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?

According to Google weight is not a protected characteristic in the UK. As such there would be no discrimination surely?

He really was, the armrest dissapeared. ill find a similar photo to post

It sounds as though he held his stomach/sides up, pushed the armrest down and then his body enveloped the armrest once he let it go. He wouldn’t have had thre armrest up at the other side so could have mostly been leaning into the aisle, so just the overflow went over the armrest. I imagine that if he had to put two armrests down, then he would not have fit.

He couldn’t close his legs so had to use OP’s footwell, and the armrest was covered by his body, when then leaned against OP the whole time.

It’s not ok. She should have called for help at the time.

If these aisle seats had been pre booked in advance, it seems they may have known they wouldn’t fit and would need surrounding space. Usually if travelling just the two of you, and pre selecting seats, you would choose seats right next to each other- not across an aisle.

This sounds really uncomfortable for everyone and not really fair. I would have asked him to let me out at the beginning of the flight and quietly gone asked crew if they had any other options. I would hate to have a man’s body making contact with my body during the flight.

Is it discrimination to address it? Size itself is not a protected characteristic.

I've been in this situation (yours). I felt as torn as you do. This was in the days before online seat booking, and I was convinced the staff at the check in desk saw me as a tiny, lone female traveler and put me next to the man in an attempt to equal things out (both in terms of the plane and his/other passengers' discomfort). Made me furious.

I'm now at a stage in life where I've been on the receiving end of so much discrimination that I've had it. If I say that the person is intruding on my personal space and causing me discomfort, and have concerns over my own safety in the event of an emergency evacuation, that isn't a judgement on that person's lifestyle or choices: it is a statement of facts as they apply to ME. That person is discriminating against me.

There's no point pretending something isn't what it demonstrably and visibly is. There's no need to be mean about such things; they can and should be addressed with understanding and compassion - from both sides. It's a cop out on the part of airlines trying to offload this onto the passengers affected. They're only protecting themselves, doing care about either passenger.

Wow...

And what do they class it when a woman is forced into bodily contact with an unknown man for 6 hours???

TUI does not have a specific policy for obese passengers, but you are required to book an additional seat if you cannot fit into a single standard seat with the armrests down without encroaching on another passenger's space

I had a large person next to me, not as big as this passenger it seems. It was very uncomfortable as he took away a good chunk of my seat and I was jammed against him the whole flight which made it very hot and uncomfortable for the duration. During the flight his wife came to chat to
him..,yeah I notice she didn’t want to sit jammed up next to him.

The TUI stated policy of that if the arm rest can’t go down without encroaching on another passenger then they have to buy another seat

If I couldn’t have moved seats, I’d have put the armrest down and told him why.

Odd that Tui dismissed when their policy is clearly started.

similar to this

the armrest was down but he had to do it as he spilled over it and it dissapeared

tui don’t enforce this though. They don’t even check.

There is no blanket prohibition on discrimination. If someone is required to pay for two seats / a larger seat because they don't physically fit in a standard one I struggle to see a court objecting even if a protected characteristic is in play.

how do you know?

@SaltAirAndTheRust what's rubbish? My last flight was cramped. I was next to a man who was 6ft 4

the last time I was on a TUI flight I was 25 stone, my seatbelt didn’t fasten and they didn’t even check. I held it together and that was enough for them.

I would have got up and complained.

Considerate would have been not complaining in front of him.

But to not complain at all was just playing into the airline’s hands.

That it’s the standard for flying to feel like it did for this poster.

He fit in to an economy aeroplane seat and managed to get the arm rest down

He can’t have been the whale that the OP is conveying him to have been

Yes, sounds odd

How long ago

The flight took off and you had your seat unbuckled?

I think it sounds awful. However I feel sorry for him. Perhaps it is airlines who should provide a few larger seats to save everyone this embarrassment?

Exactly this. I just feel he was inconsiderate but really the airlines should do some checks somehow, but like another poster said, how would they enforce it!

absolutely agree