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?

Yes, I'd ban all those too! Needless to say I rarely choose to fly, it's generally an unpleasant over-priced experience!

It’s about physical comfort and being able to sit in a seat though.

all those other things may be annoying but don’t stop you fitting in a seat.

I think you’re taking this a bit personally. It’s not big vs small people. It’s ensuring everyone can sit comfortably and safely in a seat.

whether that’s buying two seats or airlines looking at having bigger seats. And yes they will have to pay more. Like those with extra leg room would need to.

I wonder if people with money thought would buy the bigger seats just so they have more space?!

I'm in two minds on this one. I actually think they should perhaps have two sizes of seat, with one being cheaper.

Its a bit unfair on people who are naturally larger or taller, but if the alternative is encroaching on someone else's paid seat, then it's not fair.

Of course you'd get people insisting on paying for the smaller seat anyway.

Its all very difficult, no easy answers.

If you look at the number of airlines that have ceased trading in the UK and mainland Europe in, say, the last 15 years, there is little evidence that they are greedy, far from it, profitability per passenger is low.

lf you want to argue that they offer a service less than what many desire, that is another matter, but they are certainly not making lots of money.

Of course you'd get people insisting on paying for the smaller seat anyway.

But that’s why it would have to be made clear that if someone couldn’t fit in their seat they couldn’t fly. The same as luggage checks.

And I think that would be easy to achieve with the seat belts if you can't fasten it then sorry.

Just the same as roller coasters if the harness doesn't close - sorry mate

Seat belt extenders exist. Depending on how a person carries their weight, it's possible to require a seat belt extender but still fit into the seat without spilling over.

It might be better if armrests went all the way down to the seat to create a full division on the seat boundary, but that might be a pain if you're travelling with a partner and want it fully up. Or when you find yourself alone on the row and want to stretch and lie down along all the seats, aka a ghetto upgrade!

Well you are making good points without name calling etc so it's interesting to read

It would also hinder evacuation, as they might be considered obstacles.

Absolutely this. Margins, especially on short haul, are wafer thin. For years I worked for a major legacy carrier who saw easyJet and other absolutely eat our short hail business for lunch so we had to adapt to remain competitive which meant adopting a low lead in fare with ancillaries like seat assignments, luggage and catering on top.
Economy seat width hasn't changed much- it's always been 3 and 3 of Airbus and Boeing barrow body jets and as pps have said, European business class is the same seats with the middle one blocked out. Over the years they have increased the number of rows by decreasing seats pitch but also using much thinner seats.

A premium offering on carriers like easyJet would be great but I can't see them doing it as I don't think it would be worth the investment and it would potentially I introduce a number of subfleets (how many premium sests so you need? Demand will vary across network so do you have multiple variants?) which would add operational complexity and their business model is very much designed around minimal operational complexity. And how many pr

That’s very gracious of you! Thank you.

Correct again, notimagain, and while I'm no lawyer I strongly suspect the airlines will have covered themselves with the recommendation that folk buy 2 seats if needed - plus the fact that, reading uo on what's happening already, this may become compulsory sooner or later

Apologies for typos! And it posted before I could finish my last point on the number of premium seats and complexity if you introduce multiple subfleets. BA used to have multiple 747 configs with different cabin configs, some with F and some without etc. Last minute changes cause the ops team massive headaches and low cost carriers are all about minimal complexity. Look at easyJet- they are all Airbus and all their crew and pilots (with the exception of some very junior FOs) are certified to operated every aircraft in their entire fleet.

Yes, and while it would cause rows at check in and a rash of Daily Mail sad face articles in the short term, it would certainly solve this issue at least

Bit flaming late though as in most cases you wouldn’t know you didn’t fit until you got to the airport and then it’s potentially too late. Yes of course for some people it would be clear but most people would be borderline. You would then get scenario where some people would potentially buy a second seat for no reason.

very few passengers would require two seats, most would be 1.25 or 1.5 at most

As with luggage, they’d have to be very clear on the maximum measurements.

Maybe there would be scope for linking people who would need 1.25 / 1.5 seats so they could buy a row of 3 between them.

You can't really sell seats in half units though, so it would have to be two of them.

There could be example seats somewhere discreet at the airport for people to test it out if they're unsure.

As a very obese person I tend to avoid flying unless I can afford premium seats. Twice when I have had to use economy I have booked two seats and the airline then used them as the flight was overbooked!!! So everyone saying buy two seats. Sometime it doesn’t make a difference. It was an absolute nightmare getting the money back for the additional seat too!

That's really unacceptable. If you buy two seats then of course you should have them both and they should be next to each other.

You say this as if its quite straight forward and obvious though

For the people that actually dont fit in the seat, but do fit in the seat, they will say 'I fit in the seat'

But the reason they fit in the seat is because they're spilling over into next doors seat.

The definition of 'fitting in the seat' is not defined.

Very very few people are literally not going to be able to get into and out of the seat, so its about people that do fit, can sit down but are compromising the person next door. Who is going to say that? Who is going to say 'half of my leg is spilling into your seat'?

Thats why I think they should offer a extra wide seat take 3 seats out replace with 2 extra wide.

You can be large enough to spill into someone seat next door but not need a seat belt extender, so people keep repeating this through the thread that this woujld be the measure but it wouldnt solve the problem

It's a possibility, but as has been explained upthread, it's very complicated pricing wise (pricing really is very complex as it is) and it still wouldn't guarantee plus sized people would buy it, or be able to (someone else might take them all first).

The simplest solution really is to keep the seating as it is and have a procedure whereby someone can purchase two if they need them, and be sure that neither seat will be bumped, resold or placed away from the other. If the issue gets much more serious then airlines might have to reconfigure and reprice, but I don't think we are at that critical point yet.

There could be a statement on the booking form saying if you can’t fit in a standard airline seat ( dimensions given) you will be required to to buy an extra seat.

As long as people are still happy to buy seats and those flights are selling well, there is no incentive to add additional seating types, unless a competitor did it first. We fly easyJet several times a year and those flights are always very close to 100% full if not completely full.