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

[Frequency]

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?

I think it was United. The flight was only half an hour but the seats were like huge armchairs! It was fab

Ah yes, i obviously never got to experience that because we moved 😂

I'm not sure what seatbelt extenders have to do with shoulder width? Just because you don't need one, or you fit into a size 8, doesn't mean your shoulders will fit into your own seat.

Maybe I just have weirdly broad shoulders. I don't think I do, but I did spend my teens competitively swimming, and I'm fond of kettlebells now, so it's possible, I suppose. I never have issues buying clothes that fit my shoulders.

I think the standard BA seat is designed for someone 5'7 and no more than 150 lbs. Probably the same for a lot of them.

@Comedycook

airlines, as an industry, operate on extremely tight margins.

we all know how much people hate paying high prices for flights. If general flights had less seats to allow more room, likely many airlines would fold as people just wouldn’t pay the prices.

I have never noticed airplane seats being ridiculously small but I have never flown with Jet 2.

Googling average shoulder size shows 18 inches for men, so 50% of men are more than that, and the forearm-forearm measurement is larger. How is a 17 inch seat width supposed to be big enough?! Even in an aisle or window seat I've ended up with a twisted back having to lean away from someone who simple is wider in shoulder/arms than the seat.

no
people have lost sight of what is slim and overweight
it’s the elephant in the room no one wants to say your fat move over

Im 5ft 6 size 8 -10 have no problems in flight seats

my other half is 6ft 3 15 stone and again has no problem with flight seats

we do generally book extra leg room for him as he’s tall but otherwise flying is fine

if your obese book 2 seats
I don’t want to be squashed

@Frequency you sound like me: competitive swimmer, weightlifter. I also don’t generally have issues fitting clothes to my shoulders, but I think it’s as @Sistersister50 described: the seats are designed with smaller-framed people in mind, so if you get two or more people who don’t fit the mould you end up squeezed in the shoulder department. Even sitting next to my DH who’s also broad-shouldered, but not fat, we find ourselves a bit squashed.

We flew with jet2 not that long ago, I did have an extra legroom exit row seat, but the actual seat was the same size. I’m six foot and broadish (rugby player) and I was fine in my seat, no one in the row was touching anyone else. My only issue is how tiny the arm rests are on a lot of aeroplanes now, it makes it hard to use them.

Stories like this make me never want to get on a plane again tbh!

But…. They aren’t getting narrower… Less room sometimes front to back though.

when I was a kid a 737 was 3 on each side of the aisle… and a 737 is still 3 on each side of the aisle. I am average height with BMI smack in the middle of healthy range and I fit fine.

Hmm. I'm 6'2, size 12, and go between 76-80kg. Add 20kg of luggage on and that takes me over your arbitrary 95kg limit. Yet I am far from obese

To be honest you can fly to Europe for cheaper than you can take a train to London, the small seats allow people on tight budget to travel. I don't think there are very comfortable but I keep my mouth shut because with £35 I covered 1500 miles. It is what ot is.

I think they need to start putting something rigid in between seats so that everyone gets their full share of space.

Of the three of you, you were the one that fitted in the seat and yet somehow you were the person who had to sit hunched forward? That’s not fair.
You should have been allowed to sit back and only if they could fit should the others do likewise.

A nice rigid seat divider to keep everyone in their own space (and prevent legs from going out at angles) should do it, and encourage those who need to to booked two seats.

It should be possible to ask flight crew to remove them with some sort of tool for those needing to book two seats, or for a parent with a small child who wishes to lie across them.

Try flying with an infant on your lap

I often fly Ryanair and Easyjet and find them a little cramped for legroom (I'm 5ft 11) but enough room.

I think some people are in denial about their width. Seat sizes are clearly stated on the website so people should either pay for a second seat or turn sideways slightly so you don't encroach on someone else's space, as that's just rude.

Ryan air flights are unbearable. As a plus sized woman who is part of the epidemic of obesity and is just not tackling it ( thanks for the judgement @CassandraCan ) i will not fly with them. However, I have always found jet2 and easy jet to be great. Admittedly I only go as far as spain with them so it's not long to be a little bit tight on space!

Dh is overweight and fits comfortably, he not had an issue. I’m not overweight and have never had an issue.

YANBU. Seats have got narrower as people have got larger (both height and, even more so, weight wise). So it's not surprising they feel uncomfortable.

I don’t think seats are any smaller now than when I first flew in 1988

Seats haven't changed size

Obesity is so rife and normalised that the 'average' sized adult has increased in size since the majority of us became porkers

See also, vanity sizing

Clothing increasing in proportion, but the size labels remain the same

Someone who was a size 12 ten years ago and who hasn't gained weight, is more than likely looking towards the size 10 or size 8 end of the clothing racks today

This. If you don't fit in the seat you are fat and you need to do something about it. Seats aren't smaller. People are huge these days

We flew back from US a couple of years ago on a what must have been an older airplane as it had screens at regular intervals around the cabin, but no individual screens in the back of the seat in front of you.

Oh, the seats!!

Big, leather-effect, comfy, wing-back style. They were by far the best seats I have ever had on a plane (always fly economy) and I definitely had more leg room.

I vaguely recall once upon a time the seats were supposed to "accommodate" up to the 95.percentile adult.

Of course what that means depends on when the 95th percentile figures were established...may have been some decades back