Plus-size passengers reveal anguish of 'flying while fat'

[Revik]

It should be combination of the two. Airlines should charge more for roomier seats. It should be based on waist size kind of like pants. Depending on your waist size will determine what kind of seat you need.

[Paranoid Android]

well most of the planes are very old, like for the 70's and 80's old when people were not on the average very fat, they can take the current seats out and install larger seats but then it would mean less passengers which means less money, why would they make you comfy when they can make more money out of you.

Airlines are actually doing the opposite you are suggesting. They made the seats smaller to obviously cram more passengers into the plane.

Seats were 18 inches wide before airline deregulation in the 1970s and have since been whittled to 16 and a half inches, he said, while seat pitch used to be 35 inches and has decreased to about 31 inches

[WinnerKD]

Airlines are actually doing the opposite you are suggesting. They made the seats smaller to obviously cram more passengers into the plane.

All because airline travel has democratized. Look at pictures of from flying's ''Golden Age'' and you'll see what amounts to a flying bar and lounge. Of course, few could afford to fly in luxury and it wasn't a sustainable business model.

[st33l]

So as a fat person myself (enough that if someone my size was going to come sit next to me, I would be pretty horrified), I do support making people who are fat enough to not fit into a seat buy two seats.

I understand that for some people, being fat is not really a choice. It isn't that we can't get thin - of course, if we ate less enough and exercised enough, almost anyone can; but it *is* harder for people with a predisposition to weight than it is for others.

It is *not* fair that with the same amount of effort, another person can maintain a healthy weight while others have to buy two seats on a plane.


Guess what, tough. Life isn't fair. If someone is more inclined towards literature than towards let's say, engineering, it isn't fair that for the same amount of effort, the person inclined towards engineering will just make more money. That is how it is though. You have a predisposition that puts you at an advantage, or an disadvantage over others.

What you cannot do is, because of your predisposition, cause others inconvenience. So, buy two seats, and be comfortable and let others be comfortable too.


Note: The bullying and shaming of fat people, is pretty disgusting. If someone is fat, *and*, doesn't effect your life, why the fuck do you care? Conversely, even if this fat person was sitting in the extra legroom seat, maybe they really needed to get where they were going and really couldn't afford another seat? Or fuck it, maybe they were just inconsiderate. Becoming mean, bullying monsters in response is still not a justified response. It still makes you a fucking dick.

[Ethris]

Thanks tennisace. Another quality thread.

[Dennu]

It is *not* fair that with the same amount of effort, another person can maintain a healthy weight while others have to buy two seats on a plane.

Same amount of effort will put you as slightly overweight if you have problems with maintaining weight, you won't be fat. This trend of people being so fat that they have troubles fitting through doorways and so on is a recent thing caused by a sedentary lifestyle with too much food intake relative to your activity level.

We should see far more fat people than we do if it wasn't caused by lifestyle. Both present and historically.

[Uselessrouge]

maybe those retard should make the sitting place bigger?

i am 75kilo for 1,85 so not fat imo but those sitting places are a fucking joke when you dont fly first class or buissness ^^

[Mad_Murdock]

i'm not complaining, but the fact is those seats are only at MOST 2 inches wider, myself would STILL need two of those =P

Obviously it depends on the type of plane you get. Some of the international planes have Barber chair seats. Never got enough of those back in the day. The 737 and 727 normally had what I would call a standard acceptable seat for most any person. Probably a good 4-5 inches winder than the coach seats, I never had issues sitting next to large guys in those seats. The smaller Canada Regional jets First class seats are pretty small and are only about 2" more than the coach, those barely count has bigger, since those should be the starting seat size for coach in my world.

maybe those retard should make the sitting place bigger?

i am 75kilo for 1,85 so not fat imo but those sitting places are a fucking joke when you dont fly first class or buissness ^^

They are not retards, it's all business and why there have been so many Airline mergers. Flying is an up and down business and you need to be able cram in as many people possible to make the money. Large roomy planes just aren't economical. Every seat they remove is $200-500 (or more) lost.

[Total Crica]

Same amount of effort will put you as slightly overweight if you have problems with maintaining weight, you won't be fat. This trend of people being so fat that they have troubles fitting through doorways and so on is a recent thing caused by a sedentary lifestyle with too much food intake relative to your activity level.

Yes, and it's because alot of jobs don't require body power, only brain power. People want to have fun when not at work, so those that don't find "working out" fun and have a job that doesn't require body work are going to wind up fat unless they use their spare time to not have fun.

My husband is one of those people. He is Air Force, but works in cyber security. His job is PURE brain power. When he gets home, he spend his time doing what he enjoys, playing video games. He is now, 10 years later, fatter then he was when he joined the Air Force. He is not TOO fat for the AF, but he is def fat.

[Sandraudiga]

If you use more of a subscription than someone else should they charge you more? I see lots of people who cant put their bags in the storage areas because people use that up too. Maybe we should also charge them more.

They do, and have for a very long time.

[Cizr]

Honestly there should be extra taxes for fat people so that they dont have enough money to spend of plane tickets tbh.

[MonsieuRoberts]

Assuming that there will always be people who are above average size, would it be reasonable for passenger planes to have a section with seats spaced out a bit for ye olde wide folk, either by fat or muscle?

[Dennu]

Yes, and it's because alot of jobs don't require body power, only brain power. People want to have fun when not at work, so those that don't find "working out" fun and have a job that doesn't require body work are going to wind up fat unless they use their spare time to not have fun.

Eat less or increase your activity level. I'm manintaining my weight even though I do not move a lot by just eating right.

[Grym]

Not sure if they should get 2 seats or not, but if I pay for my seats, I don't expect any "excess fat" to be squeeze into it, if that is the case, I would ask the cabin crew can they either move the other person somewhere else, or move me somewhere else, where I can get a full seat that I pay for.

[melodramocracy]

If they can't not intrude on other passengers space then they should indeed pay.

Tell that to people who recline.

[Grym]

Assuming that there will always be people who are above average size, would it be reasonable for passenger planes to have a section with seats spaced out a bit for ye olde wide folk, either by fat or muscle?

Reasonable? Yes.

Likely? No.

Because larger seats reduce number of seats, and profit comes before fat people.

[Dennu]

Tell that to people who recline.

Recline? I don't even know what that means.

[melodramocracy]

Thanks tennisace. Another quality thread.

GenOT wouldn't be GenOT without its daily dose of socially acceptable bigotry.

[Total Crica]

Eat less or increase your activity level. I'm manintaining my weight even though I do not move a lot by just eating right.

That is hard for people who enjoy food and don't enjoy "working out". Not impossible, but def NOT fun.

[Altrec]

But you also aren't having some free-roaming hypothetical discussion about some random issue. We're discussing seating space on airplanes and the amount taken up by overweight people - the topic of this thread. And that situation is NOT similar to a subscription.

And in that case, I can very accurately say you are making a wrongful comparison. Because you are.

I never said anything about a subscription. I asked a question that stemmed from something someone else said nothing more. On the topic of subscriptions I would agree that they are different enough from this particular topic that it would be difficult to make a valid comparison.