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

One thing I’ve taken from this thread is that it’s important to be at the front of the boarding queue and that the arm rest goes down and stays down for the entire flight and if anyone asks you to lift it, refuse!

@PooFlower

Exactly that.

I have restricted terribly in my life. Often between 500 and 850 calories a day, in a bid to fit the ideal that is promoted by many.

This is neither healthy or advisable.

Yes, I have many many issues surrounding food and bingeing and starving. That does not make my struggles any less valid when it comes to food.

But this is what I'm saying. Kindness, for goodness sake. And compassion. There is very little here.

Yes @MadMillie you are probably right.

But I know self hatred won't bring me the body I desire. Nor will arbitrarily hating anyone else's body.

It is a process, and I am working on it.

I am fat and I know it. But I would never dream of shaming anyone for their body, fat or thin or whatever.

HarrysOwl that is not true.
It is called non-purging bulimia.

www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/non-purging-bulimia

I had a bad situation on a 12hr flight with a massively obese person next to me, she was in centre seat, I had aisle seat. She spilled into me for whole of journey,had to have extension belt and couldn’t have tray down as her stomach was almost touching seat in front which made meal times very difficult-plus she needed to leave seat for for toilet every hour or so! Not a happy situation as she was also very aggressive - spent entire flight biting my lip and trying to be pleasant which wasn’t easy as had already done 7hrs on previous connecting flight. Think airlines need to do something / have some kind of solution to this kind of problem as it’s becoming more common

I do think there's a bit of derailing going on with some contributors to this thread who have personalised comments made to themselves.

The thread is about if people were too fat to fly. Personally, I don't want my seat space invaded by someone whose obese and can't fit into an airline seat. The size of the person sat next to me is not my issue UNLESS they are invading my space by engulfing me with their size. That is NOT fat shaming. I have asked to be moved from a middle seat before due to a husband and wife booking an aisle and window seat leaving me crushed between them. Frankly, I don't care how embarrassed they were when I asked that I was moved. They chose to try and bag an extra seat but it didn't work on that occasion for them. Why should I sit on an aircraft where arm rests couldn't be put down due to their obesity? Is my comfort trumped by theirs due to them being obese? No, it isn't.

People have talked of 'being kind' well, how do you say to someone "please remove your overspill fat from my seat" politely?

I fully agree with airlines being able to refuse travel to obese travellers due to weight restrictions. As others mentioned upthread everyone has the same baggage allowance so why should there not be an increased air fair amount for passenger weight?

As I also mentioned upthread surely there's a health and safety issue if obese passengers can't disembark a plane in the case of an emergency through limited spaces.

I'm not for one second saying overweight passengers shouldn't fly but this is not the airlines problem, it should be up to the passenger to rectify by booking an extra seat if necessary. No-one should expect other passengers to 'put up and shut up' and sit in discomfort due to their life choices.

There are CFs in all walks of life.
For every fat CF there will be a person angonising about whether they will fit in a seat.
I would never encroach someone else's seat. I just wouldn't, I would be mortified and would rather not fly. I have bought two seats in the past as I explained upthread. I didn't need to in the end but was so worried that I didn't want to chance it.
I don't know what the solution is. Unfortunately weight loss takes a long time and the statistics for keeping it off are low. An area in the airport where people could go and try seats maybe, similar to how there are sample seats at theme parks.
And easy options to book comfort or extra width seats at a premium would really help.
There are many threads on here with people worrying about plane seats, Im sure most people would book accordingly if it were an option in the same way that extra leg room was.

@MadMillie

I actually agree.

I agree that if you cannot mobilise safely then you shouldn't be in a position where you may be unable to help yourself or may impede the safety of others.

I also think passengers who are too large should book 2 seats.

I merely take umbrage at the fact that many have made this thread personal by talking of diets and greed. There is no need.

We can talk about issues like this from a safety stand point without talking about someone's lifestyle or shaming people.

As mentioned previously, helicopters and small planes require the weighing of passengers for weight distribution. This has happened to me, and I had no problem with it at all.

In some instances, passengers who have researched 2 seat policies have been told to book one and that they will be suitably seated on the plane. Obviously this is often not the case and the fat person is asked to leave the plane. It is this that upsets me, as you can follow instructions to the letter and still end up in a humiliating situation.

Anyhow, I think I have had my fill and maybe given to much of myself personally. I agree that muddies the water. So I'll bow out now.

Passengers should be weighed with their luggage and charged their flight price accordingly - why should I subsidise someone else, who I don't even know

I am fat and I know it. But I would never dream of shaming anyone for their body, fat or thin or whatever.

No-one is shaming you FFS. People (like me) don't appreciate sitting next to someone who 'spills' into their seat, just as I don't appreciate anyone spreading their legs out.

As I've said upthread I've often moved over in my seat and have the arm rest up for a parent with a child on their knees to give them more space. (I fly weekly) It's my choice to do that - it's NOT my choice to have someone have skin to skin contact with me due to their weight.

@MadMillie

As said below, I don't disagree.

It's the tone of contempt and disgust that gets under my skin (not necessarily yours). And assumptions about the lifestyle of others.

But that is a whole other thread.

I recently flew with Eurowings and was reading the magazine - their "best" (ie business but not high end) means the seat next to you is blocked. Not so expensive and no embarrassment. Those Germans eh?

There is absolutely no need for some of comments some (thankfully a minority) posters have made such as 'blubber' etc - not helpful at all and posters are absolutely right to feel offended by it.

I do think that on the whole this thread hasn't been derogatory to overweight, or rather morbidly obese people and has kept to mainly to the safety aspect of things.

*I merely take umbrage at the fact that many have made this thread personal by talking of diets and greed. There is no need.

We can talk about issues like this from a safety stand point without talking about someone's lifestyle or shaming people.*

Agreed rumour.

What I take offence at is the accusation from a poster that my reason for starting this thread was to fat shame - absolutely not - and goes back to my point that it seems it's never okay to have a reasoned discussion about overweight whatever the topic for some.

I don't get the not buying extra seat due to embarrassment. Other travellers don't know if person bought two. For all they know someone didn't board🤷‍♀️

In some instances, passengers who have researched 2 seat policies have been told to book one and that they will be suitably seated on the plane

I'd honestly be very surprised if this actually happened - I get that some might claim it had, to cover up for not being prepared to pay for another seat, but it doesn't sound very realistic

Apart from anything else, why would an airline turn down something which sold another seat and avoided a potential and obvious problem?

This reminds me of a story I read of a woman complaining about our NHS trusts uniforms- she needed a size 32 I think and they only went up to a 30.

The problem is, there’s always going to have to be a limit on these things. You can’t make infinity sizes of clothes and you can’t make aeroplane seats that will fit every person. It’s awful, and I do feel bad for people (I’m not slender myself although not quite at the stage of needing a seatbelt extender) but it’s just a fact of life.

BentNeckLady

One thing I’ve taken from this thread is that it’s important to be at the front of the boarding queue and that the arm rest goes down and stays down for the entire flight and if anyone asks you to lift it, refuse!

Amen to that!

Making economy seats bigger would just result in higher prices for everyone- and most of us can fit in an economy seat. It's not great but doable if you don't have someone next to you who needs to take half of your seat.
If you can't fit into an economy seat, pay for premium economy (much bigger seats) or business class (huge seats). Or loose weight. 🤷🏻‍♀️

If anyone's interested, this example is an extract from United's Conditions of Carriage (italics mine):

Rule 21 Refusal of Transport
UA shall have the right to refuse transport on a permanent or temporary basis or shall have the right to remove from the aircraft at any point, any Passenger for the following reasons:

1. Passengers who are unable to sit in a single seat with the seat belt properly secured, and/or are unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated and remain seated with the armrest down for the entirety of the flight, and/or passengers who significantly encroach upon the adjoining passenger’s seat

Puzzledandpissedoff

I agree with that but not the 'permanent' aspect - does that mean that if someone who is obese and doesn't meet the criteria is forever banned from United Airlines? Because if that's the case it's bang out of order. People do lose weight and could fulfil the criteria at a later date.

Seat sizes have shrunk since 1970s. They used to be 3cm wider and the distance from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in front has shrunk 10cm.

But people repeatedly make cheap TV focussing on intollerances and differences.

Sorry but it deflects focus away from the airlines that through greed try to squeeze as many people in as possible.

*Rule 21 Refusal of Transport
UA shall have the right to refuse transport on a permanent or temporary basis or shall have the right to remove from the aircraft at any point, any Passenger for the following reasons:

1. Passengers who are unable to sit in a single seat with the seat belt properly secured, and/or are unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated and remain seated with the armrest down for the entirety of the flight, and/or passengers who significantly encroach upon the adjoining passenger’s seat*

This should be the rule on all airlines. I have to say, I hope anyone on MN who is obese and can't fit in a stardard seat thinks again before travelling after this thread. It's not all about the old debate of being fat, it about the comfort of other passengers. I see many threads about CF's on here, well, if you're obese and try and squeeze into a normal airline seat you're one of those CFers everyone mentions. Don't be that person who engulfs others due to their obesity. Your obesity is your problem - just don't make others feels uncomfortable beacuse of it.

Seat sizes have shrunk since 1970s. They used to be 3cm wider and the distance from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in front has shrunk 10cm.

Well, we all wanna fly for a tenner so.... Something has to give.

Tbh 3cm are really not such a big difference. That 10 is, but that doesn't change the issue discussed.

If the airlines had bigger seats the problem of large passengers wouldn't be so bad. Of course larger seats take up more space so less seats therefore less passengers leading to more costs. Not even taking into account the extra fuel needed to transport all those hefty passengers. There is a bit of equipment at the airport to check the size oc ha luggage. Why not one where you have to be able to pass through the width of a seat. Probably need to be smaller as when seated all the excess just pours over the sides of a seat.

I can just see RyanAir’s next move.

Reduce the size of standard seats so that only those who are a size 8 and under can fit in.

Offer PlusSize seats in varying sizes at ever increasing cost.

Up to a certain limit (Size 16 and wearing s puffs jacket) beyond which you go in tne hold.

And it will make gear TV, natch.