AIBU to think airline seats no longer fit average-sized adults?

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Do any airlines have adult-sized seats? Not obese adults, just regular adults?

We've just flown with Jet2 and my back is still in agony from the trip there. I was in the middle seat between my friend, who is slightly overweight but also short, so proportionately, she is not much wider than an average height, average weight woman, and a man who was maybe bordering on obese, his ass fit in his own seat, but his shoulders took a good three/four inches of my seat. My friend's shoulders took maybe a cm or 2 of my seat.

I'm not on the small side myself; I'm not overweight, but I am not what you'd describe as skinny. I needed all my shoulder space to myself. I was unable to sit back the entire flight because I literally didn't fit. I had to hunch forward with my shoulders rolled in.

On the way back, I was sitting between my friend, a short, slim lady. I could sit back, but I was touching both people on either side of me, and there was no elbow space or wriggle room.

For next year, I need either my shoulders shaved down and a few ribs removed or actual, people-sized seats. Do such seats exist?

That's leg room though, not seat width. A plane is as wide as it is. You can't make seats wider without taking out one seat of the row of 6 to make it a 2-3 configuration. No airlines are deliberately making the seats narrower in a 3-3 formation just to make passengers uncomfortable. If people want wider seats, i.e. a 2-3 configuration, then they'll have to pay 20% higher prices for everything, i.e. the flight itself, the add-on baggage costs, the priority boarding charge, the onboard food/drink/gifts etc to make up for the loss of revenue.

Nobody has any right to buy anything that a business can't sell profitably.

With flights there are always options, people y
just can't afford them

My main gripe with plane seats is lack of leg space. My knees always ache so badly after a flight. It seems that anyone average height or above gets a bad experience.

I just slide my feet and legs under the seat in front

If you have really long legs that is impossible.

It's also difficult because they often won't let you put your small cabin bag in the overhead locker so the space where your feet and legs would go is filled by your bag.

OP I think you might be kidding yourself as to how slim you and your friend are.

I'm quite tall with a BMI in the middle of normal. I fit into airline seats, even when someone really very large is on both sides of me. It's less comfortable, I'll grant you, but surrounded by normal sized people, even slightly overweight people I'd be fine.

How tall are you ? Manor paying for extra leg room

I’m 5ft 7 and leg stretch comfortably under seat in front

I've already posted my BMI. I don't know my weight because I'm recovering from ED, so I set my scales not to show weight. It shows BMI and body composition instead, but if it is possible to have a BMI of 22, fit comfortably into a size 12, and also be overweight, I suppose that could be true.

I don't think so, though. I think obesity had nothing to do with it, as I keep saying. Over and over and over...

I believe it is because the man and I have broader shoulders due to a mix of being tall and active/athletic. I needed all 17 inches of my shoulder space; he needed more than he had.

I won't be doing anything about it if that is the case. I quite enjoy being able to eat without feeling the need to punish myself, so I'll stay overweight and pay for the middle seat instead.

Again, just so we are 100% clear, no one on the row was obese.

Yet you told me that because I’m shorter than you I must have narrow shoulders , when in fact I don’t . I think there’s a few things you need to think about. Someone recovering from an ED surely should be more understanding considering I am also recovering from one and tried to help to be faced with your body shaming and insults .

@Fliesinmyeyesseats ate getting smaller. Since the 1980s seats are up to two inches narrower and up to six inches closer (pitch), particularly (and surprisingly) the top four USA airlines. The rest of the world it varies. But the 777 carriers, originally designed to carry nine people across, 70% of the newer ones now carry ten across. BA has actually retrofitted some of its 777 carriers to this configuration with seats only 17inches across. I know my Virgin Premium Economy seat in the newer A330-900neo is 18.5inches wide, but in the older A330-300 were 21 inches wide.
Yes people are getting larger, but many airlines are now featuring narrower seats. Today, Japan Airlines is one of the most generous with 34 inch pitch and 18.9 width in economy, tightest is low cost airlines like Cebo Pacific with 28 inch pitch and 16.5 inch width. Jet2 (as it’s been mentioned here) is not particularly tight; it’s on par with EasyJet and Ryanair with width of 17-18inches and pitch of 28-30.

I have the same problem, op. I'm tall with broad shoulders, and a healthy weight. The seats NEVER have enough shoulder or leg room. It's bloody annoying.