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?

Sorry I didn’t say it was down to you being obese. I was just explaining my experience Your post was about an average sized adult . I think I average sized . Most women I am friends with / work with are the same height as me so I didnt think I was that short ! I didn’t say anything about your body and needing to adjust it so not sure where that all came from ? Also I’m not narrow . I have pretty broad shoulders . My point was I fit in the seat fine therefore was answering the question you asked !

I’ve not noticed an issue with plane seats. The seats on my train to London are so much narrower than they used to be!

I fit on the seat (both shoulders and bum) so refuse the twist my back when the person next to me is too big. Plenty of squidgy pressing up against strangers until they move back onto their own seats, especially the irritating man spreaders who don’t need to sit with their legs wide apart 😵‍💫

Main justification for the baggage charge is it's a source of ancillary revenue and also someone has to pay for the personnel and infrastructure needed to move the stuff around, onload, offload etc.

Those charges might be more significant than any increased fuel burn due to extra weight and TBH I don't think there's much of an appetite, especially amongst frequent flyers, for getting on the scales before every single flight.

Haven’t been on a plane for couple of years. But there is no space on buses if you have bag of shopping or a laptop bag. No space on floor so have to put on your knees. No chance if you have two bags.

I think this is really key - I am technically although not massively obese, and I carry a lot of of my weight in front. So I have narrow shoulders and not very wide hips, but a huge bust and quite a belly. I fit in airline seats fine and, even though I’ve been much bigger, have never needed a seatbelt extender. Airline seats usually fit me fine, but I have been in some that have been ridiculously small. Once I sat on a long haul flight with a tiny skinny older lady who put her elbows right into me, even though I was completely contained within my seat area. She was absolutely maximum a size 8 but she took up much more than her seat width. I have no idea why, but it was a very uncomfortable 13 hour journey!

Im flying abroad next month for the first time in years. Ive already started worrying zbout being a human sandwich. Im pretty thin and dont wamt to be crushed to death.

BINGO!!!

lol don’t , I told op I was obese in bmi and 5 5 and fit fine in regular seats and she attacked me claiming I wanted her to diet to reduce her height 😂 literally said nothing about her ! Mad

Why didn't you ask the man to lean to the aisle a bit so you could sit back into your seat?

As someone who used to fly for work twice a week for years I would say doing this carries a risk. You are stuck next to an angry man for however many hours which is rather unpleasant.

A man kicked off because I asked him very nicely to remove his elbow from my waist, threatened to have me arrested then followed me through the airport.

I didn't want to draw any attention to the fact that my friend was very slightly on my seat too. She was very anxious about flying and her size. This holiday was her first since she was a child due to her size and the whole reason she started WLI. She's done amazingly well, and I didn't want to do anything to take that away from her.

I did try to sit back a few times, which resulted in me lying on him and him huffing and puffing as if I was the problem. It did get him to shift slightly, but as soon as I got up to stretch my legs or leaned forward to get something out of my bag, he was back, so in the end I just gave up. Squishing myself between him and my friend wasn't any more comfortable than leaning forward anyway.

Flying is awful full stop.

YANBU

I have been surprised at new configurations that have my knees pressing into the seat in front. I am only 5ft 8!!

Oh crikey... That must have been scary. In that case maybe she shouldn't have said anything but it just seems awful that she's literally not able to sit back while the two people either side are oblivious!

Yeah yeah. Just use that thing called Google and you’ll discover that the average person is now significantly taller and broader in the shoulders than in the 50s (when the industry standard for airline seat size was fixed). Since deregulation in the ‘70s and ‘80s, seat width and depth have both progressively narrowed by up to 2 inches and 7 inches respectively, for purely economic reasons, hence the rise of operations like Ryanair and EasyJet. Obesity is certainly a problem but it’s not a scapegoat for the world’s woes, not even this one

I fly with Jet2 most years and usually share a row with my two 6 foot bodybuilding sons and never have an issue (I'm 5 foot 6 and a size 12). I mean you're not exactly getting room to stretch out and move around but I can sit normally without feeling like my space is being encroached upon.

The problem is that people will buy plane tickets based mostly on price and then the airlines look for ways to cut costs in order to be able to offer the lowest price possible.

After losing 7s an now a size 12 I can def say seats fit me with room to spare

and this comes from someone who obv was fat

I always fitted into them but was snug on thighs. Didn’t need seat belt extended but was at end of seatbelt

Tickets are often marketed at the lowest possible cost based on flight only, at the cheapest possible time, and then as you go through they add costs for things like baggage or reserved seating or getting a life jacket.

I sometimes wonder if they would do better to start at the higher price and let you take stuff off rather than do it the other way around so you feel like you're saving money rather than paying more, but I guess that wouldn't get people onto the website in the first place.

@ThatCyanCat

I sometimes wonder if they would do better to start at the higher price and let you take stuff off rather than do it the other way around so you feel like you're saving money rather than paying more, but I guess that wouldn't get people onto the website in the first place.
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Your final comment nails it.

The sales/marketing people always reckon you've got to be able to get the lowest ticket price on the front of the website as a starter...then tack on the optional ancillaries.

If your opening price is all in but too high most customers won't hang around long enough to find out that it can be reduced by removing options.

Plane seats are the same width they have always been. Take for example the Boeing 737 which has been around in various forms for well over 50 years. The width of the aircraft cabin has actually increased slightly but the seats have always been 3-3 so the seat width has not changed. The only sizes that have changed are the passengers! Now legroom, that's a different matter!

The problem is that people then complain about what they get when they have bought on lowest price.

It's like people staying in aTravelodge complaining there's no room service to call up to deliver a steak sandwich and no G&T in the non existent minibar.

I agree, but I dont have any problems with this. Its enabled mass travel at affordabl eprices.

Where are you all booking your short-haul package holidays, where you get a choice in airlines?

Believe me, if I had the option to pay more and fly with a better airline, I would, but either they don't fly from our local airports or such holidays don't exist. We don't choose our airline; the holiday company does, and we don't pick the cheapest holidays either.

@Frequency

Believe me, if I had the option to pay more and fly with a better airline, I would, but either they don't fly from our local airports or such holidays don't exist.

...and that's exactly what some of the Locos and TBF other airlines rely on...it's classic customer inertia.

If you won't connect via another airport or contemplate changing to another airport/operator or can't afford to then you're stuck.