Joys of night-flights....

I think it's a fact that most people are too big for airline seats in one direction or another. I've had real problems with a neighbours long legs and large feet taking too much of my space too.

I would love to upgrade but then I wouldn't afford to go. Perhaps that the answer to world air pollution. Abolish cattle class, then fewer people would travel.

It is a fact that if a passenger is too big for his/her seat he/she can't help but overflow into the next one. It's not as though sucking in a stomach and holding ones breath is going to do it. Once they choose their seat in cattle class or on a budget airline it's a given.

Eglantine 19 have read all the posts on this thread, and have to say completely agree with you. To me it's all about spacial awareness, whether on a plane, bus etc., my particular gripes are waiting to pay in a queue, someone behind, maybe in a hurry, stands far too close to me, I guessing here to hurry me up, or the person who parks their car over the designated space in car park so I have problems getting my self and passengers out. The latest is the dog owners who think it's fair game to allow their dogs to hurtle over the field to greet/terrorise my nervous rescue cocker spaniel, saying it's alright, they are friendly, but mine doesn't want a play date, I ask them to call off their dogs, but of course their dogs aren't trained so they aren't able to, I was told yesterday to keep my dog in if she's not sociable, my dog never approaches others, so really as I see it, it's all about what others want, lay all over you in a plane etc., with complete disregard for other people, a distinct lack of manners and social graces!

I'd love to be a passenger on that flight, I can just picture it!

Il probably be the one that gets chucked off!

Should make for an interesting flight!

Does someone who has paid for one seat have a right to one and a half? Next time someone overflows, consciously and deliberately, into my seat I shall hoist my feet up onto their lap. Which I would quite like to do anyway. So much more comfortable if you can get your feet up.
The reason I don't do it now is because I think that they might not like that level of intimate contact and because I respect their space. But if they won't afford me that courtesy....

I suppose people who want their space so very much could always upgrade
The rest of us can put up with each others' space invading, and other issues.

Don't know about a logical answer. Certainly an interesting philosophical debate though isn't it. Do people have a "right" to board an aeroplane? Do they have a "right" to the space they have paid for? If two people have conflicting rights, and not possible for both to exercise them simultaneously, which should prevail.
I might think I have the right to have a lively party, going on into the small hours (totally hypothetical, alas) - and my neighbour might think she has a right to peace and quiet so she can sleep... And then there is gun law in the states...

I just want my seat. Why is that so unreasonable? Someone give me a logical answer.

I'm sure an overweight person didn't get that way just so they could annoy passengers on airplanes! The assumption seems to be that an overweight person deliberately lets bits overhang for just that reason
Strange to think everything is about oneself.

achey not hey

Oh well mumofmadboys, my foible is to want to sit comfortably in the seat I've paid for. It's not a fat issue per se. The man I talked about right at the beginning wasn't fat. He just wanted to put his arms on the arm rest and his elbows into me so he could play his game. When he settled down to nap he wanted to lay diagonally with his head on my head rest.
On another journey a man with long legs wanted to put his bag in the front of my seat because his legs would have been squashed if he had put it in front of his. Apparently my legs didn't matter!
And if an overweight person squashes me and makes me a hey and uncomfortable are they being kind and caring towards me? Or does it just work one way?

Being fat is, in the huge majority of cases, totally avoidable.
If you eat 100 calories a day over and above your needs you will put on about 10lbs a year.
It is also extremely unhealthy, the medical profession has backtracked on its pronouncement that you can be fit and fat(their words not mine)
Just think of the money that can be saved by cutting out all those treats. Enough to pay for at least a premium economy seat. Not that one would be needed?
Why can't you OW folk understand that you have made the choice ( barring a small minority) to be the size you are but we haven't. I don't care how big you are if you aren't squashing me.

You could take your argument further Eglantine and apply it to the NHS. Why should fit people pay taxes to supplement ill people which may be due to them failing to look after their health? Life is not fair. We are born into different circumstances. But to be 'community'we must learn to love and support each other and accept each others weaknesses and foibles. Next time you sit next to an overweight person just think how fortunate you are that you don't gave a weight problem.

willsmadnan, as you obviously have the internet, you will find many medical papers discussing genetic and heritable influences on obesity. Also, people who have bypass operations often find that their taste changes back to what it would have been before they were fat and the body resets itself so when you get to the weight you were heading for when you were first born you stop losing weight. The topic of obesity, its causes and treatment is of great interest to me and I accept that some people are just gluttonous but not all overweight people should be tarred with the same brush.
As a Type 2 diabetic it is assumed that it must be because I am fat that I got diabetes (I wear size 10 trousers and a 14-16 tops because of my bust size) and I admit that my stomach area is the fattest bit of me. Now the medical world is researching beyond whether "fat" causes diabetes or whether insulin resistance causes the fat to build up. Also, my mother, my aunt, my great uncles and a huge number of our family all have type 2 Diabetes. At least half of them were like matchsticks with the wood scraped off so yet again it belies the myth that it is a "Fat" issue.

And thinking about it some more. If I want luggage over and above my allowance I pay for it. I don't expect anyone to take clothes out of their suitcase to give me extra room. Or if I want a cup of coffee on a non-inclusive flight I buy it, not take half the cup of the person next to me. I accept the conditions of the flight I've booked. The size of the seat is clearly shown. It's just as much a part of the conditions of the flight.
But I don't expect that those people who want their seat plus someone else's will accept that as reasonable any more than I accept that what they want is reasonable. Like Magicwriter says, hope we don't get to sit next to each other!

No I'm sorry grannysue, I can't leave it. It's so illogical. Somebody explain to me why another person is entitled to some of the seat I've paid for.
Other than that I should be nice and unselfish and not care about me. Why are they more important than me?

Dear GN's......What a storm of unpleasantness this thread has released.
My original post was a waxing lyrical type of musing about the unattainable luxury of business or first class travel.
I only travel economy short haul, as that fits my budget.
To all those generous sized ladies who have been hurt by comments from posters, I am truly sorry.
Lets close this thread for once and for all !

Eglantine, I did not say I expected folk to respect me, but that I would not respect them. If you read my post again you will see that I said we should ALL respect each other instead of insulting each other. I always try and lean away from the person sitting next to me, as I value their space as much as I value my own space. I am not that big that I 'overflow' all over my companions seat, but I do find it increasingly painful to squeeze my butt into an ever decreasing seat! I don't know what size you are, but will you feel the same when the seats have shrunk that much that you will be squashed into them? I do find your comments quite selfish, it's all me, me, me! As others have said, it's not just 'fatties' that annoy other folk, are you going to suggest charging folk with children more as they can make a journey very uncomfortable if they are screaming and crying, what about the person who coughs and splutters all over everyone, should they be charged more for passing their germs on? Yes, it sounds utterly ridiculous, the same as saying 'fat' people should upgrade to bigger seats. I would love to be able to afford to do that, but sadly, my finances do not let me. Let's hope we never have to share the same plane or heaven forbid, be seated next to one another. But if we do, you are more than welcome to have the armrest if it will make you happy .

I cannot agree that it is the airline's fault. Yes some of them are greedy and try to squeeze in more passengers but we can refuse to travel with them. As I have said on this thread before I am a 16 and at 5'5 weighing 80kilos that works out as obese. I have never been too big for my seat, even on a 6seater plane.

But bigger seats would be more expensive fares for everyone. Are we all happy to pay for everyone's extra need?
Would you pay extra for your seat so that my friend with long legs can have the room he needs?
No I still can't see why I should have to share my seat space with anyone whatever their size or shape or need to flop all over me ?

The only thing I can comment on , from your last post Esspee is that yes there are larger seats in other parts of the plane, last time I flew long haul business class I paid just over £3000 for the privilege of a larger seat and not offending anyone. As opposed to about £800 in economy.

All I'm saying is if a size 16 is already too large for the average seat how long before that becomes a size 14? or a size 12?

Where does it stop? All to make more profit ! I'm all for companies making a fair profit for the service but this is a thin end of the wedge.

If we're making larger people pay extra then what next - people with children ( because they can be a nightmare too on planes), those people with huge cabin luggage, I'm sure we have all seen them? Drunk people definitely need to pay a surcharge...oh and how about disabled people who slow up boarding ( like me) ?

Once upon a time you could reserve your seat free of charge but airlines discovered that they could make money from that.

Here we are complaining bitterly about larger people encroaching on seat space but the real culprits are the airlines. Maybe we should be telling them how we feel?

@pollyperkins I did not use the word fatty which is rude but the word fat which is factual. Some people are tall, some are fat. Neither word is perjorative. Why should anyone have to find synonyms acceptable to you to describe the growing problem of people being too fat to fit into an airline seat thereby making the journey a nightmare for their neighbours when they have the option of paying for a second seat or a larger seat so that they don't impinge on their neighbour's space. People with long legs frequently pay for extra legroom. Nobody suggests that all airline seats should have excessive legroom so why blame the airline when they already offer larger seats in other parts of the plane? P.S. Sorry OP, this thread had gone off at a tangent.

I swear that every time I fly they have made the seat space smaller. BTW I'm 5ft 3 and 7. 5 stone and frequently have to endure people telling me how skinny I am, which is rude.I don't condone fat shaming but bet no-one says to a larger person's face that they are so fat.My size is due to health problems.