Bad seat choice!!

[Travelqueen]

Just saw this photo and story on Facebook.
Really.....is this photo real??

 

[Archphoto]

From memory, I'm pretty sure it most certainly is.

 

[serfty]

It's been referenced on this forum before. A few years ago now ...

 

[markis10]

It's five years ago

Obese air passenger in economy seat has picture taken - Telegraph

 

[JohnK]

I know we've seen it before but how would that person be able to wear a seat belt?

 

[NFF]

Grandmother 'stood in aisle for most of flight because of obese passenger next to her' | Daily Mail Online

 

[get me outta here]

So, no meal trolley down the aisle on that flight then.

It's five years ago

Obese air passenger in economy seat has picture taken - Telegraph

 

[Deleted member 29185]

So, no meal trolley down the aisle on that flight then.

I thought the same thing! Perhaps he's a pacman and as the meal trolley approaches, he just opens his mouth wide and swallows the lot!

This subject was on the radio this afternoon. Some fatties were gloating how they got upgrades to J as crew tried to pacify the poor sods beside them. I say make them buy a comfort seat or refuse them travel. One of the radio comments was "if they can afford so much KFC, they can afford an extra seat"! (please don't flame....I didn't make the comment, I just laughed )

 

[Travelqueen]

All I know is that I would be devastated if I was heading off on my much anticipated holiday, and had the seat beside this man.
In what way could this even be a comfortable seat for this overweight man?
I totally feel for him....he must know that all other passengers would be wishing and praying that he wasn't sitting next to them.
Surely there must be a way that seat dimensions are a factor into your actual size?

TQ

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It would be interesting to hear from one (or more) of our legal members as to the "rights" of both the fatty and the poor sod beside them. I assume both have rights but my understanding is that we purchase the right to occupy a seat.....not half the one beside you........nor half the aisle. Are airlines flying illegally when they turn a blind eye to these issues?

VA seem to have the policy, but it's not policed, allowing instead the fat pax to choose when they fly. VA (according to that "grandmother" article linked to above) seem to be fair in providing obviously fat people with a shadow if one is available and by offering to change their flight when a shadow is not available......surely it's fair (and in fact sensible and safe) for VA to insist they change flights if a shadow is not available on the preferred flight? If an oversized pax really MUST make a specific flight, then they should be proactively buying a comfort seat from the outset to guarantee it. If they just buy one seat and hope for a semi-full plane with spare seats, then they should also be prepared for the fact that they may be switched to an alternate flight with shadows. That seems workable and fair to all parties.

 

[get me outta here]

That man isn't even actually sitting down and for various reasons it is all complexity unsafe. I have difficulty believing that is a real photo.

So, no meal trolley down the aisle on that flight then.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

That man isn't even actually sitting down

He can't. The aisle armrest doesn't raise. Maybe he brought a booster seat with him to raise him up to armrest height? Good forward planning skills.....not.

 

[serfty]

He can't. The aisle armrest doesn't raise. Maybe he brought a booster seat with him to raise him up to armrest height? Good forward planning skills.....not.

Actually, the aisle armrest can be raised on many styles of seating. In this case however, the guy is sitting on the armrest. (Ugg!)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Actually, the aisle armrest can be raised on many styles of seating. In this case however, the guy is sitting on the armrest. (Ugg!)

Perhaps it stops his legs chafing? :shock:

 

[RAM]

I had similar but not as bad on SYD/LHR with a woman who was north of 120kg.

Similar placement - she had aisle on window 3 seats.

She was very 'nice' and aware of the problems it created for me but that decreased the 'problem' from 300% unbearable to 250%.

She had hurried to board the flight and was sweating profusely. Her sweating continued the whole way to LHR though at a lesser rate.

After the first minute or so my clothes were noticeably damp, so I put the blanket between us. It got wet. Called FA - solution plastic bag as barrier. The flight was full.

Not happy!

 

[greglow]

I'll bet he's happy to buy two seats for himself. Have you ever tried to do that though? I often want to buy all three seats in a row for my partner and I so we have plenty of space. But try doing that on the VA or QF websites. It needs to be made easy, rather than it being an ordeal. I'll bet if you pick two seats on either website, and try to assign the same passenger details, the site would barf.

 

[brzbnkr]

Now there's the whole "political correctness" thing, maybe even discrimination... but Virgin almost wanted to hit me $70 last week for my check-in luggage being 5kg over-weight, and yet someone who checks in that ways 50+kg more than me, pays nothing... bring in Ryan Air's tongue-in-cheek suggesting to charge passengers by their weight!!

In all seriousness though, the below comment proves how much of an impact an overweight person can be. A friend of my girlfriend had an even worse situation last year, flying on Finnair from SIN to HEL (a long flight!), he had to stand and sit in a jump seat the whole flight, because [again a full flight] the fat guy in the seat next to him took up half his assigned seat.

If the flight is full, and the passenger is clearly too large to sit in an economy seat, then I completely agree that they should not be allowed to board a flight. Being fat is - in 99% of cases - a lifestyle choice, so as with everything else in this world, you should have to deal with the consequences of your choices in life!

I had similar but not as bad on SYD/LHR with a woman who was north of 120kg.

Similar placement - she had aisle on window 3 seats.

She was very 'nice' and aware of the problems it created for me but that decreased the 'problem' from 300% unbearable to 250%.

She had hurried to board the flight and was sweating profusely. Her sweating continued the whole way to LHR though at a lesser rate.

After the first minute or so my clothes were noticeably damp, so I put the blanket between us. It got wet. Called FA - solution plastic bag as barrier. The flight was full.

Not happy!

 

[Dougo]

I agree that sitting next to someone who is overweight does cause discomfort for those sitting next to them. However as far as I know, it's illegal to discriminate against people based on their looks and a world of other issues - unless of course it's a requirement for a job etc.

I also think it's not so great to sit next to a sweaty person, and neither do I want to sit next to someone with BO, chews with their mouth open, sniffs, snorts and coughs up furballs.

About 50% of the population is overweight ... TBH, I don't know any overweight person who sits at home wondering what they can eat to put on weight.

Often weight gain just creeps up on the person and before they know it, they weigh more. For some people, there are medical issues that result in weight gain or difficulty in losing weight.

Funny thing is, it's the thinner people who think that it's all about eating KFC, burgers, chips etc ... and that is not necessarily the case.

 

[EmilyHoward]

I was next to a fatty on one flight a long time ago. Wasn't a good experience but luckily a short flight.

EH

 

[brzbnkr]

Yes, discrimination laws are of course potentially an issue. Although the 50% of population overweight aren't all so overweight that they don't comfortably fit in an economy seat, most do.

As for weight gain, well I'll semi-agree with you. It does creep up on people, but every single overweight person I know has what I would call a terrible diet. Now that comment "terrible" is coming from a person who only enters Coles/Woolworths to buy bathroom and laundry products - 99% of my food comes from the butcher and the fruit & vegetable shop. Our society is predominantly overweight because most people eat absolute rubbish, which in reality is pretty much anything that comes in a box or wrapper. Furthermore, most people eat portion sizes that are way too large... I'm 6' tall and exercise regularly (and so have a decent appetite), yet at the vast majority of restaurants (5 star ones excluded), I struggle to eat just the main meal portion size - which in my opinion is completely reflective of serving size expectations of our society.

Anyway, completely off track there, this is a FF website, not The Biggest Loser forum!!

Point is, I think the airlines should - if the plane is full - refuse an economy-fare paying passenger if they are too large to fit within the confines of an economy class seat. As for the price - just as everyone has to pay for excess baggage - if you are too large to fit into the seat for which you have chosen to pay for, then you should have to purchase a second seat. It is very well known - and available on websites such as Seatguru - exactly how wide seats on aircraft are, so there should not be any excuse to try to ignore that.