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 airlines did make the offer of wider seats, just as they do for seats with more leg room, I'm sure people would take them. People with broad shoulders need more space too, not just the obese.

It's not your weight anyway, it's your body size and proportions. I'm obese but also very short. I fit very easily into a standard seat despite being heavier than most of you, no extender required. A tall or broad person would be in much greater need of a more generous seat or pitch than me.

If someone cant fit into a seat without taking up space belonging to the person next to them then they should buy an extra seat.

Im as fat as fuck and if I was ever to fly, that's what I would do. If I couldnt afford 2 seats then I would have to accept that I couldnt afford to fly.

Buy 2 seats or leave the person next to you squished to bits. Both humiliating so pick the one where you're humiliated in comfort.

Why should the airline have to solve the problem either by making bigger seats, or forcing people to buy two? Why shouldn’t people who don’t want to risk being squashed, purchase 3 seats if they’re flying alone?

This! 👏🏻

As already pointed out 2 seats are hardly going to be comfortable with arm rest in your back

😂

@VoiceFromThePitDon’t be so absolutely ridiculous. You’re just being nasty for a reaction

No way - why should a women give up her space because the man thinks he can invade her space

just no no no

Some airlines in the usa, take the larger person aside and test a seat in a room, if not a good fit, they have to buy an extra seat..its called a people of size charge !

Fly Samoan?? Samoa Air says charging passengers by weight is 'concept of the future' | Samoa | The Guardian

Baggage handling is, I assume, partly about regs affecting lifting weights by staff, and people seem to accept being over-charged for heavy baggage so a nice moneymaker for airlines!

I wonder if the answer is to have a couple of rows that have 2 wider seats rather than 3 standard ones. They could charge 50% more but that would be cheaper than having to buy 2 seats and much more comfortable too for the obese passenger.

It would be a bit embarrassing to do it a check in. But obese people know they are obese.
Maybe they should say the seatbelt extender is £x per use or pay for an extra wide seat.

I absolutely think there is a market for plus size / extra wide seats so 2 seats in the row rather than 3.
It really can't be comfortable for someone to sit with an ass cheek on different seats, or your back on the join the way paying for two seats would work

More comfortable than being in just the one seat then. More comfortable than sitting on a flight knowing I'm making the person next to me have a rotten flight.
It's what would make me feel more comfortable.

I mean weight vs height doesn't really matter. You being 5ft 2 and 'not that large' is a odd reference. I assume your short and chunky/chubby/whatever the correct reference is, from that saying (?)

Nothing is getting built smaller and people are only getting bigger, but it's not unreasonable to want personal space no. It would be everyones preference to always have more space.

Will anything change? Nope.

Exactly what I've suggested. Good for airlines also as they only have to provide one meal and one luggage allowance. And if they get the numbers right they'd need less cabin crew to work the cabin despite getting the same money in from tickets

If you genuinely couldn’t lower the arm rest you should have brought it to the attention discreetly to the cabin crew because it should be lowered for takeoff and landing plus as he wasn’t part of your party you should have it in place. If the flight wasn’t full they may have been able to rearrange a bit, I’ve seen someone be removed from a flight (American airways) because it was full and they didn’t fit. If you are too large for one seat it’s up to you to book a second seat, every airline has a policy for this scenario

Agree there isn't an easy solution. Simplifying it, easy solution would be in a usual row of 3, there is rows of 2 for larger passengers. That way the larger passenger only had to pay for 1.5 seats instead of 2, which makes it more affordable. But as you say, who is stopping people booking the wide seats as they need space?

The extra leg room seats as an example, I need those as a bit taller but also have problems with my leg circulation so I book 2 extra leg room seats each time, not only for me but my 5ft 2 daughter who i want to be sat by, this leaves 1 less seat for those who genuinely need it.

If they say, only people weight of X or over can book these extra wide seats, and of they are x weight or over then they MUST book these seats. This could seem an easy solution. But the person weighing the stated x at 6 ft 4 might not be overspilling the standard seat, whereas at 5ft 2 they would be. Also they may be a single parent flying with a not thin (so they cant overspill into their seat), but not quite meeting the weight bracket child.

At the same time it is definitely not fare on passengers who don't even know these people to be in painful positions and having to touch skin with these strangers. It's a tough 1.

You sound very considerate and I hope you feel comfortable to fly again soon

Not the airline's responsibility to spend millions on refitting their planes to accommodate very obese people. I am obese myself but I fit into a seat fine and do not overlap or overspill, you have to be really extremely obese to overspill and if that is the case you should buy 2 seats. What airlines should do is make sure it's an easy and non-humiliating process to identify wider customers at check in or at the boarding gate, and have Ts&Cs that say that if you are wider than the standard seat you will be required to buy a second seat before being allowed to board, which may involve being bumped to the next flight if your flight is full, and enforce this diplomatically, kindly, but absolutely firmly.

Just want to say, his weight isn't really relevant here, I know plenty of people who weight around 20 stone and as they're very tall, don't look typically 'obese'or even fat

I am upfront about it. I don’t want anyone to be touching me on public transport. Such a person must know they would overhang. It is very difficult to complain without being offensive in this instance. If it’s ’man-spreading’ I do complain. People should be denied boarding if they are so large they need two seats.

What if skinny rich people book out the extra wide seats?

Can you imagine the logistics of buying 2 seats, given how tricky it is to seat kids with their parents! Mrs Jones, your top half is in seat 19c but your legs are in 22f…..
in all seriousness, you have my sympathy. I’ve been trapped in a window seat with a very large bloke asleep next to me. If I wasn’t claustrophobic before, I certainly felt it at the end of that flight.

What happens when a flight is overbooked? Do they take your second seat before someone else’s seat?

The person doesn’t sit in the middle of the two seats. They just sit in one seat but slightly to one side, nearer the empty seat and the second seat takes the overspill