Obese passengers and flying?

obese-man-on-american-air

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/04/obese-man-on-american-air_n_379979.html

I just saw this article, and it does make a point. Should passengers obviously requiring more than one seat be required to purchase adjoining seats, instead of inconvenienceing other passengers on the plane?

(BTW, I don't think this was taken during the flight, I think the passenger is just waiting to be reseated elsewhere. There are still passengers boarding, and the two seats behind him are empty, as is the one next to his seatmate. I suspect that the flight attendant did in fact move the oversized traveler to another location. No way they would allow him to block the aisle like that. Heck, they won't even let me put my small computer in the seat pocket in front of me during take off and landing.)

I don't think they should have to pay for more than one seat, but maybe be given an extra seat maybe for like an extra $50 or something rather than the full ticket price. Or maybe rearrange the passengers so that person is in an aisle of their own. But I really think airplanes should make bigger seats! Every plane I have been on has been uncomfortable due to the small seats, and the seat belt barely fits around me, and sometimes people get pissed with me because my leg or hips cross a little into their seat or under their arm rest. And I'm not that big. I only weigh 220lbs, you all have seen photos of me and know that I'm not big enough to need 2 seats on a plane, but I'm much more comfortable when there is no one sitting next to me. That's another reason late night flights are wonderful to. There was one flight I took late at night where I had the whole aisle to myself as well as all the other passengers had their own because there was only like 11 people on the flight. It was wonderful lol.

Agreed that the seats in general could be a little more roomy - who wants to be sitting that close - literally elbow to elbow - with people you don't even know??!

Yep I've always felt like a sardine on a plane no matter who I was sitting next to, which is why I usually get aisle seats now instead of window ones, but then when you have the drink cart and stuff going up and down the aisle that crowds you in and if you aren't careful it also hits you in the arm.

I think the airline is entitled to full price for each seat - what if everyone on the plane needed two seats. Thats not cost effective for them. If you need two seats - pay for two seats.

just my 2 cents

My best female friend now just goes ahead and pays for the second seat instead of all the embarrassing, humiliating stuff she has to go through when she travels by air. My heart has always ached for what she has had to endure....and she couldn't be a nicer person.

When my husband and I were both younger and narrower, we had the middle and window seat on a full plane. A late boarding passenger eyed her aisle seat, flipped up the arm rest and sat on me. I flipped up the seat between me and my husband and sat on him. We ended up using 1 1/2 seats, and my seatmate used up 1 1/2 seats. It was a four hour red eye, and I developed a kink in my back on that flight that still twinges at time. The thing is, she paid for one seat and we paid for two.

I fly a lot, and this was not the last time it's happened, but I am at least prepared. I request an aisle seat, and if I'm in the middle, I don't allow the arm rest to be popped up. The seats on planes are incredibly small these days, and I want as much room as I pay for, the seat back reclined, my foot space, the area between the arm rests.

In India, the guy in front of me didn't want me to put my back pack under his seat, and in Estonia, I had another Slavic woman sit on me. Just last week the guy in back of me pushed his under seat suitcase so far forward it was under MY feet as well (I asked him to remove it....). I'd rather put up with smoking (still allowed in some parts of the world) to bulkhead seats, and not having my full paid for space.

On another note, I really appreciate when there is some effort by the larger passenger to accommodate me. I've given up my aisle seat, and arm rest, to a passage who is having a hard time. But I've also paid extra for larger seats myself on airlines like Fin Air that has unbelievably small seats, especially for overnight flights.

It's what you do, sometimes.