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 don’t even think it’s necessarily just about encroaching on other people’s space, it’s very basic cost vs use.

Airplane seats come in the size they come in. They are sold in units. If you need two, you pay for two. The seat you’re using additionally is worth an amount of money, that someone will either pay and end up with you sharing with them, or the airplane company would lose if they just start giving that space away.

It’s very, very obvious that when there is a cost attached to a service you’re using, you should pay more to use more of it.

I am very sorry to hear this.
Have you been able to access any support?

I'm doing some Googling and everything I find is showing that courts generally uphold that plus size passengers should purchase two seats and many carriers stipulate this. The exception seems to be internal flights in Canada.

However, people who try to sue airlines after being squashed by a bigger person who spilled into their seat don't have much luck either.

I'm certainly no expert but if anyone can find relevant links about this, I'm interested. I believe there was a case in America some years ago where a plus size passenger claimed they had purchased transit while the airline claimed they'd purchased a seat, but I can't find any details.

“She didn’t choose to let herself get to that size”. Of course she did. Everyone in the UK knows how to prevent themselves from getting obese.

Do they?

That's funny! Because Katie Price's (the celebrity's) son has an uncontrollable disease that causes him to gain a huge amount of weight.

He can't control it

Perhaps the arm rests should just come right down to the seat to stop any spreading.
If the seat isn’t comfortable for you at the standard size it’s your choice to travel at all or upgrade for business.

Alot of overweight people aren't happy with their weight and we live in a 'fattist society.
Being overweight is often associated with a an eating disorder and those people need support, not vilification.
It's a vicious circle for those involved, they become more and more secluded because of society's prejudices.

It's been a long time since I've been shocked by a thread. But I've been shocked by this one.

So people just choose to be overweight?

What about people with arthritis in their knees who can't exercise. What about people with a long term injury who can't exercise?

Two examples of many

I don't know anyone who can afford business class

Judging by this thread, it is attitudes to overweight people that need to change.

People are taking about overweight people on this thread like they are serial killers with leprosy.

"Eewwwww I saw a fat person. So diagusting. How dare she even exist"

That is not true.

His condition means that he has a persistent drive to eat, and reduced ability to feel full. He becomes aggressive when unable to access food.

I have a son with food fixation, no hungry/full recognition, and who also would tear the house apart looking for a chocolate bar if that’s what he was fixated on.

I buy less food. I limit his access to the fridge. I provide all of his meals so he doesn’t just choose bags of cheese over having a proper meal.

His condition can be managed, but not easily, and not by him.

You’re being disingenuous, the only issue people are pointing out is when one person takes the space that another has paid for.
It’s equally as unreasonable when a bloke sits with his legs wide open and tries to use your legroom as his own.
Its about respecting the space of other people.

What derails the subject of obesity is always that people are hyper sensitive to being labelled obese and some can't have a rational discussion about it. But that is necessary for progress to be made on issues like this.

I raise you the humble apostrophe and the full stop!

You're being ridiculous and you are being ablist.

A man spreading his legs is not the same at all as a disabled women who is overweight due to her disability, and you know it.

You didn't say, but what weight are you.

You seem to have a remarkable lack of knowledge of the many reasons that people become overweight

They eat less! I have arthritis. I can’t do my first sport of choice so I do another and eat less. It’s not much fun but it’s better than being morbidly obese.

I share an office with my colleague that has arthritis in her knee. She eats very healthy. I see her having porridge and fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch. I've spent time in her home in the evening several times. She eats a small light dinner.
She is still overweight.

She works a very busy job all day looking after teenagers so she needs some food for energy

No-one has said anything like that and it's interesting that you have put that spin on it. That's a reflection on you.

Some people on here act as though we are mindless drones without the ability to think and exercise choice over what they choose to put in our bodies. Great news! We are sentient beings with control and choice over what awe do, and therefore should bear the consequences for our actions when their affect others.

It's interesting that's your spin on it. That's a reflection on you.

Multiple posters on here have said that fat people should pay more on planes.
They have said that fat people choose to be fat.
Every time it's been written, I have replied "many people don't choose to be overweight, they become overweight through illness injury or trauma"

Go back and check the facts hun

I am a “fat person” and I think we should pay more for the seats we need on a plane, in much the same way I no longer fit in kids shoes so have to pay more for the size I do need.

I do not see overweight people as anything other than people.
YOU need more space, ergo YOU pay for it. Why wouldn’t you, who is responsible for you, if not you?
The physical reasons for weight gain are, excluding some medical conditions, very simple. You eat more than you burn. The psychological reasons are extremely complex and not at all easy or straightforward to manage or address. If they were, no one would be over weight.
That still doesn’t mean that you have the right to encroach on someone’s else’s space and I cannot fathom why you would think it does.

Some of these comments have made me really sad, there’s a lot of hate towards fat people.

I was always very slim, size 8ish at 5ft 7, right up till my mid 30s when I developed lupus and Addisons disease which meant I’ve had to take life long steroids at high doses, from a lupus perspective to stop by immune system from attacking my organs (heart, lungs etc). I went from a size 8 to a size 22 ish and all the healthy eating and whatever in the world isn’t going to keep me slim. I walk when I can - when I’m not in horrendous pain or having a flare - but I can’t do high impact exercise because it makes my Addisons and asthma unstable (I’m under 6 different consultants. I’ve been on more medications than anyone can imagine).

I don’t want to be like this but I am limited by my disabilities and abilities. And the medication I take. I’m not sitting here eating 10,000 Krispy Kreme’s everyday. I’m eating the same diet - yes, some treats, as I did when I was slim. And I’m not slim now.

People probably look at me and thinking I’m fat / lazy / whatever and they really have no clue.

It's very easy to check what seat sizes are on aircraft by googling the flight number or seat guru, if you're not going to fit in the seat then you either buy another one or upgrade to a larger seat,some armrests ar fixed so that has to be taken into consideration. You can also contact the airline assistance for advice and some offer priority boarding, you have to look at the size of the toilets too. It's not comfortable if the seat is too small or if someone takes up your space. There has to be a compromise because airlines are not going to give away free extra seats.

Let's look at one example in your scenario.

My mother aged 76 is overweight.

She had polio as a child she was in hospital for a year and nearly died. She now has a partially paralysed leg and her body is still affected from the disease.

She can barely walk. due to all of this, she is overweight.

Should she, a disabled overweight person pay twice as much as a healthy physically able person on an aeroplane