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

[Tennis]

Or you know, one, people could calm their kids down, and two people could have some courtesy for the people sitting behind them.

Kids will be kids. They are the future anyways.

[Total Crica]

Kids will be kids. They are the future anyways.

They have to live in the present before they can be the future. Training/enabling them to adapt to the present is part of the parents job.

[Slant]

It's funny... people get irritated over the smallest things. I'll make sure to trade places with those people that complain about fat people. After they give me 50 quid for it. Which I'll probably give the fatty just because I like the idea of them paying the dude they're hating on so they can live their miserable life on the other side of the aisle.

[gutnbrg]

why do they keep making seats smaller? back in the day seats were much larger and more comfortable

[Manabomb]

http://www.today.com/money/flying-wh...nguish-t106050

I'm not sure I follow this argument at all.
If they are so large that they encroach into their neighbour's seat then they should buy 2 seats or buy a business class fare.
It's not like air travel is something that is absolutely necessary.

While we are at it, can we make you pay extra for any problematic health conditions you have? I mean, nevermind health conditions shouldn't fucking be discriminated against, but here we are in 2017 still thinking that obesity is only tied to personal conviction, not genetics, psychological issues, mental disorders and the host of other things that prevent some people from losing weight.

Yes please, let's just start berating people with DID, telling them they need to buy extra seats for each personality they have, or how about we make someone pay extra for bringing their oxygen machine. You're the kind of person that make business' cater to themselves rather than the consumer, and it's sickening honestly.

[Kiri]

why do they keep making seats smaller? back in the day seats were much larger and more comfortable

Smaller seats--->more passengers per plane ---> more revenue
Alternatively: Smaller seats--->slimmer plane--->less fuel-->less cost

It is pretty simple, really. Seat sizes have gone down over the past decades. Other passengers take care of fat ones by complaining about them, not for them, so that problem is taken care of.

[gutnbrg]

but i mean the rows on the plane still consist of 3 seats, its just that the seats are smaller...its not like they fit a 4th seat in there.

[belfpala]

Wait... why aren't skinny people throwing fits? I mean, I'm 6'3" but only 160ish pounds. I only need 3/4ths of a seat. Shouldn't I pay less?

[Klingers]

There's a lot of fat hate in this thread and I usually don't let it bother me, this has been frustrating to read. You know what? I'm fat. Really fat. Why am I fat? Ignorant people would say laziness. I'd say a childhood of busy full-time working parents and a lifetime of OCD, Tourettes, medications, depression and injury. Sometimes the world isn't fair.

Personally I've lost about half my body weight twice. The first time was in 2010. I spent a year on Jenny Craig while going to the gym, bought a treadmill at home and spent 45 minutes twice a day on the thing every day. Then I tripped in a gutter, sprained my ankle, developed a cyst in one of my load bearing ankle bones and spent 4 years in unmitigated pain with every step I took until I got the right diagnosis and had it operated on.

Would you be surprised to learn that constant agony over four years and the dis-empowered impotent fury of being immobile can have a negative effect on your willpower? Yep, I put all that weight back on.

Then once I had my ankle operated on and had let it heal enough, I started dieting and hitting the gym again. Came close again to losing half my body weight. then about a year and a half ago I busted one of the discs in my spine and got sciatica and shooting agony all through my leg. I took about a year of relative immobility and no intensive gym work to let it heal without an operation.

Now I've been on a 800-calorie-a-day shake diet for months and the weight's coming off again I'm fulling expecting the International Space Station to be de-orbited on top of me. At that point I"ll probably pick up a bag of Doritos again.

The moral of this story isn't any more complicated than... Have some fucking empathy. Being fat isn't fun. It's not a choice. It's not a place people would rather stay. Some of us do everything withing our power whenever we have the capability be it emotional, physical or financial. For a lot of people it's not that easy.

[Sykol]

Wait... why aren't skinny people throwing fits? I mean, I'm 6'3" but only 160ish pounds. I only need 3/4ths of a seat. Shouldn't I pay less?

No, because you can put a bag on it or stretch out your gangly legs or something. Just because you don't use all of it, doesn't mean you don't pay for all of it. But fat people can't suddenly not take up two rows of seats. They use more than the one seat they paid for, so they should pay for having to use that extra three or four seats.

[Shadowferal]

I'm not sure I see the argument. Business is business as they say. If an obese person doesn't like the additional charge an airline hits him/her up for, then they can find another airline.

[Sykol]

There's a lot of fat hate in this thread and I usually don't let it bother me, this has been frustrating to read. You know what? I'm fat. Really fat. Why am I fat? Ignorant people would say laziness. I'd say a childhood of busy full-time working parents and a lifetime of OCD, Tourettes, medications, depression and injury. Sometimes the world isn't fair.

Personally I've lost about half my body weight twice. The first time was in 2010. I spent a year on Jenny Craig while going to the gym, bought a treadmill at home and spent 45 minutes twice a day on the thing every day. Then I tripped in a gutter, sprained my ankle, developed a cyst in one of my load bearing ankle bones and spent 4 years in unmitigated pain with every step I took until I got the right diagnosis and had it operated on.

Would you be surprised to learn that constant agony over four years and the dis-empowered impotent fury of being immobile can have a negative effect on your willpower? Yep, I put all that weight back on.

Then once I had my ankle operated on and had let it heal enough, I started dieting and hitting the gym again. Came close again to losing half my body weight. then about a year and a half ago I busted one of the discs in my spine and got sciatica and shooting agony all through my leg. I took about a year of relative immobility and no intensive gym work to let it heal without an operation.

Now I've been on a 800-calorie-a-day shake diet for months and the weight's coming off again I'm fulling expecting the International Space Station to be de-orbited on top of me. At that point I"ll probably pick up a bag of Doritos again.

The moral of this story isn't any more complicated than... Have some fucking empathy. Being fat isn't fun. It's not a choice. It's not a place people would rather stay. Some of us do everything withing our power whenever we have the capability be it emotional, physical or financial. For a lot of people it's not that easy.

Are you making excuses so we take it easy on you, or so you do?

[adamzz]

I have to ask you and everyone else here making similar comments. How do you feel about net neutrality? Should heavy net users be required to pay more?

That's not what net neutrality is about.. Heavy net users do pay more, in countries with bandwidth caps they pay more for more bandwidth and in places with unlimited data they usually go for the fastest internet they can so they pay more than a normal household does for their internet.

You can't compare internet usage with airplane space... You literally can't use more than you pay for on the internet but you can take up 2 seats of an airplane while only paying for 1 seat. Both situations are completely different.

[Klingers]

Are you making excuses so we take it easy on you, or so you do?

I think you've just demonstrated a complete lack of understanding. At what point do you think I, or for that matter any fat people wanting to change for the better take it easy on ourselves? IF you even read my post then you know that personally I've made (and continue to make) every effort I can to get fitter.

I'll make you a deal: Strap about 50 bags of potatoes to yourself for a single day and just go about doing everything you normally do. Go to work. Go for a walk. Hit the gym. Spend time with friends. Be out in public around other people being judged. Do it just for one day. Then someone tells you you can get rid of the bags of potatoes, but you can only remove one potato, maybe two per week.

So yeah. have some fucking empathy. That's what decent human beings do.

Edit: I'll add one last point: I have no problem with having to pay extra for seats if required. That is fair. Not the point I was trying to address though.

[Shadowferal]

I've nothing against fat people.
But if they fly coach and take up too much space...they need to understand the rules of an airline business.

[Sykol]

I think you've just demonstrated a complete lack of understanding. At what point do you think I, or for that matter any fat people wanting to change for the better take it easy on ourselves? IF you even read my post then you know that personally I've made (and continue to make) every effort I can to get fitter.

I'll make you a deal: Strap about 50 bags of potatoes to yourself for a single day and just go about doing everything you normally do. Go to work. Go for a walk. Hit the gym. Spend time with friends. Be out in public around other people being judged. Do it just for one day. Then someone tells you you can get rid of the bags of potatoes, but you can only remove one potato, maybe two per week.

So yeah. have some fucking empathy. That's what decent human beings do.

You did this to yourself. I'm not gonna empathize with a heroin addict, why should I with a food addict? Make an effort, stick to it, and stop making excuses for yourself. Everyone suffers setbacks, but excuses are exactly that: excuses. No one needs to walk in your shoes because no one picked them but you.

[Deleted]

Wait... why aren't skinny people throwing fits? I mean, I'm 6'3" but only 160ish pounds. I only need 3/4ths of a seat. Shouldn't I pay less?

That's not how it works. I am 5'10 and like 110 pounds; there would still be no space for a second person to fit into the seat. So you are still taking up a whole seat even if you don't technically fill it out entirely.

[Shadowferal]

You did this to yourself. I'm not gonna empathize with a heroin addict, why should I with a food addict? Make an effort, stick to it, and stop making excuses for yourself. Everyone suffers setbacks, but excuses are exactly that: excuses. No one needs to walk in your shoes because no one picked them but you.

Not always the case.
Medical conditions are sometimes the problem. I've see that often enough.

[Sykol]

Not always the case.
Medical conditions are sometimes the problem. I've see that often enough.

That is so rare it may as well be a lightning strike and lottery win at the same time. Everybody just likes to claim that's the reason.

[Shadowferal]

That is so rare it may as well be a lightning strike and lottery win at the same time. Everybody just likes to claim that's the reason.

There are three people that I know of where I work that definitely have such conditions.