Is it unreasonable for airlines not to provide wider seats for obese passengers?

[Kag13]

I have today spent a four and a half hour Jet2 flight seated next to a young man who was at least 20 stone, probably larger. I could not use the left hand armrest as his body (fat) buldged over it and into my personal space (which on a budget airline is not that large) and his leg was resting over part of my seat.
Luckily I am only 5’2” and not that big but what would happen if someone of the same size was seated next to him?
it made for a very uncomfortable flight for me. Am I being unreasonable to think this is not right?

If you mean something like the guage used at check-in or the gate for carry on how would that work on a full flight where there are no spare seats?

Oh there’d be uproar, can you even imagine?! Most adults are now overweight as well so I’m not sure how this would work - the airline would have to decide a cutoff weight per height and it would cause lots of hassle at the airport for the staff. It isn’t feasible.

Then maybe they don't fly? It's not like they don't know their own size when they book the seat.

yes it’s nothing to do with why someone is bigger. But it’s the fairness of seating. It’s not fair on anyone to be squashed.

This would put prices up for all of us because there’d be fewer seats on the plane.
I travel frequently and airlines like Air France have a very strict 12kg rule for all hand baggage. This p-s me off because I am a small, slight woman so if I’m 0.2 kilo over my total weight is still less than that of the average passenger minus their hand baggage. I think this should be taken into
account but it is not…

Really he should have bought two seats…

Very uncomfortable, how does that even work, I'm only slightly overweight and was very grateful to be sitting next to my 2 year old on a flight last year.
So, I think it must be uncomfortable for even 2 slightly overweight adults.

He failed to, prob no other seats for her either

Prob asked to move seats

The aeroplane is!

YANBU.

I once had a 12 hour flight with an obese woman next to me - it was horrible as I couldn't avoid skin contact for most of the journey.

But I don't think it's up to airlines to provide larger seats for obese travellers - I think the travellers themselves should be required to book 2 seats. Although how airlines would arrange that is difficult to work out - I suppose they could make it a condition of h ticket & refuse boarding if a passenger hasn't bought 2 tickets, or they could monitor people as they board & rearrange passengers on the spot.

....Be interesting to see how that might go legally.

Can you magine the crap that would hit the fan (and the court case that would follow) first time that happened.

I think it’s southwest airlines in the states that has a plus size policy, and I think this is the way forward. The onus should be on the individual and the airline for the comfort and safety of other passengers.

This is so difficult as I really don’t want people to feel shamed and as though they can’t fly but if that happened to me, I just couldn’t sit in that seat. I have a bad back and would be in agony if I couldn’t sit square in the seat.

I don’t know how I’d handle it but I definitely couldn’t sit there.

I think there should be an option to purchase wider seats just as there is to purchase extra leg room. With no judgement but you need to pay a bit extra.

Then the standard seats should have fixed, firm dividers between them as part of the arm rest, so you can’t spill through from one to the other and take another person’s space. Parents of small children can request the FCs to remove them with a key so the kids can lean on their parents to sleep, but otherwise they remain in place.

I was on an 8 hour flight next to a morbidly obese woman. She had a vest top on and it was direct skin to skin contact with her sweaty skin spilling over to me. The flight was packed and I asked to move but couldn't. It was awful. I don't think it's the airline's responsibility but I think if you are of certain proportions you should legally buy 2 seats and stop putting other passengers comfort and space at risk.

Nightmare flight many moons ago.

I was sat next to a very obese couple. I had the aisle thankfully

Unfortunately Gatwick was closed, so we sat on the runway for 2 hours

I did have to ask to be moved when we took off, as my back was killing me for the weird angle I was forced to sit in, and luckily there was a spare seat, centre, really pissed that couple off Im sure.

The poor obese woman alighted the flight with severe sunburn from where she was crushed against the window and because we were on the runway the blinds weren't allowed down

Im just over 5 ft and was barely 8 stone back then. Im 9 stone now and I find the seats have gotten smaller . I mean I have enough bum room, but my knees still touch the seat in front of me , must be pure hell for those that are bigger

I agree OP. I sat next to a really large gent who had the aisle seat on a trip back from Greece. His body was pressed up against me in the middle seat for the entire flight - it was really unpleasant to spend 4 hours with my body touching a stranger. He also had assistance to get on the plane so clearly had mobility issues too. DH, who never normally worries about anything, was concerned if we needed to get off in an emergency, we would have struggled.

He actually asked if he could use my pull down tray to put his drink and food on when it arrived as he couldn't lower his own tray. I said yes as I thought how on earth can I say no? Hopefully something that I never have happen to me in the future!

I also don't know what the answer is but airlines definitely need to address it, I think.

Also not to mention a potential evacuation risk too.

What would the court case be based on?
“im too large for a standard seat so had to pay accordingly to travel”?
can I take the airline to court for expecting me to pay for the 4 seats my family needs?

They do. It’s called business class. Although frequently the seats are exactly the same as in economy on short haul, but at least they leave the middle seats empty. The tricky bit is getting people to actually pay for it.

I came here to say exactly the same thing

Airlines have made seats smaller and smaller to get more people in, people are getting bigger, for a multitude of reasons (very few people are bigger because they chose that option).

What are the reasons? I can only think of steroid and/or other medication.

I would have had to tell him to remove himself from my space

I’m mad for you - having to take up less space as a women!

when men do the wide open leg on the tube I move their legs out of my space

I empathise. As a slim person, many a time have I had another person’s body over flowing into my seat/space e.g the tube, bus , plane etc
I do not know what the solution is really, as people seem to be increasing in size.