Too fat to fly

[loobielousplaits]

Is anyone/has anyone watched this?

It's a documentary about massively obese people being interviewed about being taken off flights/too fat to flight.

While I absolutely agree it's a 'fat shaming' programme - I can't agree with some of the comments from the interviewees that have complained they had to leave the plane due to an armrest not being able to go down - a woman wasn't able to visit the toilet, another who couldn't understand why someone would be offended that half their seat was taken up by overspill - a 32 st man was offended that he was asked to leave the aircraft because he couldn't safely fit in the seat and should have paid for two - pilot decided he wasn't safe to fly.

I'm torn - I absolutely understand weight is a huge issue (I was anorexic in my teens) and it is not easy to control your weight but come on - seriously? You cannot expect to be OK to fly if your weight affects health and safety and you can't fit safely in a seat

Neither of them has ever had the slightest issue fitting into a plane seat

Well, maybe those men sitting beside me wouldn't have had an issue either, had they cared.

Have a jump seat that they can sit in before checking in - do you not see how cruel that would be?

They might not like it, but the person who has their seat spilled on is going to suffer too. That person has done nothing wrong, the fat person is fat because they have made themselves fat (for whatever reason, they have done it)

It’s well known that obesity is associated with poverty
If I look at my local authority’s figures the most deprived wards are the fattest. They have the highest rate of low birth weight babies and of formula feeding.
Obese mothers are more likely to have a low birth weight baby and being of low birth weight is associated with being obese later on. Formula feeding is also associated with being obese.

This reminds me of a time when I was around 13, give or take a year or so, and my younger sister was 10. We always flew in a 3+1 so us two with a parent and a parent across the aisle. On this occasion my Dad (across the aisle) was already asked to switch seats with someone beside him as they were recovering from a leg injury and needed to get up and down frequently. All fine.
Behind us sat a family of 3 obese adults, each who must have weighed over 20 stone) and they had a small child without a seat of their own (so under 2) but the size of a 4 year old. The family all had weight issues and then asked the stewardess if there was anyway one of them could swap seats for more room. My mum was asked if either myself or my sister would sit in the row behind to give them more room as we were children and it meant neither family was split up, I think my mum politely told them to piss off and her children weren't being squashed in the middle as they didn't think ahead.
All other passengers refused to move.

I sincerely hope they learned not to be such CF from that experience. They all needed an extra seat, so really required 6 seats (at a push 4 would do), but couldn't be bothered to arrange anything.

• @Colehawkins*

I'm a size 12-14 and have 32" legs and I find them uncomfortable.

I’m bigger size than you with slightly shorter legs, I find them more than big enough.

I suspect it's largely to do with my leg length. (I'm not especially tall, so it's not overall height.) I don't like strangers too near me, either, which probably adds a psychological aspect.

But also, according to that telegraph article, seat sizes vary so much.

My 6'6 DH and DS suffer everywhere, though.

I'm on the planet where people read scientific studies. You should join us, knowledge is power.

@deepwatersolo

Obesity is a class issue is it? How do you come to that conclusion?

Oh they were teaching us that at uni 20-25 years ago. That's not new knowledge.

Maybe it's one of the reasons I'm inclined to be sympathetic myself.

Anyone that believes they are fat despite eating healthily and that it is outside of their control because it is an illness or an addiction or some other ....excuse basically. Try weighing yourself and eating half of what you normally eat. Even if it's Maccies and Double Deckers. You will lose weight providing you still move the same as normal.
It is within your control to lose it. There are loads of psychological issues surrounding food but to deny that it is not 90% down to the laws of thermodynamics is wrong. Eat less and move more is good advice. In fact it is almost the only advice you need if you can't fit into an airline seat.

Vio I agree, not a class issue at all, I live in council house too and am low income but I manage to eat healthy and fit in exercise around work and kids, I know many people who are overweight, all different classes, most eat rubbish food and don’t do any exercise. I choose to eat well and to exercise.

That's one person's anecdote. It doesn't disprove the statistics.

Much as there are always MNers on fertility threads saying "Female fertility doesn't decline with age! I popped out my first at 41 and my second at 44 with no difficulty at all. Therefore everyone else can do the same!"

Kenn that's a very rare I occurrence though that someone gets life changing injuries from a fat person on a plane. I agree about being uncomfortable BUT still not ok to measure them in front of people. If you read my post you will see why I am obese.

Your link to business insider is a little vague on its sample.

@Pieceofpurplesky

Agree with all the comments that are in favour of paying for 2 seats if you're spilling into someone else's.

I guess this isn't the same thing but I 'have' to pay for extra leg room almost every time I fly because I'm really tall, something I have no control over. So perhaps my opinion is biased, and if I have to pay to not have my legs jammed up the back of someone's seat and rubbing against the passenger next to me for hours, someone who has control over their excess size should as well.

That was generally speaking btw, I know not everyone is overweight for the same reason or that everyone has 100% control over it. But more so than height!

This is a tricky one, for some obese people their poor diet is caused by poor mental health, I see no point in demonising as that won’t solve any issues.

Despite being Pakistani I’m quite tall and broad, I can fit an economy seat without my shoulders taking up space on my neighbours seat, but I book the aisle or window so I can put my legs to oneside without touching anyone, unless i’m travelling with friends, then it doesn’t matter a huge deal.

Haven't read everything. For a small island flight I was weighed with my luggage. I'm unsure why this isn't standard practice. If you're then paying more for more body weight you should be allowed the space to park it.

I will concede though, that by serving fatty snacks and alcohol throughout the flight, the airlines are adding to the problem

People seem to think I am putting the blame on the airlines for the obesity problem so to clarify, I am not. But I do think they are exploiting people’s greed and weakness. There’s no need to drink alcohol on a short haul flight, nor stuff your face with overpriced fatty and sugary snacks. However if all the airlines provided was water and fruit (my preference) they’d make a lot less money.

Nobody flies often enough for the snacks served on board to be an issue.

"So to be totally clear - you're saying yes, over two thirds of adults in the UK have an eating disorder?"

No, to repeat exactly what I said preciously, I'm saying 2/3 of adults have disordered eating, and there's a continuum between disordered eating and an eating disorder.

If I was put in that position of sitting next to someone who was in my space I would definitely complain and expect to be moved/upgraded or compensated.

There is a link upthread to the "rules" and unfortunately there is no redress if someone is encroaching on one's seat. That is why someone sued BA (not sure of outcome) - to try to establish some sort of precedent about this. At the moment the airline has no obligation to re-seat the squashed or the squasher.

Nobody flies often enough for the snacks served on board to be an issue.

This ^^ X1000

Slim people don't suddenly become overweight because they binge on airplane snacks!

Nobody flies often enough for the snacks served on board to be an issue.

On its own, no. But as a contributory factor of course it is.

You have to be quite big not to fit into a seat on a plane.
It’s not just on planes. I sat next to someone who spilled into my seats in the theatre last week and was so uncomfortable I left in the interval and have rebooked to see the play another time.
It’s so inconsiderate🤬

Airlines could save their customers embarsssment and inconvenience by being equally clear about seat size and needing to conform or book the right number of seats

A good idea in principle, but I'm not sure how it would make any difference when seat sizes are instantly viewable on SeatGuru and the like. As PPs have said, it's not that morbidly obese folk don't know there's likely to be an issue - more that they chance it in the hope that someone else will make allowances

"Test seats" at check in might work I guess, though it would just displace the unfortunate scenes to there instead. However at least it would avoid delays while luggage was offloaded for those who couldn't fly