Man forced to stand on 7 hr. flight due to obese neighbor.

[Coito ergo sum]

It could be easily sorted by a narrow gate at check in. If you don't fit through you have to buy another seat

I like this ... but I think it should be done at point of booking, and it should be how much space is needed while seated.

Fat people take up more space. PCness should not override the pragmatic acknowledgment and solutions that entails.

The argument goes, though, that the airlines' choice of seat size is arbitrary, and designed to maximize profit. Therefore, the seats should be larger, and large enough to accommodate much larger humans.

[Geoff]

It could be easily sorted by a narrow gate at check in. If you don't fit through you have to buy another seat

I like this ... but I think it should be done at point of booking, and it should be how much space is needed while seated.

Fat people take up more space. PCness should not override the pragmatic acknowledgment and solutions that entails.

It's kind of difficult to make them go through a gate when booking online. From a practical standpoint, I think you'd need to do it at check in, even if in some cases you could do it earlier as well.

Ah online bookings ... Here's an idea. On booking, each customer is asked for their height and weight, and then assigned a seat and ticket based on the information given, and charged accordingly. The ticket holds the information. At check-in, the check-in staff check the ticket, verify whether the information given was correct by requiring travellers walk through a weight and height measuring gate, and only allow those travellers who were honest about their weight and height (give or take some small, pragmatic leeway on the weight aspect) to board the plane.

I love that idea, but I'd modify it to total weight of passenger + luggage.

[Coito ergo sum]

Yeah, well, the fact that the standing man wasn't able to use safety belts, in addition to being forced to stand, makes it seem to me that he should've gotten a full refund plus compensation for inconvenience and putting his safety at risk.

Again, this is assuming that the standing man's version of the story is entirely correct. We haven't heard the other side.

The flight attendants ... they sound like disasters. But who knows. I wasn't there.

What do you think the flight attendants should have done?

Well, as we both have pointed out, there are large portions of the story missing. But the attendants could have noted the seating difficulty before take-off and delayed the flight until the problem was resolved one way or another-- finding a passenger who'd willingly be bumped, for instance. Or getting the obese man on to another flight where there was room.

Or even failing that, I'd like to know why the illegality of the standing passenger sitting in one of the attendants' seats trumps the illegality of him flying without restraints at takeoff or landing. I mean, I realize that generally passengers don't sit in attendants' seats, but generally passengers have seats of their own they can sit in. And the attendants are being paid to be on that plane, and attend to the needs of passengers. Quite a contrast to the passenger who paid to sit, but wasn't allowed to.

I find it highly unlikely that the guy was not seated on take-off and landing. I bet he squeezed in, but he preferred to stand rather than be squashed for the duration of the flight. The article is not specific on whether he was sitting on takeoff, but the flight attendants' actions would have been to not allow the flight to take off if a person was standing. That's an FAA violation right there. He would have been given the choice to sit, or be escorted off the plane.

More likely, I believe, is that he was sitting. Fat guy arrived. Fat guy points out that he is sitting in that seat next to skinny guy. Skinny guy panics, but doesn't know what to do. Fat guy sits. Stewardess says there is nothing that can be done. Plane takes off. Skinny guy protests, and stands after flight takes off. He remains standing until landing. He then is forced to squeeze back into the seat for the landing only.

I'd bet a lot of money that that is how it happened. That's the only way the airline remains in compliance with FAA regulations, and makes the idea of the refusal to let him sit in the jump seats also understandable from a bureaucratic standpoint. The rule said X, they did X.

[kiki5711]

This could be an attempt staged for a lawsuit. You know how everyone in the usa luuuuuvs to sue and get their 15 min of fame.

[Kristie]

This could be an attempt staged for a lawsuit. You know how everyone in the usa luuuuuvs to sue and get their 15 min of fame.

Not everyone.

[Coito ergo sum]

This could be an attempt staged for a lawsuit. You know how everyone in the usa luuuuuvs to sue and get their 15 min of fame.

Not everyone.

And, this would be a monumentally weak lawsuit. His injuries are minor, and amount to inconvenience only. Now, if he was standing and they made him stand during the landing and he fell and hurt himself, he'd have more of an issue.

[kiki5711]

Well I didn't mean "every single person in the whole usa".....

the law suit doesn't have to have physical injuries only, (but standing for 7 hours could potentially get you kind of sick) it would make me sick.

[Cunt]

I love that idea, but I'd modify it to total weight of passenger + luggage.

How about 700kg unless you are willing to get on a scale with your luggage and prove otherwise?

[Schneibster]

that sleepy Saturday morning in a classroom likely didn't feel like heroism...

It never does.

[hadespussercats]

Yeah, well, the fact that the standing man wasn't able to use safety belts, in addition to being forced to stand, makes it seem to me that he should've gotten a full refund plus compensation for inconvenience and putting his safety at risk.

Again, this is assuming that the standing man's version of the story is entirely correct. We haven't heard the other side.

The flight attendants ... they sound like disasters. But who knows. I wasn't there.

What do you think the flight attendants should have done?

Well, as we both have pointed out, there are large portions of the story missing. But the attendants could have noted the seating difficulty before take-off and delayed the flight until the problem was resolved one way or another-- finding a passenger who'd willingly be bumped, for instance. Or getting the obese man on to another flight where there was room.

Or even failing that, I'd like to know why the illegality of the standing passenger sitting in one of the attendants' seats trumps the illegality of him flying without restraints at takeoff or landing. I mean, I realize that generally passengers don't sit in attendants' seats, but generally passengers have seats of their own they can sit in. And the attendants are being paid to be on that plane, and attend to the needs of passengers. Quite a contrast to the passenger who paid to sit, but wasn't allowed to.

I find it highly unlikely that the guy was not seated on take-off and landing. I bet he squeezed in, but he preferred to stand rather than be squashed for the duration of the flight. The article is not specific on whether he was sitting on takeoff, but the flight attendants' actions would have been to not allow the flight to take off if a person was standing. That's an FAA violation right there. He would have been given the choice to sit, or be escorted off the plane.

More likely, I believe, is that he was sitting. Fat guy arrived. Fat guy points out that he is sitting in that seat next to skinny guy. Skinny guy panics, but doesn't know what to do. Fat guy sits. Stewardess says there is nothing that can be done. Plane takes off. Skinny guy protests, and stands after flight takes off. He remains standing until landing. He then is forced to squeeze back into the seat for the landing only.

I'd bet a lot of money that that is how it happened. That's the only way the airline remains in compliance with FAA regulations, and makes the idea of the refusal to let him sit in the jump seats also understandable from a bureaucratic standpoint. The rule said X, they did X.

I think this sounds plausible. But it makes the non-obese passenger seem like a drama queen, a bit, doesn't it? Running to the papers with his story of an uncomfortable flight. Meanwhile, the guy who was getting kicked in the back for eight hours by the sugar-jagged five-year-old sitting behind him doesn't get bupkis.Never mind the young woman trapped under the slumped form of a sleeping accountant...

[laklak]

I'd have been royally pissed off. If you pay for a seat, you should get a seat. That doesn't mean a half or quarter seat, with some slob's greasy rolls of fat oozing under the arm rest.

I was on a flight out of Minneapolis once and was stuck in the center seat. The woman on the window was a big, big woman. Rolls of greasy fat big. Plane was packed, but the aisle seat next to me was vacant. The flight attendant started the "please take your seats" drill and I thought, Great, I can move to the aisle. Nope. At the last minute another big, big woman, greasy rolls of fat big, comes puffing down the aisle, and sits down next to me. So I'm the meat in a greasy roll of fat sandwich. And to top it off, the new fattie is carrying a fucking bible. She looks at me and says (in that cheery children of the corn voice they always use) "Have you talked to Jesus yet today?" I pointed at the phone in the seat back and said "No ma'am, but once we level off it's a local call". I was still stuck for three hours, but at least it shut her up.

[Gallstones]

It could be easily sorted by a narrow gate at check in. If you don't fit through you have to buy another seat

I like this ... but I think it should be done at point of booking, and it should be how much space is needed while seated.

Fat people take up more space. PCness should not override the pragmatic acknowledgment and solutions that entails.

The argument goes, though, that the airlines' choice of seat size is arbitrary, and designed to maximize profit. Therefore, the seats should be larger, and large enough to accommodate much larger humans.

There should be a study to measure ass width and determine the best seat size that would accommodate the majority.

[tattuchu]

I think we're going to see more and more of this sort of thing as the general population gets fatter and fatter and obese becomes the new normal

[Schneibster]

Instead of the airlines making the seats bigger.

[hadespussercats]

People should root for the fattest asses becoming standard seat width. Wouldn't that be great? Almost like first class.