Feeling uncomfortable after sharing a seat with a very obese passenger

[Bayleaftree63]

On public transport earlier. A very large woman sits nexts to me. She couldn’t get the seat belt
round her. Her body spilt over into my seat, leaving me squashed with what little space there was left.

On the journey I couldn’t help be annoyed at the lack of space I was left with and questioning how do people let themselves get to that size. Talking morbidly obese, not just larger - whatever the medical
term.

This isn’t about shaming, more I’m in disbelief people being that big are happy? Why wouldn’t you want to loose some weight for a healthier lifestyle.

I love this post. It used to crop up regularly on the thorn tree forum on lonely planet website.

fat people take up too much space, ain’t it the truth.

But then some flights wouldn't be profitable if passengers wouldn't pay more for bigger seats so people wouldn't find a flight to travel on. Of course, low supply/high demand would mean prices would rise due to basic economics, so even the fewer flights would be more expensive.

You simply can't have fewer passengers (due to bigger seats) without passengers paying more for their seats. It's basic Maths.

Why should the be the same price though? You pay more to take luggage that weighs a larger amount.

I disagree that it would become loss making.

Slightly less profit. But they should suck that up to provide better health and safety conditions for passengers

Because you can't discriminate by people's weight. People could be overweight for all manner of reasons. My disabled aunt is overweight because she struggles to walk, for example

With the advent of mounjaro, wegovy etc, there rarely is a good excuse. I was obese and struggled with my weight for years, for all the reasons mentioned above, and I absolutely get it. But I'm now 16 months on mounjaro and am feeling lighter and looking better than ever.

It’s honestly insane that you think airlines should be obligated to provide larger seats, taking up more space on the plane and charge the same amount for it.

I'm really starting to see that many thin people have very little empathy or understanding of what overweight people go through.

"Just stop eating"!

What about the woman who is comfort eating after her rape.
What about the man who is comfort eating after his childs death. I used to work with a man who became very overweight after his ten year old daughter died.
What about the disabled person who can't exercise to get the weight off?
What about the person with arthritis in her knee who can't exercise a lot?

I think you are the insane one.

How can you not see that airlines need to meet basic health and safety regulations?

Would you expect a large male teacher to sit in a seat that only one of his arse cheeks fits into - for four hours?

It would give him back pain

Yes, I think I said earlier, some weight issues can be dealt with but you can't cure stupid.

Like every drug out there, people have different reactions and side effects to drugs.

I had to stop taking mounjaro as it gave me constantly severe nausea and diarrhea to the point that I was missing work

I honestly don’t know what you’re taking about, task seating is mostly a standard size and workplaces will order 100 of the same chair or whatever their staff numbers are, bus seats are all the same size, train seats are the same size, seats in the theatre or concert venue are all the same size.

What do you want the airline to be responsible for exactly?

Personally I think the solution is to have a very easy to use system whereby a person who requires two seats can very easily purchase them and have them actually next to each other (there have been cases where people do buy two seats but they're in different rows or across the aisle from each other, which obviously is useless). Then if the plane isn't full, they should be refunded for one. This is what a lot of domestic American airlines do and I think it makes sense.

I guess airlines could reconfigure all their seats and sizing but seats would have to be really impractically large to make sure nobody would ever require a second one and that would mean many fewer tickets available, and all of them more expensive. There needs to be a solution for when someone requires a second seat.

I don't want plus size people to be shamed or treated poorly, and I also think people should be able to use the space they've paid for so they aren't cramped up uncomfortably for goodness knows how long, potentially hurting themselves.

Anyone who just doesn't like the sight of a fat person can practise the ancient art of looking at something else.

Good for you but these drugs are not a silver bullet (sorry, that genuinely isn't meant to sound nasty)
Some people aren't suitable and we certainly don't know the long term effects.

What are you on about.

My work place recently hired a new security guard. He is a very large man. Very tall and also overweight. He didn't fit into our desk chair. We are not going to have him standing all day are we.

My work place ordered an extra large chair for him to sit on.

But that's one person in one situation in one place. It's not comparable to reconfiguring every plane for every flight in the world.

True, it doesn't work for everyone (as another poster mentioned a posts above), but it's a tool that everyone who is obese should at least try and use if they can. And we do know the long term effects as these medications have been used for diabetes for a long time.

It is comparable. Every organisation has to meet basic health and safety standards.

I don't know how airplanes are getting away with what they are doing.

Overweight people can't fit safely into a seat. Thin people can't fit safely into their seat as they are squashed in.

This is in a moving vehicle high in the air, wheresafety is very important.

Lots of H&S doesn't apply in the aviation world for often good reason.

As for forcing the airlines to provide bigger seats - if you can also force people to pay the increased fares (which would be needed) , and if you can force all foreign operators serving the UK to comply with UK rules then I guess it's an option worth considering..........

From listening to thin people on this thread, aeroplanes, buses and trains were definitely designed by thin people!

There is a complete lack of understanding of what larger bodied people need

Are you thin or medium or large weight?

In your scenario. You are describing thin people as the "normal" Weight and anyone of a larger size as an abnormal weight. When people are actually all shapes and sizes

In your scenario, at what BMI should be people be forced to pay more?

If you can't see that people are different to luggage, I don't know eaht to say.

For example if a person has an illness/injury that makes them prone to gain weight.

And an airline makes that person pay more.

That person can easily sue the airline for discrimination

This is incorrect. They are basically the same and spelling comes down to regional preference.

If they offer the option of purchasing a second seat, that's the standard met. It's totally impractical to make every seat large enough to fit the biggest possible passenger. It really is not the same as buying a new chair for your single security guy.

How much more are you prepared to pay for your flights? Bear in mind the industry is hammered at the moment with fuel price hikes.