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AIBU?

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Original poster

To dread flying because of my size?

457 replies

annauk1 · 12/02/2014 19:57

I am going on holiday in a few days. I should be really happy but the flight is really making me not want to go.

I flew last year and needed a belt extension which was fine, wasn't much of a problem, but the thing that petrifies me most is that DP and I won't be able to sit together and if I end up sitting next to a nasty person who is ' a fat-phobe' and huffs and puffs at me the whole 3 hours for taking up more than my (tiny) seat space. I am flying with Monarch who are notorius for their tiny seats. I am a size 26 btw.

OP posts:
Hotmad · 13/02/2014 19:07

I don't mind sitting next to fatties ( it's ok I used to be a fatty and now I'm comfortably larger so I can say it)
What I do mind is smelly people, I hate sitting next to stinkers more so.....

manicinsomniac · 13/02/2014 19:07

most fat shaming has got nothing to do with 'concern' for health or even NHS budgets, it is purely an attempt to cover up aesthetic disgust.

I weigh 6 stone. I am very underweight. I am significantly more unhealthy than someone who is a size 14, 16, 18 or possibly even 26. I have almost certainly cost the NHS a lot more money. But very rarely have I ever been made to feel ashamed and humiliated. Pitied or occasionally scorned yes, but not embarrassed. Often I am actually complimented. Simply because my fucked up relationship with food makes me thinner than others as oppose to fatter. It's ridiculous.

OwlCapone · 13/02/2014 19:07

buy 2 seats and you won't need to suffer the indignity of sitting next to a fat person.

I have no problem at all sitting next to a fat person.

ShatzePage · 13/02/2014 19:09

No it is'nt-once upon a time it was acceptable to be snide to gays,ethnic minorities etc. Now it is no longer acceptable but fat people are fair game apparently. You do know its not actually against the law to be fat you know? Although I am sure many of you on here would love if it were and you could be openly horrible rather than hiding behind your keyboard.

RedToothBrush · 13/02/2014 19:09

ShatzePage Thu 13-Feb-14 18:54:19
I have not seen anyone advocating banning or penalising heroin addicts,alcoholics,ethic minorities,jews,homosexuals who use planes on this thread though-have you? But you insert the word fat and suddenly its acceptable. Think about it.

I am thinking about it. Anyone who is a nuisance to other passengers and/or compromises the safety of others can be removed.

ShatzePage · 13/02/2014 19:10

Then buy 2 seats yourself redtooth

OwlCapone · 13/02/2014 19:11

I have long legs. Would it be acceptable to put them up across the lap of the person next to me?

MothratheMighty · 13/02/2014 19:12

That's the point that many have made over and over again Owl, it's about someone impacting negatively on your own experience. I have no objection to sitting next to a fat person, but I don't want to be squashed either.
So as a teeny tiny person who weighs very little, would it be OK if I sat on their lap?
Or, as I am accustomed to standing for hours at a time, could I stand in the aisle next to my seat, moving for trollies? I've stood on other forms of transport for hours when I've been sold a ticket.

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:13

Can you understand the difference that Chaz and others have already explained to you, Shatze? Because you really are making some silly comparisons and apparently wilfully misunderstanding what others are saying. If you object to a gay person just going round being, errr, gay, then that is pure prejudice. If you say you don't have any negative feelings towards fat people unless they are crushing you, that really is completely different.

OwlCapone · 13/02/2014 19:14

Shatze appears to be unable to grasp the concept though.

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:14

Yes. Hard work...

ShatzePage · 13/02/2014 19:14

stop subscribing to the trashy mags ladies. Night.

RedToothBrush · 13/02/2014 19:15

Why should I buy another seat if someone else is causing a problem?

Don't get it. Whats your point? You on some persecution complex drive?

OwlCapone · 13/02/2014 19:15

Bless, is it past your bedtime then?

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:16

Eh? Trashy mags? What? Definitely bed time, love.

ShatzePage · 13/02/2014 19:17

If sneering at fat people makes you feel better about yourself then carry on. I shall judge YOU for that. And that is my final word on this subject as your becoming tedious.

MothratheMighty · 13/02/2014 19:17

'heroin addicts,alcoholics,ethic minorities,jews,homosexuals'

Anti-social behaviour is banned, a plane can return to base and passengers can be arrested. So if someone under the influence was anti-social and aggressive, or I was continuously groped and assaulted by a fellow passenger, or ranted at for being inappropriately dressed, or thinking by a religious person then I'd expect action on the part of staff.
Because that person is attacking me.

ComposHat · 13/02/2014 19:17

shatze
(Sighs)

As you appear to be hard of thinking. I will explain this in the simplest times I can:

Sitting next to a black, gay, Welsh woman will not cause anyone physical discomfort, pain or even injury.

Sitting next to someone who is so big they take up a large portion of your seat will.

Some

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:19

And if failing to understand basic logic and just throwing random insults around to make your point instead makes you feel better, then go right ahead. Although I thought you'd already said you were done?

Chippednailvarnish · 13/02/2014 19:20

Tedious?!?

Pot kettle black and all that.

KoalaFace · 13/02/2014 19:22

Owl no it wouldn't be okay. Obviously.

A poster earlier told us how on a flight the small, teenaged girl sat next to her with her legs curled up to the side and her knees were digging into her side. Not okay.

If you need more room for any reason at all, whether it be your size or because of your preferred seating position then it would be right and considerate to pay extra for the room.

But...this thread has turned into something else. Talking about how anyone size 14 and over needs to "sort themselves" out and the "drain on the NHS" blah, blah blah.

It started off very fair. Now it's just ridiculously off topic.

RedToothBrush · 13/02/2014 19:22

ShatzePage Thu 13-Feb-14 19:17:23
If sneering at fat people makes you feel better about yourself then carry on. I shall judge YOU for that. And that is my final word on this subject as your becoming tedious.

I am not seeing too many people sneering actually. Just that they don't want to be in unnecessary discomfort when flying.

ShatzePage · 13/02/2014 19:22

chipping-I hope your "service users" understand the difference between wait/weight better than you do.Good evening.

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:25

Back again? Flouncing off with an insult and then popping right back up again makes you loom even dafter, Shatze... Thought we were too tedious for you to bear any longer?

Sarahschuster · 13/02/2014 19:27

And you really aren't in a position to be pissy about literac standards, what with not knowing the difference between you're/your...