Australian traveller compensated by AA after being ‘wedged between two obese siblings’

[jakeseven7]

An interesting situation…

Seems the obese brother and sister picked the window and aisle seat, possibly hoping that the centre would be free, then declined to swap when asked and for the rest of the flight encroached upon the middle passengers space, physically touching and the arm rests could not go down due to their size…

AA compensated $150 for the discomfort, the middle passenger is asking overweight passengers to consider ‘if you need a seatbelt extended you need two seats’.


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Aussie traveller’s flight nightmare after she’s ‘wedged between two obese people’ on plane​

A furious traveller has gone on an explosive rant on social media after she was “wedged between two obese people” on a plane.

Sydney Watson, an Australian-American political commentator, took a savage swipe at the “overweight” passengers after an uncomfortable three-hour flight on October 11.

“My entire body is currently being touched against my wishes. I can’t even put the armrests down on either side because there’s no room.

“Buy two seats or don’t fly.”

Aussie traveller’s savage swipe after she’s ‘wedged between two obese people’ on plane

‘I’m sick of acting like fatness to this extent is normal. Let me assure you, it is not’.

7news.com.au

 

[muppet]

Yep if the arm rests can’t go down you should be asked to leave the plane if it‘s full and you didn’t buy two seats. Everyone is entitled to 100% of the seat they purchased.

I say this as a chubby bloke myself, although I do fit in an economy seat, I usually fly premium to avoid discomfort.

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

Ha ha!

One trip I took with my nephew, we sat in the aisle and window seats, leaving the centre seat free. It was a non allocation flight, and we paid for priority boarding, and got row 1 by the door.

We're both about 6' 3", with very wide shoulders. He couldn't lean away from centre because of the wall, and I couldn't because of the aisle, and people passing. There was probably about 6" of space between our shoulders (hey, I'm not the one designing airline seats for midgets, ok?).

Despite this, two people actually tried to sit between us, and we determinedly didn't move or discomodate ourselves. Neither lasted more than a couple of minutes before moving

 

[jase05]

I have to agree with the sentiments.
Just like those carry on luggage models where your bag needs to fit there should be one for passengers too. “If you don’t fit in this space you need 2 seats”

 

[JohnK]

I need a seat belt extension but I fit into my seat. I choose aisle and I lean into the aisle to allow person in middle seat enough room.

 

[jakeseven7]

If you can’t fit in the seat, all dimensions and if you impact on other peoples space then you need to buy another seat or sit in another class, is my personal view.

 

[kyle]

Reminds me of my domestic flight where an obese woman was next to me. She did fit into the seat, but anything above her waist was squeezed into my seat in the middle. My partner got the window.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

I need a seat belt extension but I fit into my seat. I choose aisle and I lean into the aisle to allow person in middle seat enough room.

So do you lean into the aisle for the whole of the return Thailand flights, JohnK ?

 

[JohnK]

So do you lean into the aisle for the whole of the return Thailand flights, JohnK ?

Yes I do most times. Don't really have any issues other than shoulder getting hit a few times but that's OK.

Much easier when I travel with wife and daughter. The 2 of them together are half my weight.

 

[Tropic]

I have to agree with the sentiments.
Just like those carry on luggage models where your bag needs to fit there should be one for passengers too. “If you don’t fit in this space you need 2 seats”

Agree.

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

If you can’t fit in the seat, all dimensions and if you impact on other peoples space then you need to buy another seat or sit in another class, is my personal view.

My shoulders don't fit into any economy seat. They used to be a tight fit in many business class seats too, but not these days.

As another here said, travelling with the wif and kids was OK because they're each about 2/3 of my width. I'm not fat, just tall and wide.

 

[FlyingFiona]

I'd rather sit next to an obese female than a pr**k of a guy who spreads his legs so wide so that no matter how far away I place mine he still touches them and effectively (because of the movement of the aircraft) rubs his legs up and down mine.

Only happens on domestic flights, but it happens often enough.

 

[peanutz]

Yep, that happened to me all the time when I travelled economy. I wonder they put a note for this when I checked in or something. Fortunately, I travel economy on rare occasions in the last 10 years.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

The $150 in compensation seems quite generous from AA which isn't particularly well known for customer service. At the same time, I reckon she'd have a fat chance convincing the FAA or a judge to provide further compensation.

-RooFlyer88

 

[jakeseven7]

The $150 in compensation seems quite generous from AA which isn't particularly well known for customer service. At the same time, I reckon she'd have a fat chance convincing the FAA or a judge to provide further compensation.

-RooFlyer88

Very funny I saw it

 

[Tag2305]

Years ago, in y/c, I sat between two women who were actually travelling together, I offered to move for them, but that’s how they had booked the seats, for the obvious reason! They talked and played cards and shared wine all the way Aust. to Lax, nothing I could do.

 

[JohnK]

My shoulders don't fit into any economy seat. They used to be a tight fit in many business class seats too, but not these days.

As another here said, travelling with the wif and kids was OK because they're each about 2/3 of my width. I'm not fat, just tall and wide.

That was me.

I'm not fat. I'm obese but I still fit into my seat. My shoulders are wide but not as wide as some of the solid guys that have sat in middle seat next to me.

Not looking forward to a 1 hour Nok Air flight next week. Seats are very narrow and very uncomfortable.

 

[eastwest101]

Going back to the original issue with the flight of 3hours on American Airlines, as I understand it, due to the size of the adjacent pax it was not possible to lower the armrests on this 3 abreast Y seating arrangement? Is that correct?

If the armrests cannot go down, surely the correct response is telling the cabin crew that "if the armrests aren't going down then I'm not flying and I'll happily disembark and you can rummage through the hold for my checked baggage". That might stand a good chance of a re-seating request (assuming there is another spare seat available). If I were forced into that situation about the arm rests I would also consider reporting that to the FAA/regulatory authorities, AA might not care about a noisy person on social media, but the safety regulators cannot be ignored.. even AA eventually admitted that the neighbor passengers "exceeding their seats space"' implied that it was a completely full flight so maybe someone needs to "win" this argument by costing the airlines some big $$$ and get Airlines to start thinking about yield management and seating allocation and seating policies to solve this problem?

Going down the "fat" discrimination route is probably not guaranteed success, but going down the safety argument route would surely be more effective/productive?

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I'd rather sit next to an obese female than a pr**k of a guy who spreads his legs so wide so that no matter how far away I place mine he still touches them and effectively (because of the movement of the aircraft) rubs his legs up and down mine.

Only happens on domestic flights, but it happens often enough.

Never get the Paris metro then!

 

[FlyingFiona]

Never get the Paris metro then!

You can at least get up and move there.