Man sues Etihad in Queensland over obese passenger

[wandering_fred]

In line with JohnK's - we have obese and then we have "obese".
When are we going to have photos of an A320/B737 flight where the passenger in question would have serious difficulty in exiting via the over the wing emergency exit? That would be strictly a safety issue. Along with disabled passengers (requiring in-aircraft assistance) in an aisle seat blocking exit of window side passengers.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[whatmeworry]

There's obese and there's obese.

How we perceive ourselves is different to how others perceive us.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Much like airlines are able to charge for overweight baggage, they could set a limit on an individuals weight also. Using the rub that "it effects operational performance" will always leave it ambiguous enough to be defensible from an airlines perspective. The issue will of course be, where do you draw the line on such a limit?

I fly about 70 sectors a year where every piece of cabin baggage and every pax is weighed before boarding. That's certainly for operational reasons and I've never heard one single person object, as it's far better being weighed than falling out of the sky!

 

[PLANT]

That's what trains and ships are for?

 

[Deleted member]

As a "BiG" person, I sympathise with smaller people who fit into the "normal" range BMI.
BUT even I have my horror story.
I flew from AKL - BNE on Virgin (before I discovered AFF) on BFOD (as Mrs GPH was wont to do).
this was my final straw flight BTW , but more about that later.
I was seated in Y next to a VERY BIG Pacific Island woman, who not only overflowed into my space forcing me to lean into the aisle, BUT had some kind of cold or flu, and sniffed, coughed and spluttered the whole way across.
after this flight I decided I had had enough. my previous flights had been awful for a number of reasons , Garuda, and VA (Or Virgin Blue as it was then) were either delayed by a few (4) hours, full of the "Typical" LCC carrier type of bargain hunting pax, for whom the trip is akin to a bus ride.
Enough !! I exclaimed, I will only fly Qantas from here on in.
then of course I discovered status, and of course "J".
the irony was that in spite of already being a LT QP member Mrs GPH still insisted on booking me seats BFOD , which in hind sight saved me very little in the overall scheme of things.
so thankyou everyone here, I now have a far more enjoyable experience when trvelling

 

[Saintza]

and some are calling for obesity to be officially labelled a disease

I'll just leave this here

 

[DrA]

I'll just leave this here

I love Ricky Gervais

However, there's this...

Some countries already define obesity as a disease, some don't.

 

[JohnK]

If their size is due to a medical condition (and some are calling for obesity to be officially labelled a disease), then it would be a protected class and therefore grounds for discrimination.

Obesity in a lot of people is a medical condition but I would rather it was not labelled that way because that would open it to abuse.

You know the person that is leaving the office at 5:00pm waiting for a train to go home and scoffing a Big Mac. They will also have full dinner at 7:00pm.

Or that person who eats 3 meals a day and has a brand coffee at 10:00am and 3:00pm but cannot resist ordering that piece of cake as well. Seriously how many calories is coffee and cake? 600-700 calories?

How we perceive ourselves is different to how others perceive us.

I am obese. I am not denying it. I am 120kg and according to the chart I should be 78kg. My BMI is 40+.

Funny thing though is that I fit into an airline seat. I actually fit into a bulkhead/exit row seat with fixed arm rests. My biggest problem is my shoulders/back are wide so my preference is an aisle seat and I refuse to sit in middle seat as I do not want to make the people either side uncomfortable. But that is no different to a well built person with broad shoulders who is not obese.

I have had women sit next to me in middle seat who are not as obese as me but whose hips/thighs spill well into my seat.

Please explain why I should be penalised because I am obese?