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Obese Air Passenger in Economy Seat Has Picture Taken
It is unclear if the man was aware his picture was being taken or whether the flight, on US carrier American Airlines, took off with the passenger spilling out of his seat.
Airlines already offer extended seatbelts to larger passengers to comply with safety rules but a number of carriers now insist obese customers buy an extra seat.
US domestic no-frills airline Southwest has a "customer of size" policy that insists passengers who cannot lower both armrests buy a second ticket which is reimbursed if the flight is not full.
American Airlines does not have such a requirement but urges passengers to "recognize ahead of time that they may need to purchase two seats".
The image, apparently taken on a Boeing 757, was sent to writer Kieran Daly and posted on his blog at aviation news website, Flightglobal.
It is not clear if the image has been altered but Mr Daly wrote: "This is sent to me with the absolute assurance that it's a genuine picture taken by a flight attendant at American Airlines. The F/A took it to show her manager what was happening on the aircraft (757???) and why she was unhappy about it. Seems the guy paid for only one seat and the gate staff let him board."
In a statement, American Airlines said: "At this time American Airlines is unable to confirm whether or not the image referred to was taken by a member of flight crew but will investigate the situation internally to determine if any of the airline's strict policies were not correctly applied.
"American Airlines' primary concern is for the safety and comfort of its passengers and crews and consequently passengers are advised to book two seats if they are concerned that they will require them. If a flight is not full, however, passengers' needs would be accommodated without charge wherever possible."
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- 11 Comments
I can’t see how that is safe.
Imagine if he had the window seat.
He would not fit out of the emergency exit over the wing if he had to get out that way. He would also endanger the passangers trying to get past him. he should have gotten two seats and sat closer to a regular door exit.
That guy has other issues the airline doesn’t address. He is a head taller than the guy next to him. Should he be charged for that too. My brother and I flew from US to Germany, we are both six foot tall and almost impossible for us to fit in the economy seats. Our knees where jamed against the seat. There needs to be a limit on how small airlines can make the travel space.
I don’t have sympathy to the overweight person—that is their situation to deal with. But as a small person who has sat next to oversize people, what about my rights? Do I get charged half a seat because they are crowding me out of mine?
it truly is a sad thing that it’s gotten to the point that international airlines have had to make a policy regarding obesity. ah…America, we truly are the fattest country on earth.
WHAT A BEEFWAGON!
That guy is not even sitting in his seat, he’s sitting on the armrest. AA has immovable armrests in the aisle. There’s no way they would have let the plane take off like that - he’s blocking the aisle and wouldn’t have been able to buckle his seat belt from that position. I’m sure he was sitting that way to make a point to the flight attendant, and that’s why she took the pic.
I was on an AA flight between DFW and BWI recently and saw a guy that big sitting in a MIDDLE seat with a person sitting on each side of him. The guy in the aisle seat had literally less than half his seat available to sit in. The aisle guy was so nice though and made friends with the huge guy. They talked throughout the flight. I was so impressed with aisle guy’s ability to turn an awful and miserable situation into something positive. I wish I could say I’d be able to do the same!
I hope the beverage and snack cart are on my side of the isle….
We have to fight obesity! This is ridiculous and this man clearly should have 2 seats.
First off, let’s remember that airlines are making seats narrower and closer together these days than they did even 5 years ago. Air Canada’s seats are smaller than West Jet’s seats and I’m certain there are similar stories with carriers from America.
Perhaps what should be done instead of demonizing people with weight problems is that people should start questioning their respective health watchdog agencies about the ‘additives’ that are found in food that wasn’t there a generation ago. Perhaps the explosion of obesity problems could then be properly addressed and airlines wouldn’t have to resort to these sorts of tactics.
Wow that is sad, I bet that guy felt horribly self concious BUT I do believe the airline should have MADE him purchase another seat. Sad.