To expect people not to take over my seat on the plane

[WhyNotUsehis]

Warning - RANT

If you can't keep your body within the confines of your seat, then either purchase 2 seats or accept the right of your fellow passengers to drop a guillotine between the seats

Why do I have to spend my flight being constantly hit by passing passengers, stewards and trollies as I'm wedged so tightly up against the aisle armrest that my shoulder is hanging out into the aisle and I'm tilted so much into the aisle that my side/back is in agony

I'm not asking you to give me part of your seat, just allow me to have use of my own

This happens to you often?

Of course. If someone can't fit in a seat they need to pay for two seats! They shouldn't spill their roles of fat over into the next seat.

What if it is a large built but not obese man?

As a fat person, I notice that in some situations where I'm definitely not overflowing at all into the other person's seat, some people seem to just not like being near a fat person, and think that they are being inconvenienced, just by being near me, and by suffering the fear that I am going to take up their space.

So I take the OP's question with a grain of salt.

YANBU OP
But expect a flaming and loads for 'poor fat person having to sit next to you' and that you should just suck it up and not say a word of complaint.

Okay to make things clearer, this has nothing to do with the persons weight

They started off by sticking their elbows over the armrest into my ribs, so I put my tablet up against the armrest to stop this, they then rested their elbows in top of my tablet, to ensure their elbows took up maximum space

They then also spread their legs to take over half my leg room

And if their overflowing was in my imagination, a guillotine would have no effect, so no harm done

I’ve had this on several flights recently; a huge broad shouldered man who doesn’t fit into his seat at all, and seems to think mine is also his.

What was more infuriating was that he was in the middle seat with a travel partner (smaller, female) in the window seat. It didn’t seem to occur to them that he’d have the “extra” window space that he needed if they swapped seats, and he also appeared to encroach on mine more than hers. And yes, this happened twice, different flights, different couples!

It’s awful. Sat next to a woman last year on a long haul flight who decided her toddler needed to lie on her seat. She then proceeded to try and raise the arm rest so she could creep into mine. When I asked her what she doing she said her child needed her sleep and that it was illegal to protest! People who are too large to sit in a seat or a women who wants two seats (one for her and one for child) need to pay for it.

Men are the worst for spreading in an entitled way. It’s just not part of their wiring to even consider that it would be a problem.

I guess all we can do is bring their attention to it and hope they’re the empathetic type, rather than the arsy type.

Still two seats if he's encroaching on the person next to him so much that they can't sit properly in the seat they paid for.

Let me guess, a man?
Edited to add that there is no way I would have tolerated the elbow bullshit.

And you said "Excuse me, you're encroaching on my space, or excuse me can you shift your elbow please?"

Yes?

How did you guess 🤔

I fully admit that I didn't confront him

I thought moving my tablet around to block his elbow should be enough of a message

And yes, my bad, I felt very wary of confronting a strange man who was actively invading my space

It’s a tight space, speak up next time

Same thing because the outcome is the same.

Absolutely!
'How dare you presume other passengers shouldn't be able to use your seat space?! You're a bigoted fattist for not automatically giving over all of your space!!'

Literally no one has made any comment anything like this so it seems that this is just a fantasy that that you and the PP share.

Why are you using the word 'confront'?

A polite excuse me is anything but confrontational 😳

What did you do?? I would have summoned the FA.

I take the view that if you're in the middle seat you're entitled to the armrests, BUT you don't overspill them into the other seats.

Are you serious, she challenged you for claiming your right to your seat? Some people are unbelievable! How did it end up?

Omg, I noticed this too! I wonder if it’s because they’re generally bigger than women so they feel they should be entitled to more space? Or they have such thick skins that it simply doesn’t cross their mind that what they’re doing is not ok

Irrelevant. If you need two seats you pay for two seats.

Large build? What's that?

Very good point actually

im so tired of people wimping out by saying “oh i dont like confrontation”

VERY FEW DO! But speaking to someone ISNT confrontation, its saying “excuse me, can you not stick your elbows or knees into my seat area, thanks!”

or even a “do you mind..?” When it’s fucking obvious they know you know what they’re doing.