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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:
ErrolTheDragon · 03/04/2019 09:53

Anyway ... people on average are getting larger, so airlines oughtn't to be shrinking seats. Maybe they could have larger standard seats but some cheaper small ones available as an option for children and petite people?

DarthLipgloss · 03/04/2019 09:57

My DP was sat next to a large man flying back from Greece. Man put armrest up to sit down, then wedged it down for take off, it was up as soon as we were in the sky. Man spread into DPs seat. DP is a HCP with no personal space issues, he's also a 100kg 6'2 hippy guy, who responded by snuggling right into large man. Large man spent whole flight trying to keep as far away as possible from DP who was happily snuggled up and snoozing.

blackteasplease · 03/04/2019 09:58

It's just horrific when someone spreads into your seat. I wouldn't put up with it for a moment and woild make an almighty fuss. I have back problems so have to sit square on the seat or I get a really bad back. This is the case even for a 20 min train journey so definitely would be for even a short haul.flight.

I have no time for manspewaders or anyone who thinks the armrest is just for them either.

TrickyD · 03/04/2019 09:58

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LarryGreysonsDoor · 03/04/2019 10:06

I'm a size 16 and I have found some seats a struggle.
DH is 6'4" and he finds the legroom really tough. He can't help his height but I guess I can help my weight.

There in no option to book an extra seat when you book a holiday. Also it is damn near impossible to find out the size of the seats on the plane. How are overweight people meant to know that they are going to need an extra seat? Granted if you are extremely overweight then you will know, but still....

Just for balance though, all these people who are farting on about weight being a choice and it's just fat lazy people who stuff their faces all day - I run 3 miles and walk 2 miles every day, I burn 1000 active calories every day. I eat healthily but I'm still over weight. I have friends who never do a single scrap of exercise and eat crap all day long who are skinny as rakes. (I'll just sit and wait for the people who know it all to come and tell me that I simply can't be burning that many calories or eating healthily and still be overweight)

CallipygianFancier · 03/04/2019 10:09

I'm pretty big (I have been very fat in the past, now it's closer to just being "hefty" and it being evident I lift weights), and I just avoid flying economy. Even when I got myself to the point of a waist to height ratio that was on the lower end of what seems to get listed as the healthy range, I was still taller and broader-shouldered than most people.

I don't think airlines help matters trying to fit in as many seats as they can, but there's no real way round it as long as people are chasing cheap flights - I'm happy to pay more for increased comfort, but I can't imagine trying to fill a plane with people like me is a workable business model.

30% larger seats for people who take up 30% more space - and which cost 30% more - sounds just fine to me, but I think it only actually solves the problem if airlines can make people who need them use them, and at that point you're going to get a lot of vocal complaining about it.

Weight as such is a bit of a red herring for seat fitment. If you weigh someone with a decent amount of muscle, you'd be surprised how heavy they are relative to their size. If you're looking at take off weight and plane loading etc that's fair enough, but in terms of fitting in a seat, well, it's about whether you fit in a seat!

I don't like these kinds of programmes as I think they're crass and voyeuristic, but while I can see an argument for the programme being "fat shaming", airline seating and the reality of life in general isn't.

Having been obese, the undercurrent of general opinion that fat people have themselves to blame is bang on the money in most cases. Those with explicit medical reasons behind it are the outliers, most just take on food at higher quantity and lower quality than corresponds to their level of physical activity.

I don't think the approaches to weight loss that are normally promoted are particularly helpful either, but that's a whole different discussion.

Cinnamon12345 · 03/04/2019 10:10

Armrests have to be down for safety reasons on takeoff and landing.

HoustonBess · 03/04/2019 10:10

Ew, awful people on this thread! A few observations:

  1. If weight loss was that simple and easy, obesity wouldn't be a problem
  2. Fat people have as much right to enjoy their lives as anyone else, and to be treated with respect
  3. Fat people are likely to be discriminated against in employment as well, and therefore less well off, requiring them to pay double every time they book a seat for anything is going to prevent people from travelling
  4. I'm sure fat people don't love spilling over into neighbouring seats either, and seat belts are often a problem
  5. There are a whole range of annoying things people do on planes, I'd rather squeeze in by a very fat person than a manspreader, someone who chats incessantly, someone who uses loud headphones, sprays deodorant etc

Ultimately it should be down to airlines to find solutions that meet customer needs, rather than pretending nothing has changed about the average body since the 1950s. The way planes are designed brings people into conflict for the sake of higher profit.

I say this as a moderately but not excessively fat person (size 16).

If you haven't read it, Roxane Gay's book Hunger has a lot on how it feels to be a very fat person flying and generally getting through life without facing shame and humiliation at every turn.

RottnestFerry · 03/04/2019 10:10

Sure they do, you scan your ticket don't you?

They scan your boarding card, then you go through security with all the other people who have had their card scanned, joining whichever queue is the shortest.

I have been through a dedicated security check when flying to a high risk destination or a at a tiny airport but, in my experience, that is rare.

RottnestFerry · 03/04/2019 10:14

Sure they do, you scan your ticket don't you?

Yes, they could weigh you then, before you go through to security. Sorry, being a bit slow this morning.

HollowTalk · 03/04/2019 10:15

I don't understand what people mean by booking two seats. Do you mean book two tickets? Wouldn't that throw up problems as you have to enter the names of the passengers? And if you mean buy one ticket, but go on and book two seats, again, wouldn't that come up as an error?

dadshere · 03/04/2019 10:15

All flight tickets should be sold on a weight basis. Every person gets a nominal weight, say 100Kg. They can fill that any way they want, body weight or luggage. Anything over, they pay extra for. Simple large scale where you stand with your luggage. Easy to implement, easy to do.

ErrolTheDragon · 03/04/2019 10:19

I don't understand what people mean by booking two seats. Do you mean book two tickets? Wouldn't that throw up problems as you have to enter the names of the passengers?

Apparently not. Professional musicians have been known to book an extra seat for their cello or whatever to avoid it having to go in the hold.

EmeraldShamrock · 03/04/2019 10:23

DP who was happily snuggled up and snoozing Grin
Brilliant.

CallipygianFancier · 03/04/2019 10:24

You probably can't do it through the automated systems or cheap flight/price comparison sites, rather you'd have to call them and explain what you want.

Certainly, making it a standard thing you can tick a box for when booking on such sites would be necessary to have it be in any way workable on a large scale. Probably not a five minute job to implement that though.

Jenny17 · 03/04/2019 10:28

Weight is not the same as size. Some people have more muscle that weighs more but would not cause the person sitting next to them discomfort and some weigh the same and absolutely spill into the next seat.

We need to come along to a collective decision we either all pay more, quite a bit more actually or those that do not fit into a space are charged more / expected to book larger seats way before so we all know where we stand.

ErrolTheDragon · 03/04/2019 10:32

30% larger seats for people who take up 30% more space - and which cost 30% more - sounds just fine to me, but I think it only actually solves the problem if airlines can make people who need them use them, and at that point you're going to get a lot of vocal complaining about it.

That's why the model would need to be as I suggested. Larger standard seats, and the option of cheaper small ones available for people who fitted them.

I've had to sit in specific seats in small aircraft due to being small, whether I wanted to or not - getting out of the bottom of the Grand Canyon, front seat in the helicopter (which I loved, but some people said would have terrified them), followed by a vomit-inducing tiny cramped back seat in a Cessna.

LarryGreysonsDoor · 03/04/2019 10:32

Weight is not the same as size.

Exactly. I weigh the same as my DH. He is a foot taller that me and slim. I am dumpy.

EssentialHummus · 03/04/2019 10:33

I think the only way to resolve this is to cut out all the "shovelling crisps down" language and look at it as a safety issue. And I do think it's for the airlines to do, otherwise individuals' solutions will be ad hoc.

CallipygianFancier · 03/04/2019 10:37

That's why the model would need to be as I suggested. Larger standard seats, and the option of cheaper small ones available for people who fitted them

How do you stop people who won't fit in them booking the cheap seats?

One way or the other, if you have different size seats at different pricing to resolve the issue of people who won't fit in a given size seat, at some stage the question of enforcing it will come up.

LarryGreysonsDoor · 03/04/2019 10:38

All they need to say is 'if your waist is over x cm or your hips are over y cm then tick this box'. Then it'll book you another seat.
This however assumes that people don't lie.

Fozzleyplum · 03/04/2019 10:39

There is a poster who has started a couple of threads recently in which she has been agonising about whether she is too fat to fly.

It seems the following are true:

  • overweight passengers are often either worried and/or embarrassed about this;
  • some overweight passengers know they won't fit, and book anyway;
  • some overweight passengers care if they cause problems for others, but some don't;
-sitting next to someone who encroaches is at least very unpleasant and is unfair;
  • at present, the airlines seem to be leaving it to the affected passengers to complain (and hoping they won't), or leaving ground/ cabin staff to deal with it.

The obvious solution, as PPs have suggested, is to take the same approach as we have with cabin luggage. Make it the responsibility of the passenger to confirm on booking as a condition of travel, that they will fit into to seat comfortably. Provide "tester seats" with a qualified assessor at airports, so that passengers such as the anxious poster can go in to check if they fit before they book, and so that passengers can be tested for fit at check in, to avoid difficult situations on boarding.

The issue should not be ignored because a (probably very small) proportion of people who won't fit are like that because of a disability. Laws preventing discrimination do not provide that all effects of a disability MUST be accommodated at the expense of others, just that adjustments must be considered.

HolyForkingShirt · 03/04/2019 10:40

Maybe they could have larger standard seats but some cheaper small ones available as an option for children and petite people?

No thanks - I'm petite and don't want to be stuck next to a bunch of kids for a long haul flight!

feelingverylazytoday · 03/04/2019 10:44

If weight loss was that simple and easy, obesity wouldn't be a problem
Oh give over, weight loss certainly is simple for the majority of people. It isn't necessarily easy, but lots of things aren't easy.
And yes I have been obese myself. Losing weight was actually quite straightforward once I came to terms with the fact that no one can control what I eat apart from myself.

ErrolTheDragon · 03/04/2019 10:45

No thanks - I'm petite and don't want to be stuck next to a bunch of kids for a long haul flight!

That's why it would be optional. Though in practice getting the numbers right might be difficult.

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