To think this woman was within her rights?

[KimberleyClark]

Sorry for Daily Mail link. Briefly,obese woman paid for two seats to accommodate her size. A woman with a toddler came along and asked if she could have the extra seat. Woman was shamed when she refused.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13001341/obese-plane-passenger-paid-extra-seat-size-shame.html

This. I mean it would look entitled taking up two seats. Either way, I guess she would have taken up two seats anyway but since she paid for them they were rightly hers to keep.

Anyone who claims they don't feel safe clicking on a DM link is a performative dick

I’ve had this before on New Zealand air. It was ages ago but you used to be able to buy a spare seat then your row of three at the side could be turned into a bed. I was travelling with my toddler. Air hostess asked if someone could sit in the extra seat and I was very much a no. A couple of rows in front had a spare seat that they hadn’t paid for so she stuck them there instead. The bloke was really pissed off about it as he’d clocked that I’d been asked and declined. I’d paid for the extra space though and they hadn’t.

This is why the idiots who film and post stuff online should stop it. Lives are being ruined by these videos, usually with half a story and being being branded with false allegations.

KLM now very clearly states that you're not allowed to film/take pictures of staff or passengers without their permission at the start of their safety briefing. Time for other airlines to catch up.

Yet it happens all the time on mumsnet .

Nope. Nobody claims they don’t feel safe clicking. Just that they don’t want to fund the Mail and the hate it represents by clicking.

Then you'll be able to link to someone saying they don't feel safe clicking a Mail link?

The mother and child and anybody who wanted obese women to relinquish a seat without reimbursing her is the CF.

My ds is a big lad - yes he could do with losing weight (work in progress) but he's still always going to be over 2m tall & built like the proverbial brick shit house. He manages to contort himself into extra legroom aisle seats without encroaching on others (I've sat next to him, it's fine & I am not tiny), but airline staff do tend to seat him next to an empty seat where they can.

I've often thought there could be a market for 'comfort' seats - 2 in the row, significantly wider, marketed at bigger flyers, people with squirmy toddlers & miscellaneous spreader outers, for 150% of the regular price.

Not as expensive as paying for 2 seats, more comfy I'd imagine than having your bum spread across 2...

Yes I do know Business/First Class already exist & are roomier seats than Coach. But then you're paying for all the other bells & whistles.

Anyway, she definitely WNBU. She could have paid for the seat for her size, her favourite handbag or her invisible pirate ghost husband. Doesn't matter. She paid, it's her damn seat.

I don’t see why I would give up something I paid for with no recompense and yes some people book two seats exactly for this reason (especially as a fat person).

The mom was fine to ask and even check with the cabin crew but ultimately you cannot insist on making use of a service somebody else has paid for.

And what could the fat woman possibly receive in return that would make up for her lost comfort, space and money?

If it turned out I cope with one seat and I had booked 2 the minimum I would expect is to sell the seat to the parent at the last minute booking price.

You're honestly saying you regularly book two seats on a plane to give one away? Airline seats aren't cheap these days.

Maybe that mother was especially stressed

So stressed that she continued to be passive aggressive to the occupant of the other seats for the rest of the flight...

The issue here isn't a lack of kindness it is entitlement.

Would you give away something you wanted, needed and paid for to someone who asked? It probably cost a significant amount of money…

You already can book seats like that, its just premium economy.

This Summer I flew Ryanair and bought two seats as I’m large and had a sore back at the time and would have been utterly miserable squished into one seat. The thing is, unless you spend the flight announcing “this is my additional fat seat” people don’t actually know do they?
So on both flights I had a teenager who clearly saw the “spare” seat between us as a half-each situation and filled “their” side with bags and feet at various points. I didn’t say anything as I was comfortable and probably would have been ok with a well behaved toddler for the same reason.
So, benefit of the doubt in this story if the mum didn’t know or knew but thought it was worth asking then that’s fair enough. If, on the other hand they knew, were told no and persisted in being horrible then yes the mum was entitled and in the wrong for that…unless she was happy to reimburse the traveller for her seat.

Premium economy aren’t any wider are they? I thought they just had extra legroom?

Depends on airline.

They’re wider on mosf airlines, thats why there aren’t as many seats in the row.

I can see that happening. I think I would sit in the middle seat in that case and use the window or aisle as my extra seat.

Even so, if the airline staff became involved, I'd expect them to side with the person who bought the seat.