uncomfirtable journey

[planejourney]

Interested in people's opinions.
I had a recent journey from hell when an obese/morbidly obese person sat next to me on a flight for 6 hours.
He and his partner both booked aisle seats next to each other and both were morbidly obese. I was in a middle seat and another passenger in the window seat.
He struggled to get into the seat and had to rearrange himself and move bits around in order to get the armrest down. Once in place, the armrest disappeared. He basically overflowed into my seat and had to cross his arms for me to have any room. His right leg was in my space and his left leg was in the aisle. He was unable to get the table down in front of him.
Unfortunately I had to spend the full journey with body contact with this person. This not only invaded my personal space but was also really hot! It was a night flight and the flight was full, so I didn't want to disturb people sleeping by asking if a swap/move was possible. This person proceded to fall asleep and snore very loudly to a point where people were turning around. The trolley or people could not get past his leg in the aisle so he had to keep moving it. To make matters worse, the person in front reclined their seat right back. I felt trapped!
I had a few looks of pity and the staff could clearly see how uncomfortable it was.
AIBU to think he should have bought a second seat? Airlines should make it clear and consider the comfort and safety of all passengers. I paid for a seat and got half a one. Did this person lack consideration for others?

I always book an aisle seat purely as I cannot cope with being "trapped". I think this would have given me real anxiety!

oh sorry. They swapped seats so the smaller one was in the middle

The person sitting next to his obese partner spent time facing away from her with head in hands and they did cause a fuss and swapped seats.

who voluntarily swapped with them?

The woman with her head in her hands swapped with her smaller companion?

Where's your empathy for the woman crushed and forced to rub up against a stranger for 6 hours? I'm not the arsehole...

That sounds horrendous and I think I would've had a panic attack at being so squashed! Extremely inconsiderate and at the very least they should've booked extra leg room seats. I'm surprised it wasn't a safety issue - how can him blocking you in be ok when they check the bags are under seats so its a clear exit? You could complain to them, at least you'd feel better, although its done now.

the man next to the obese partner had head in hands causing a fuss, clearly unhappy. His partner who was smaller and in the window seat swapped with him.

Stop bloody projecting, it's ridiculous, nobody treated anyone like an animal, but who actually cares about the reason he didn't buy two seats? He can't fit in one seat, so he should have bought two or not flown. It's really that simple.

I did but they said they dont enforce anything due to discrimination. I did reply to that but had no response. Im not angry now, but I do think airlines should be accountable

Oh for heaven's sake. If you are so large that you are causing discomfort to someone else, you have the option to plan ahead and book extra room. Nobody is hating anyone. It is just common sense and safety awareness.

As a former cabin crew, I’ve literally seen someone shit themselves on the seat and they will not move you if the flight is overbooked.

On some flights depending on duration, they might have the last two rows empty but in the airline I used to work for, they were legally reserved for crew rest or a medical emergency.

The only time they will move an obese person is if they’re say at an emergency exit and need an extension seatbelt. With an extension seatbelt, they are not classed as able bodied passanger to help in an emergency and not allowed to sit on these seats. I had many awkward times where I had to move them.

With each other. They were a couple. One in the window and one in the middle. Part way through they swapped with each other. So the squashed one could get a break from being squashed. Obviously.

One of the cabin crew ladies did give me an eye as they were serving,acknowledging the situation. Not a lot they could do, but they were frustrated having wake him and ask him to move his leg each time they needed to get the trolley past.

That's ridiculous! If it's a matter of safety it should override 'discrimination'. I can imagine ot would be incredibly awkward, as a nice person, to say something and the staff should have moved him somewhere where he wouldn't pose a health and safery risk, or not allowed him to fly if there were no safe seats. If anything had happened you and the passenger next to you would've been trapped. What airline was it?

I feel sorry for you OP. I had the same when I had to deadhead (where you fly as an extra crew but a passenger) and it was awful.

In the future, try and book an emergency exit seat. You won’t have the problem again!

Some airlines are addressing this difficult issue, particularly in the US, where many people are obese. Coincidentally, I read an article today in the New York Times about South West Airlines, which is stipulating that obese people should book an extra seat. I don't know the minutiae of this, i.e., what constitutes obesity, but it is a realistic solution to what is becoming a significant issue in travel.

As someone who used to fly very frequently, and lived in the US, where obesity is very prevalent, for nineteen years, I am very sympathetic to your situation. Six hours is too long time to be squashed in a middle seat. You are not being unreasonable. In your position, I also would have been very reluctant to make a fuss at the start, as it would seem obnoxious and I am a very tolerant flyer, so I totally understand your own reaction. I very much dislike the way that obesity is stigmatized, but when it involves the kind of discomfort that you experienced, I think that the issue has to be addressed. Commiserations.

TUI

TBH if he had set next to my DH there wouldn't have been room for him . Dh broad and takes the full seat. Normally the window. He's not obese. Would have been interested to see how TUI would have managed that one.

There are a couple of problems with that idea.

First, people who are not obese (e.g., very tall people) would want to book those seats for extra comfort, possibly before the obese people. So when you went to book it you would have to check a box to say "I promise to weight at least 18 stone on the day of travel".

Second, an obese person who didn't book that seat would logically have to be denied boarding. That would require a definition of "obese" which could be applied consistently. You know how Ryanair makes you jam your cabin bag into a metal sizer to show that it's not oversize? Well, something like that but for people. "I'm sorry Sir/Madam, your arse doesn't fit, it'll have to go in the hold".

this is why the couple got 2 aisle seats. They wouldn't have fit next to each other and noone would have fit between them

I don't think from your description that wound have worked for them. If he was over flowing into your seat he couldn't have done that with Dh and would hace blocked the aisle as he would have to have sat further over. Definitely a safty issue!

I don't think it's "fat-shaming" to say that it's highly considerate when a couple, both of whom are obese, book to sit separately so it is strangers who are inconvenienced by being squashed rather than each other.

I was morbidly obese and I hated flying. I had to make sure that I had my husband on one side and a child on the other so I had room to spread. I wasn’t that big and most of my weight was on my stomach so it was more me being uncomfortable than others.

I believe that if you are so fat that you’re going to make other peoples flights uncomfortable, you should be forced to buy 2 seats.

It’s a choice to be obese, and while obesity is an eating disorder, you CAN do things to not be like that, especially in this day and age.

There is a way of buying 2 seats for yourself. You need to put a code in the second passenger booking

Me too. And dh always wants the window, so whoever comes for the middle seat usually assumes that we want to sit together, and we have to put them straight.