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?

I've had this on the bus and train so many times. Shorter journeys thankfully, but equally uncomfortable.

If you want a wider seat, pay for it. Airlines are not the most profitable businesses. If you choose Squeezy Jet, you know what the deal is! If you want fewer, but wider seats, that will cost you. You won’t get something for nothing but you are not required to fly. It’s your choice.

Some airlines have reduced seat width but by no means all. This info can be checked before you book.

Before the current fuel crisis airlines were making sub $10 on the average pax over the year (by coincidence this popped up in another thread last night)....they're going to be struggling to make any at all by the end of the year.

So no the airlines aren't being "fucking greedy", they are trying to make a profit in an enviroment where many passengers prime metric for deciding who to fly with is ticket cost.

Some airlines do offer more space in some seats, it's called Premium Economy or business class, but not everybody is able or willing to pay for it.

They would be turned away but would know they need to buy two seat anyway

You should be entitled to a refund as you were not able to sit in your whole seat - you used half of it so 50% back!

I once flew with my three young children. We had the three on the window side with me on the aisle then the eldest across the aisle from me. When we’d boarded the stewards moved a very large man to the middle row next to my child. I assume it was to put him next to the smallest person they could see. He really struggled to get in to the seat and asked if he could have the aisle seat. Not great because I wouldn’t be able to easily help DC across the aisle.
We did agree though. Everyone was stuck until it was sorted. (DC had a great flight as she fell asleep for most of the flight resting on his big soft arm!)

@Offherrockingchair She used 9 inches of it? I doubt that.

You are very offensive suggesting that the OP has made this up. It is a real issue.

I've been on this situation on a BA flight to Glasgow from Manchester. It was frightening. I knew that the man beside me was never going to be able to get himself out of his seat quickly in an emergency. I was trapped between him and the wall. As many very fat people do, he also sweated excessively.

I complained to BA at Glasgow and they thanked me and said they held a register of very fat people and the next time he booked a flight he would be required to book two seats. To their credit when I got home that night there was a beautiful basket of flowers on my door step.

I don't understand what you think airlines can do? Demand people's weight when they sell an online ticket?

the onus shouldn’t be on the airline it should be on the individual to book two seats. I know someone that does this.

airline should use marketing messages to subtly remind people.

i’m sure I’ve heard that one of the US airlines southwest perhaps, is now cracking down and if you can’t put the armrests down and you haven’t booked two seats, you can’t fly.

it literally makes zero sense that you have to pay for extra luggage but you don’t for extra body weight

I complained to BA at Glasgow and they thanked me and said they held a register of very fat people and the next time he booked a flight he would be required to book two seats.

Ummm.....the register is either a new thing or you have been fobbed off......

They certainly do (or certainly did) have a system which allows booking of the adjacent seat as a "comfort" seat at the time of initial ticket purchase.

Is it still possible for 2nd seats to be bumped to the next flight? I saw this happen to a woman back when I was a frequent work flyer. It was a little embraer plane with a 2 1 configuration. Woman had bought 2 so she could have a 2 but they bumped one to the next flight. Nothing she could do. I'm not surprised big people refuse to book 2 seats if there's no guarantee they'll get them. Hopefully things like that don't happen anymore.

Depends on the airline.

If you've booked an extra seat as part of a formal "extra seat adjacent for whatever reason" process (rather than just booking two seats) you'd hope the extra seat would be protected.

Some people book the extra "comfort" seat to transport stuff like musical instruments (cellos were a favourite where I worked) so the extra seat isn't really free to use anyway.

If airlines made all seats a couple of inches wider there would be less seats overall in the plane and we would all pay more

I think there’s an argument for getting rid of the seat belt extensions, if you need an extender you need an extra seat .

This. Such an obvious yet great idea.

There is also a similar issue with very tall people. Eg was sat next to someone on Ryanair once who was 6ft 6 and his legs couldn’t bend in a straight way and so they were unfortunately encroaching on neighbours legroom (but not seat)

Most people can take personal responsibility for their weight, but they can’t help being tall. Still I think a lot of these people will buy extra legroom seats when available. There should be extra wide seats in economy available for a similar reason (in Europe I mean, premium economy is a long haul thing only)

Have you not considered that obese people may be extremely uncomfortable squeezing into too-small seats though? Airlines have made adaptations for wheelchair users, so why not for obese people? Nobody, including obese people, should have to tolerate uncomfortable and somewhat dangerous seating. What should happen is that all airlines should have seating suitable for all flyers.
I'm not massively overweight and can fit into a Ryanair seat just fine, but have very bad knees which mean I can’t sit in a tight space for too long without being in considerable pain. If I’m sat next to someone who will really struggle to get in and out of their seat due to their size, it would be very awkward having to constantly ask them to let me get past. So I pay more and reserve an aisle seat with extra leg room. On my last flight the passenger next to me couldn’t barely get in his seat he was so big. He was extremely embarrassed because the flight attendant had to move passengers around as this man couldn’t sit in the row as it was an emergency exit. This is the reality for some people. Pretending we should all ignore it, shut up and be kind isn’t in the least bit helpful.

Yanbu that you shouldn't have to share your seat space.

I don't believe that airlines should have to provide obese seats though. Passengers who are too big should have to purchase an extra seat or be off loaded as they are making others uncomfortable and are more expensive to move. Given the airline model of making money by packing in as many seats as possible and as little luggage as possible it seems reasonable.

Eh? Who are these ‘very vulnerable’ people?

‘Register of fat people’? No there isn’t 😂😂😂

What if a slim person booked a larger seat just because they fancied a larger seat and couldn’t afford business class? I know I’d consider it if they had no way of checking 😂

Thats 12 inches across a row of 6 seats.
Where is that coming from?
Making the jet wider?
Making the asile narrower - not really so possible.
Removing a seat? The seats are about 20inch wide. Is the cost of that getting divided by the 5 remaining seats?

I honestly think the best answer is the extra wide seats so convert 3 seats into 2. In 2 or 3 rows depending on percentage of fat people.
Leaving the majority of the plane alone.

Lots of short haul don't have option for Business or 1st class. And services which do have them the cost for them is usually way more than double the cost of 2 economy or the proposed 1.5 seats.

you book and pay for a seat. You expect to be able to use that seat. If for whatever reason you can’t the airline should compensate you

I have been in this situation. Sitting on half a seat when I had paid for a whole seat. Not on at all!

It would be the same as Premium Economy lots of short people book, just to be beside their tall friends.
No way to police it, other than adding more seats so the airline still makes profit

Extra wide economy is premium economy, isn’t it? We flew on a BA Boeing 777 in January in PE and it was in a 2-4–2 configuration. The 2 section took up less room than a full 3 section on a Ryanair flight but the seats were still bigger.