.

Completely agree. My job requires me to frequently fly in helicopters. We are all weighed as part of check in and are allocated a seat dependant on our weight.

This needs to be adopted as part of aviation general.

I answered YABU because I think passengers need to pay for bigger/2 seats not airline! But it's def not right that you need to suffer

Yes. Pricing is very complicated. It really isn't as simple as "knock a few seats together and charge more".

If enough people get big enough, the airlines will have to make changes just as the clothing industry did... and as with clothes, once the money starts drying up they'll move fast to stop themselves folding. But it's got to reach a critical point first and whilst it does seem to be an increasing problem, I don't think we are anywhere near that point yet.

It is gross when a complete stranger is spilling out onto your body and overfilling your airplane seat. Sorry if you don't like that.

This is why they can sell them a bit dearer. With the provision they may be removed and refunded should a clinically obese person requires it.
Some will pay for extra space even on short flight.

@intrepidpanda

There would be no harm in having a couple of extra large seats somewhere on board.

Reducing a block of 3 to 2 means the airline potentially loses out on 1x passenger's revenue on every sector that aircraft flies.....and that adds up over multiple sectors.

That's why when/where it's done it usually always means paying a business class fare.

Airlines have done it before to collect data, to be fair there was backlash. I think the way we measure weight can be changed. Supermarket can weigh a trolley of goods to check and see if it matches your self check out total. It doesn’t need to involve stepping on scales you could have a floor level pad in front of a checkout desk.

I do think there might be a bit of a push in coming years if the current ozempic wave keeps up. In the same way there is nobody quite as sanctimonious as an ex smoker, there might be no one quite as desirous of having their slender state lauded than formerly obese folk.

They “facilitate” an unnecessarily complicated process by making people go through extra stages and make phone calls when other people don’t have to, and even then it clearly doesn’t always work. If you really want obese people to book an extra seat, you need to make it as easy to do so as any other customer booking a seat.

I assume the vast majority of flights these days are booked online. Making a phone call to an airline is an unusual thing to do unless you have an ongoing major complaint about something that’s gone wrong.

There would be no harm in having a couple of extra large seats somewhere on board.
You could sell it as an upgrade and refund if anyone needs it.
How do you make someone buy 2 seats? How does someone who has not flown know they need 2 seats?
If you need the space so get 2 seats what about the seat belt and armrest?
Surely a single seat that fits is safer than someone perched between two.

Let's be honest the majority of obese people aren't that way because of a medical condition or some trauma in their life.The majority of obese people are capable of losing weight but chose not to. Either becuase they're happy in their skin, or there are more temptations these days with limitless streaming and delivery services.

Certainly we shouldn't be encouraging normalisation of mass obesity by increasing the carbon footprint of airtravel.

@Frumpiness

Well then surely this is part of the problem? I’m sure more people would book two seats if it was made easier to do so online in a straightforward way.

So even though at least some airlines facilitate the process they get criticised becaise somehow that process isn't easy enough or is embarassing and is part of the problem.

Sorry but now we're getting into the realms of there's no pleasing some people.

ETA in case it wasn't clear if you do this you are usually just requesting an extra adjacent seat -if asked you can make up the reason why you want one.

I think that it would be pretty easy to design a portable and removable seat topper that would go over either 2 seats or over 1.5 seats. No reconfiguration necessary. And again, I would make the 1.5 seat or 2 seat the price of 1 seat. The world is a horribly fat-ist place. Someone in this thread has referred to “Mr and Mrs Obese”. Just horrible. Would you say “Mr Disabled” shouldn’t have any help or an accessible seat unless he pays double? After all this takes up staff time and admin time. Horrible.

my db is obese and he doesn’t fly at all. He’s obese because he spends his life and sanity helping other people. He is sad about it. He has diabetes and is in a big hole. Just hating people and kicking them when they are down like this is fucking filthy behaviour.

Well then surely this is part of the problem? I’m sure more people would book two seats if it was made easier to do so online in a straightforward way. It can feel very “othering” to expect people to make a special phone call which they might find awkward or embarrassing.

In this thread we’ve had:

At least two people who booked two seats that ended up not being next to each other.

Someone else who says their second seat actually got bumped onto another flight.

They shouldn’t have to make an extra phone call to stop this from happening.

If you want obese people to book two seats, you’ll need to come up with a practical solution as to how this can be booked normally online so as to give them the same online booking experience as other customers, without having to go through extra steps.

People are saying “just book a second seat” but it’s clear from the problems described in this thread that it isn’t always that easy to do so.