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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

'The bigger you are the higher the cost of a plane ticket' AIBU to think that this is ridiculous?

384 replies

Poppet48 · 25/03/2013 08:22

I have just heard the debate of should a plane ticket cost more for obese people.

I think that this is ridiculous, not only is it discriminating it is highly embarrassing to have to get weighed at the airport check in, Where have the human rights gone?

AIBU to feel this way?

I would love to hear what others think of this.

OP posts:
CityTiliDie · 27/03/2013 07:23

Sorry but if you are fat then its your fault and you should be made to pay extra!

No one forced you to eat so much that you became obese and no one os forcing you to fly so if you want to have the luxury of eating what the fuck you like without accepting the consequences then PAY UP!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 07:38

Hmm no fat bashing here at all. That said I generally agree with the broad point. If you are too big for whatever reason to fit in a seat without affecting another persons comfort, you buy two (and I do appreciate that wasn't the original point of the OP). However posts like CityTilIdie's are expressed in such a way as to be unnecessarily vitriolic. You can make the same point without being so judgmental about something which is really none of your business (unless you are being squashed on a plane of course).

LtEveDallas · 27/03/2013 08:10

No one forced you to eat so much that you became obese and no one os forcing you to fly so if you want to have the luxury of eating what the fuck you like without accepting the consequences then PAY UP!

No. Not fat bashing at all...

Crazycake · 27/03/2013 08:16

It's not just obese people though is it? My DH is 6'11, so although he's 18 stone he's not obese!

CandyCrushed · 27/03/2013 08:37

Tall people don't spill into the neighbouring seats. It is different from overweight passengers.

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 08:58

They may not spill in the same way but there arms and legs have a tendency to take over so you can still be pretty uncomfortable next to a tall person.

Being honest though I fly budget a fair bit and have never experienced this overspill problem in Europe/UK. Am I just travelling to the wrong places?

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 08:59

Their not their

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 08:59

Aargh - not there

HorryIsUpduffed · 27/03/2013 09:20

DH's ridiculously long legs do not fit in a standard seat. He has to put them in the aisle or in the legroom of the person next to him. He also has long arms so takes up more than his fair share of armrest space. Git.

Kendodd · 27/03/2013 09:41

Another issue about seriously obese people flying, surely it's just not safe, both for them and others. I would guess they are more vulnerable to DVT and if they did develop problems how would the cabin staff get them out of their (and their neighbours) seat to help them?

My mum doesn't fly because she's to fat, I wouldn't either if I were her. Maybe airlines should just have a rule that if you can't fit in the seat you can't fly. I mean how would the person next you you get out in an emergency?

maisiejoe123 · 27/03/2013 10:13

Yes, you do need to keep moving on long flights, the majortity of people know this. How does a person with such weight issues regardless of why move around?

And god forbid in the event of an emergency would the wedged in obese person in 32B just get forgotton? Are cabin crew responsible for helping them out of their chair. I suspect they are responsible until it endangers their life...

Latara · 27/03/2013 10:27

OMG I'm worried now; i have to fly in May & i'm just under 13 stone :(

I'm on a diet though & off to the gym again today; so hopefully will lose at least a stone before the flight!!

TumbleWeeds · 27/03/2013 10:42

But surely this is not the same to be overweight (size16 is the average size in the uk so you would expect airline companies to accommodate a size 16 or 18 wo any problem whic is not the case) and to be obese and to be so big that the trolley can't fit through the aisle etc.,,

In the later case, yes that person should take 2 seats and tbh unless they haven't fly before they will know the issue. That's the sort of case honey is referring to.
In the second case, there is no safety issue but some inconvenience for the passenger next to him/her. That's what soup is talking about and tbh it's just inconvenience. Interresting you never hear about these cases on a bus journey for exam

TumbleWeeds · 27/03/2013 10:43

Sorry press send too soon.

This has nothing to do with the weight if the suitcase though.

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 27/03/2013 10:48

Latara 13 stone is nothing if you think about it - plenty of taller men are 13 stone without being overweight at all, so nobody has any reason to object to you being 13 stone. I would guess the people being judged, ridiculed, vilified and loathed discussed on this thread would be nearer 20 stone than 13. Also the people making vitriolic comments on this thread are probably not representative of the general population.

Latara · 27/03/2013 10:54

Thanks MrTumbles - tbh no-one has criticized my weight except my family who know it's making me unhappy so they are helping me pay for the gym. Luckily i've got an hourglass shape so i don't look fat, just v curvy.

But i would hate to get in the way of anyone else on a plane.

I also hadn't thought about the DVT risk (it's a 4 hour flight); i may get some of those ultra glamourous TED stockings!!

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 11:07

We are talking about seriously obese people here aren't we? I mean I am a size 22 on top which is pretty big I would have thought and I fit comfortably into budget airline seats. Noone would be endagering their life getting me out of a seat (unless, of course, they were trying to move me out of arm's reach of a cake and then I accept no responsibility for what might happen to them).

I dunno, maybe I just fly on skinny people routes (to places not internationally known for their cakes perhaps?) but I have never seen someone on a plane who couldn't extricate themself from their seat to get to the loo or whatever, or get out of the plane in an emergency. Is this mainly a US problem still, or do really big people actually self-select and decide not to fly if they are worried about getting wedged in their seat?

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 27/03/2013 11:14

You are right MummyPig I have never seen anyone wedged into a plane seat and needing help to get in and out either. The problem of somebody slightly larger (but not to the point of being unable to move independently about the plane Shock ) "overspilling" would also only occur if the larger person is travelling alone, if they are, for example, travelling with a child they would presumably sit next to that child, therefore inconveniencing nobody but their own child.

The fuel cost issue should perhaps also be looked at for the whole party booking together - if a parent is 3 stone overweight but travelling with a 3 stone child who has their own seat (and we all know children of 2 + pay virtually full fare), their combined weights would still be less than 2 average weight adults :)

LessMissAbs · 27/03/2013 11:28

I don't like forced physical contact with another person's body. So I would feel aggrieved, uncomfortable and annoyed if a person next to me in a plane were so big that their skin was constantly touching mine. Particularly bad if they were sweaty. This has only happened a couple of times.

Mind you, its not just overweight people - it can be creepy people too. I look very young for my age, and a few years ago, the man (slim build, not especially tall) in the seat next to me sat with his feet in my footwell. I was pressed up against the side of the plane to get away from him. I had to ask him twice, the second time very forcefully, to remove his feet from in front of my seat as I didn't want to play footsite with him for the duration of the flight. Argh.

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 11:30

MrTumble - the family weighing-fuel idea is a good point. And I suppose, whilst the idea of being weighed before you fly is fairly mortifying, provided it is confidential and flashing lights and klaxons don't go off if you are over a certain weight, it can't be any worse than the whole pat-down experience, which I suffer almost every time I fly. The last time, i was travelling alone with DD (2) and she had to be strapped into her buggy by the security people so she didn't make a break for it while I was patted down in front of everyone. Not a nice experience whether you are fat or thin.

However, the idea some have had upthread of having to prove you can fit into a seat before you are allowed to board would be sufficiently humiliating to put me off flying forever, even though I would currently pass the test. I really don't think anyone with an ounce of humanity would seriously subject people to that at check-in.

EostreChaoticResurrEggtion · 27/03/2013 11:32

Latara the last time I flew I was around 14 stone. I fit into a seat easily and that was flying with Easy Jet so don't worry about it.

I can see both sides of this thread. If you are charged according to weight then why not overall weight instead of just luggage. Then again why should someone be discriminated against because they're tall/their weight is due to disability/insert reason here. I can't get myself worked up about it quite possibly because atm I can't afford to fly so it doesn't affect me. I also admit that if I was small and one of the ones paying less then it would be an attractive proposition.

However, as I've said above, it won't do anything to avoid the overspill problem that some posters have mentioned. ComposHat's suggestion at 01.18 maybe just solve that problem and seems a fair way to do it.

Btw I speak as one of those fat bitches, who eats too much, therefore is overweight, although not so obese that I can't fit into a single seat, that some poster's like to spew vitriol at.

EostreChaoticResurrEggtion · 27/03/2013 11:34

Disclaimer about part of above post. I have not sat here and weighed up the pros and cons of ComposHat's post just taken it at face value.

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 11:37

Hello Eostre - perhaps we should form a fat bitch club. We could find another use for the Biscuit symbol maybe?

EostreChaoticResurrEggtion · 27/03/2013 11:40

Grin Mummy maybe we should get mn to provide us with our own smiley. Definitely like the idea of a fat bitch club Grin

MummyPigsFatTummy · 27/03/2013 11:47

Grin Good idea about a dedicated smiley. A big slice of chocolate cake would get my vote.