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 have lots of friends of different shapes, sizes, gay, disabled, and I love them all. They are equally happy to be friends with a twitchy person like me who forgets things quite a bit, and gets worried my involuntary movements make me look a bit "odd. They accept me and my ways, I absolutely accept they are all lovely friends no matter what they do or who they are.

We need to all be kind to who we meet, and tolerate others regardless. People are going through lots of things and you might not know how it affects them. This includes the larger sized lady in the plane seat next to you.

Maybe we should look to have seats that are more of a normal size. Even flight seats are getting ridiculously small. One typical train even a person of a healthy size takes up the whole seat and no wiggle room. Only people I see who have room sre those you are size 8 I reckon. Not everyone can be that slim.

Maybe, but the evidence of the last thirty years is that the main driver of customer choice is whichever airline offers base/lowest fare on a route or similar routes.

We're sort of into this mess, if I can call it that, because when deregulation arrived many passengers decided not to fly with airlines that offered extras/frills/even more seat pitch in favour of saving a few quid flying with one of the "it does what it says on the tin" brigade.

Now if you could show the likes of Michael O'Leary that there's a sizeable cohort of passengers who will reliably, year in year out, fly with his airline and will always be prepared to pay x amount more than the economy base fare to get more room you might be onto a winner....

But I suspect his response would be something like... "Nope, I know how people work... given the choice of £150 for a large seat on a two hour sector verses £50 for a standard sear when push comes to shove, a few exceptions aside, they'll pay the lower sum and squeeze into the smaller seat"...

"If they want more room tell them to fly with an airline that does shorthaul business class"

I'm responding to people saying that fat people should book two seats.

Two seats together are not available on every flight as we all know. And lucky you that you can just choose another flight. Many people are bound by work times

But if you need two seats together, whether it’s for you or for other reasons then too bad? I don’t understand why you think literally everything should revolve around you.
If I can’t book onto a flight because there isn’t space for me and my 2 year old I need to make alternative arrangements. Why would the same not be true for someone who needs two seats due to not fitting in one?

That's not really relevant to what I wrote though.

I wrote that they should have large seats and small seats at the same price.

I travel a lot. Aeroplanes are never full when I'm on them. They are often half empty.
If they had large seats for the same price.
They would gain more customers, as more large people would be able to travel

"Why everything should revolve around me"

I'm not talking about myself hun. I'm not that large. I'm talking about other overweight people in general. Unlike you, I have compassion for them.

On this thread, fat people were told to book two seats. I pointed out that two seats together are often not available your response to that is that they just shouldn't get on the flight then.

In your world, are they allowed to do anything?

But thin people would book the large seats because what better way to ensure that you have somewhere to inch to should the large person next to you’s fat encroach onto your seat.

But why is it different if someone needs two seats together for themselves or two seats for a young child next to them?
You were complaining it’s not fair on the former to have to make alternative arrangements but not the latter?

In your world, are they allowed to do anything?
Again with the immature hyperboles.

Exactly, certain meds do make some put on weight, the condition is more damaging than the weight gain

Then maybe the customers could submit a BMI before they get the seat.

I'm actually on an aeroplane right now and I'm seeing a poor overweight man struggling to fit into a tiny seat that is way too small for him

@Purplebunnie I’m very sorry to hear of your experiences with Mounjaro.

i do appreciate its complex and really challenging to lose weight.

i also think that as a society we should stop normalising obesity, its causing people to be unwell and lose quality of life. Things just get made bigger (i have size 12 clothes from years ago from the same store as recent purchases and the older size 12s don’t fit me anymore but the new ones do). I dont judge individuals but I do resent having my own comfort impacted because the person next to me is using half my seat too. It’s not fair

If I have paid for an allocated seat on a coach, train or plane I expect to be able to use that space, and move myself around within it.

I do not think it is reasonable to have to have my upper arm pushed across my chest, my leg pushed to the middle of my space, and to get up at the end of the journey with one side of me soaked in somebody else’s sweat. I speak from experience. I had to endure it for 5.5 hours.

I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for the person squashed against you either.

What is your suggestion on how to fix it?

Seat sizings were set when the majority of people were small/normal sized. Perhaps we should be researching why a much higher proportion of people are larger these days and do something about it. I.e. treat the cause, not the symptoms.

A serious problem can be that the person being sqaushed in their seat can suffer injuries. There was a woman who suffered permanent nerve damage after having to sit next to a very large passenger on a flight who took up part of a second seat. Some airlines insist obese passengers book two seats. It's not body shaming to say that no one should be crushed into a plane seat (god knows, they're tiny enough). There are health and safety issues here.

When we're seat sizing set. Because I remember seeing a lot of overweight people in the 1990s. That was thirty years ago

@Mumbles11

I travel a lot. Aeroplanes are never full when I'm on them. They are often half empty

Be fascinating to know what routes and airlines...but that would be outing.

As I recollect things when I used to fly a heck of a lot both as a passenger (short haul) and as crew (Long Haul), we were often full or very close to.

Any route/flights at the airline I was at that were "often half empty" got cut after 1 or two seasons because whilst low occupancy happened occasionally and was part of the business running flights routinely at 50% load factor leads to bankruptcy....

Having said that I still think the best solution in the LoCo world is the one a US airline came up with ( Southwest airlines??? Not sure) and might be at least compatible with your idea:

Those that need it book and pay for two guaranteed adjacent seats.

If the flight then departs with empty seats that traveller gets a refund on the extra seat....

I agree. As there are obvious health and safety issues, why on earth don't the airlines make different sized seats.

Yes they would lose money, but health and safety is more important. I can't understand how they are able to get away with the current seating system

Of course you’re on a plane right now 😂

Aww come on OP… we all have to rub along together as best we can and sometimes being with the general public is annoying. Flights with people with gut issues farting away or screaming babies for example aren’t fun either but what can you do? I’m sure they’re not enjoying being the cause of any disruption.

This just feels like a way to feel morally superior and you see this a lot on MN. Sometimes, I don’t blame people for wanting to dish out a bit of judgement rather than being on the receiving end of it as we so often are.

I mean this site is predominantly for females and we are all judged no matter what we do. We can’t be too thin, can’t be too fat, must grow old gracefully but not look our age, can’t be SAHMs or too career driven… we are judged if we are on UC or if we earn over £100k. We are judged for every damn thing we do so we may as well just please ourselves and try not bring each other down in the process.

It was the 70s when flying "took off" in a big way, so that's probably when seat sizings were set along with plane dimensions.

But surely he must know that, it's unsafe, it's just as unsafe to be squashed and unable to move. You can get a refund or free upgrade if there are seats available, you just need to ask at booking or during the flight.

But many many airlines do offer different sized seats.

They wouldn't "lose money", many flights would become loss making so ultimately more airlines would go bust and there'd be fewer flights from the firms who survived. Average profit per passenger on a charter flight is estimated to be as little as $10 - there's no wriggle room. Airlines need as many passengers they can get, meaning as many seats as they can get. It's a hugely competitive and price sensitive industry.