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AIBU?

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Original poster

Too fat to fly

968 replies

loobielousplaits · 02/04/2019 23:55

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

OP posts:
mantlepiece · 03/04/2019 01:17

I wonder what happens when 2 or 3 obese people are seated in the same row? That must be serious discomfort.

MidniteScribbler · 03/04/2019 01:25

fat people are hardly going to book 2 seats just in case.

I am friends with a couple who are both very large. They have always booked three seats between the two of them whenever they fly, so that they aren't spilling into the seat of a stranger. That's just common sense.

Halo84 · 03/04/2019 01:31

Airline seats have shrunk about 2 inches in width, and even more in pitch.

SurgeHopper · 03/04/2019 01:37

I was next to a guy once who had his arms straight out in front of him resting on his belly the entire flight as he was too big to put them by his side. He cannot have been comfortable. I certainly wasn't : the heat coming off him was unbelievable.

Flying is bad enough as it is, if you are overweight please pay for an extra seat.

SurgeHopper · 03/04/2019 01:38

I'd say I'm moderate size and they are not a squeeze at all.

ErrolTheDragon · 03/04/2019 01:39

I wonder what happens when 2 or 3 obese people are seated in the same row?

I'm small, I'm pretty sure I got allocated seats next to large people more than my fair share. So unless they've been daft enough to book adjacent seats it probably doesn't happen often.

I've never seen people book multiple seats on a plane, but I've seen it in a theatre. And the other option on long haul flights anyway would be for them to book business class which are bigger all round.

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 01:46

I'd say I'm moderate size and they are not a squeeze at all.

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

So for anyone tall or heavy they must be unbearable.

Viobihi · 03/04/2019 01:54

The way things are going the airline companies will need to invest in much bigger seats in future designs

Why should they?!

BlankTimes · 03/04/2019 01:54

They should have a standard size seat at check-in that everyone has to sit in and put the arms down. Anyone who is too large to fit inside its carefully measured parameters should have to either purchase another seat there and then or book on a different flight.

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 01:56

Why should they?!

Because people (paying passengers) are, on average, getting taller and heavier, not shorter and lighter?

Viobihi · 03/04/2019 02:02

And where’s your evidence of this ‘people getting taller and heavier’?

I also have 32” legs but am a size 6-8. I fly on budget airlines several times a year and I’ve always got plenty of leg room on a flight.

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 02:10

I also have 32” legs but am a size 6-8. I fly on budget airlines several times a year and I’ve always got plenty of leg room on a flight.

I don't think I ever flew budget when I was younger and thinner.

But, in any case at 12-14 and 65-70kg, although I'm bigger than I was, I must be averagish, at population level.

Viobihi · 03/04/2019 02:13

We should also recognise that increases in humanity’s height and weight are directly correlated with increases in the amount of food we consume–and thus, influence global food security and our environmental footprint, too

So people are getting taller and fatter because they are eating too much, something that they can help, yet airlines are being expected to subsidise this. Yea right!

If you’re obese and are overspilling into someone else’s seat, then it’s only fair that you pay for 2 seats - if someone else has been responsible and looked after their health, why should they subsidise someone else who weighs more 😐

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 02:20

So people are getting taller and fatter because they are eating too much, something that they can help, yet airlines are being expected to subsidise this. Yea right!

Getting taller because they're eating too much? I'm not sure I'd read "correlation" and "increase in amount of food" that way in terms of individual food intake and individual height.

Anyway, other businesses aren't shrinking passenger seating spaces the way airlines are.

CheshireChat · 03/04/2019 02:49

Airlines should actually make it clear when you're likely to need another seat- so official guidelines on their website not leaving people to either guess and hope they pay for an extra seat without being sure they actually need it.

I don't think you can pay extra for a wider seat though? Is the economy premium seat wider as well or just more leg room?

Kennehora · 03/04/2019 02:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 02:54

Given that most planes were designed and started manufacture decades ago, it would probably be a positive step for seats on new planes to be made larger given the collective increase in our waistlines!

Normalising obesity even further is not a positive step.

What about normalising tallness? Is that a positive step?

Just leaving seats the same size they were in the 1960s would help, wouldn't it? Rather than packing more seats in with every refit and redesign?

Driftingthoughlife · 03/04/2019 02:59

I sat next to a women who was so big she could not put her tray table down and expected me to not put mine down either!!!!

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 03:00

What did you do @Driftingthoughlife ?

polarpig · 03/04/2019 03:14

I had the misfortune of sitting next to a man who was extremely obese. His wife was sitting in the aisle seat opposite him so I politely asked if we could swap seats, her reply was that she'd booked that seat so she didn't have to sit next to him. I was Angry and feeling militant so waited until she went to the toilet and sat in her seat. She glared at me but didn't say anything. Yes, I was probably unreasonable but on a nine hour flight I didn't much care.

costacoffeecup · 03/04/2019 03:15

@polarpig I'm so glad you did that! Some people...

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 03:16

According to this, pitch, seat width, seats per row, and operating capacity were all considerably better just twenty years ago:-

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/plane-seats-legroom-shrunk-worst-airline/

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 03:18

The more I read about this, the more ripped off I feel.

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