Feeling uncomfortable after sharing a seat with a very obese passenger

Yes. I have been bed bound for nearly nine years trying to get the NHS to put a botched spine surgery right. In that time I have only gained five kilos which I am now losing because I am back on my feet.

Because I was using bugger all calories, I ate very low carb and I learned to fast too because I knew if I kept eating how I did when I was working and on my feet 12 hours a day, I would get so huge I would be disabled as a result of weight gain as well.

We are all our own managers when it comes to what we put in our mouths and the consequences of it. Other people should not have to suffer as a result of other's bad choices.

@Mumbles11

Cost does not come before health and safety. You have to make reasonable health and safety provisions.

Go and have a look and see how H&S applies in the aviation world and on-board aircraft...it may not work in the way it does in an office.......

FWIW probably the most aggressive championers of passenger rights reside in the US and even the US Air Carriers Access Act doesn't have an answer to this issue, even States side it's often a case of "consider buying two seats"......

Baring any other medical conditions, the physical mechanism for weight gain is the same. She is over weight because she eats more than she burns. If she is disabled, that obviously restricts her mobility, hence she burns less, so needs to eat less. That said, if she cannot fit into a specified seat, then yes she needs to buy two. Does she claim PIP? Isn’t that what PIP is meant for? Additional costs in relation to a disability?

The comment would be the same, how would you feel and react if you'd paid for a seat but were squashed throughout the whole flight.

They do, premium are larger than economy, some airlines have more room on all their seats, you just need to research different flights, super budget airlines with fixed armrests are not suitable for anyone, they are just money making.

If only it was that simple

@Mumbles11 Transport providers should be more generous with seat sizes and spaces in the first place, but that’s not going to happen because of costs/economy. On planes where seats are allocated it should be a condition of carriage that you are not too large to fit in the seat with the armrests down. It’s as simple as that.

If you don’t fit you have to buy premium economy, business or first class. What would happen if you were seated on a plane between two huge people who overflowed into your seat so you couldn’t sit in it? How would you deal with that?

That's a bit of a 'You kicked my foot with your nose,' comment.

It probably wasn't comfortable, but that's not the OP's problem. The airline should deal with these situations, but they don't always. Would the comments be different if it had been an obese man, I wonder?

It's basic health and safety that is missing from the airlines side.

Cost does not come before health and safety. You have to make reasonable health and safety provisions.

As I said - we had a very large man start working at my company. He couldn't fit into the desk chair. Instead of insisting that he squeezed into it and injured himself, we followed health and safety regulations and bought him a larger chair.

They wouldn't "lose money", many flights would become loss making so ultimately more airlines would go bust and there'd be fewer flights from the firms who survived. Average profit per passenger on a charter flight is estimated to be as little as $10 - there's no wriggle room. Airlines need as many passengers they can get, meaning as many seats as they can get. It's a hugely competitive and price sensitive industry.

But many many airlines do offer different sized seats.

But surely he must know that, it's unsafe, it's just as unsafe to be squashed and unable to move. You can get a refund or free upgrade if there are seats available, you just need to ask at booking or during the flight.

It was the 70s when flying "took off" in a big way, so that's probably when seat sizings were set along with plane dimensions.

Aww come on OP… we all have to rub along together as best we can and sometimes being with the general public is annoying. Flights with people with gut issues farting away or screaming babies for example aren’t fun either but what can you do? I’m sure they’re not enjoying being the cause of any disruption.

This just feels like a way to feel morally superior and you see this a lot on MN. Sometimes, I don’t blame people for wanting to dish out a bit of judgement rather than being on the receiving end of it as we so often are.

I mean this site is predominantly for females and we are all judged no matter what we do. We can’t be too thin, can’t be too fat, must grow old gracefully but not look our age, can’t be SAHMs or too career driven… we are judged if we are on UC or if we earn over £100k. We are judged for every damn thing we do so we may as well just please ourselves and try not bring each other down in the process.

Of course you’re on a plane right now 😂

I agree. As there are obvious health and safety issues, why on earth don't the airlines make different sized seats.

Yes they would lose money, but health and safety is more important. I can't understand how they are able to get away with the current seating system

@Mumbles11

I travel a lot. Aeroplanes are never full when I'm on them. They are often half empty

Be fascinating to know what routes and airlines...but that would be outing.

As I recollect things when I used to fly a heck of a lot both as a passenger (short haul) and as crew (Long Haul), we were often full or very close to.

Any route/flights at the airline I was at that were "often half empty" got cut after 1 or two seasons because whilst low occupancy happened occasionally and was part of the business running flights routinely at 50% load factor leads to bankruptcy....

Having said that I still think the best solution in the LoCo world is the one a US airline came up with ( Southwest airlines??? Not sure) and might be at least compatible with your idea:

Those that need it book and pay for two guaranteed adjacent seats.

If the flight then departs with empty seats that traveller gets a refund on the extra seat....

When we're seat sizing set. Because I remember seeing a lot of overweight people in the 1990s. That was thirty years ago

A serious problem can be that the person being sqaushed in their seat can suffer injuries. There was a woman who suffered permanent nerve damage after having to sit next to a very large passenger on a flight who took up part of a second seat. Some airlines insist obese passengers book two seats. It's not body shaming to say that no one should be crushed into a plane seat (god knows, they're tiny enough). There are health and safety issues here.

Seat sizings were set when the majority of people were small/normal sized. Perhaps we should be researching why a much higher proportion of people are larger these days and do something about it. I.e. treat the cause, not the symptoms.

I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for the person squashed against you either.

What is your suggestion on how to fix it?

If I have paid for an allocated seat on a coach, train or plane I expect to be able to use that space, and move myself around within it.

I do not think it is reasonable to have to have my upper arm pushed across my chest, my leg pushed to the middle of my space, and to get up at the end of the journey with one side of me soaked in somebody else’s sweat. I speak from experience. I had to endure it for 5.5 hours.

@Purplebunnie I’m very sorry to hear of your experiences with Mounjaro.

i do appreciate its complex and really challenging to lose weight.

i also think that as a society we should stop normalising obesity, its causing people to be unwell and lose quality of life. Things just get made bigger (i have size 12 clothes from years ago from the same store as recent purchases and the older size 12s don’t fit me anymore but the new ones do). I dont judge individuals but I do resent having my own comfort impacted because the person next to me is using half my seat too. It’s not fair

Then maybe the customers could submit a BMI before they get the seat.

I'm actually on an aeroplane right now and I'm seeing a poor overweight man struggling to fit into a tiny seat that is way too small for him