Taking a quick break while packing for a weeklong trip to South Florida, and thinking ahead about my flight in less than 12 hours, I came across this article on CNN.com and stopped, intrigued. I’ve flown a lot in the past couple of years (dating a New Yorker will do that to ya) and have encountered this issue myself on more than one occasion, so it certainly caught my attention.
There’s a growing movement for airlines to determine whether obese passengers can safely and comfortably fit in one coach-class airline seat, and to require those passengers to either purchase a larger seat (in a more expensive cabin) or use two full coach-class seats.
If you’ve flown a lot, you’ve probably encountered the passenger next to you who takes up his/her entire seat and a portion of yours. It’s not just a question of obese people — some people are very tall, or very broad-shouldered, or just plain inconsiderate. It can be frustrating when you find yourself forced to scoot over and shove yourself against the wall, or lean halfway out into the aisle, to avoid someone who has taken up temporary residency in your personal space.
Now, I know that some people — including Peggy Howell of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance — say the airlines are to blame. They complain that seats are too small, and haven’t adapted to the growing size of the American public. But Boeing studies show that the standard 17-inch coach-class seats “can accommodate 95 percent of the traveling public.” In fact, they say that most of the time it’s broad shoulders, not fat asses, that cause passengers to invade their neighbors’ seat space.
I think it’s more appropriate to require the 5% of passengers that cannot fit in one seat to either buy a business-class or first-class seat, or use two coach-class seats. If there are available seats in Coach, passengers don’t have to pay for a second seat, but if the plane is going to be booked, they’ll have to purchase the seat so the airline doesn’t lose revenue by refusing the seat to a second paying customer.
Opponents of these policies claim that this is a dehumanizing and discriminatory attack against obese people. I say that it’s a sad situation when someone is too fat to fit in a “normal” seat, and just as unfortunate when someone is too tall or broad-shouldered to do so, but that’s no excuse for them to make the passengers next to them just as miserable.
I shouldn’t be made physically uncomfortable in my seat just because you’re too big to be comfortable in your seat. We’re both trapped on this plane, so accept the unfortunate reality of the situation, buy the bigger seat, and make everyone’s flight (including yours) a lot more pleasant.
Now if we can just get people to consistently shower and use deodorant when crammed into an airplane seat…
I have to say- I agree 100%. And I’m not a small guy by any means, but I have no problems fitting into an airline seat. There’s not a ton of room, but if I can do it, so can anyone else. I had the misfortune of having a man who arguably weighed about 300+ pounds try and fit in the middle seat in my row once on American- and the flight attendants had a very fair way of explaining it. They had him get up and try and sit in an exit row seat- one where the armrests go all the way down to between the seats. Logic is- if you can’t fit in that little box, then you can’t fit in a real seat.
I’ve flown more than my share, and coach sucks, no way around it- but I’m not to blame for your obesity, your body odor, and at this point any tolerance or sympathy I have is gone. Nobody’s saying fat people can’t fly, they’re just saying you have to buy two seats so you don’t make the rest of the world miserable. That’s how it goes.
I disagree as I think that the seats have shrunk. I know on Airtran and US Air for example, that the seats are so narrow I have to sit on my hip. The last trip to Fl was pure misery. I’ll be honest here. I have a 41″ waist so hips are no more than I’d say 43″. Yet the damned armrests just dig into my hip bones. I’ve had it with the airlines trying to cram us into smaller space so that they can line their pockets every flight and then have less flights to ensure that each flight is a can of sardines. Also, have you not noticed that the middle aisle is smaller? You can’t really walk down it unless you slightly turn sideways. It’s just ridiculous. So, yes, I do emphasize with those with broad shoulders or those who are curvacious. Give us the couple of inches back and buy more damned planes!