Obese passengers ?

[Terry4]

A tourist who visited Thailand is suing British Airways after claiming he suffered injuries and loss of earnings after being forced to sit next to an obese passenger on a 12 hour flight.

 

ThaiVisa reports that 51 year old Stephen Prosser from Wales told Pontypridd County Court yesterday that cabin crew onboard the Bangkok to London flight ignored his claims that he would be injured if he was forced to sit next to the obese passenger.

 

Mr Prosser, an engineer, told the court the passenger was “extremely large” about 6 foot 4, more than 300 pounds and likened the man to the late New Zealand rugby star Jonah Lomu.

 

“He was that large that he had to force his buttocks between the armrests of the seats,” Mr Prosser explained.

 

During the January 2016 flight, Mr Prosser said he had to sit “with his knees wedged against the seat in front and the rest of his body was over spilling into my seat by some inches.”

 

“I was immediately aware that this was going to be problematic for me and I could feel the weight of his pure bulk putting lateral pressure on my upper body. This forced me into a position of unnatural posture,” the UK’s Press Association reported him as saying.

 

Mr Prosser, who is 5 foot 3, says he suffered nerve damage and a pelvic injury which has resulted in a permanent spasm in his back.

[Terry4]

Personally I try my best not to judge people however nowadays I mostly fly Business Class anyway which ( usually) separates you from the passenger sitting next to you.

 

But I have a work friend who once travelled with me back in 2016 from Bangkok to Phomn Penh.

He was too much of a tight ass to buy 2 seats and seats on these aeroplanes were very small, I think it was Nok Air.

 

Anyway he used to tell the booking clerk on checking in that he received many complaints about his size etc ( he knew they would block the seat !) and everytime I flew with him it seems they blocked the seat next to him giving him 2 seats sometimes even the whole 3 seats in a row to himself !!

 

He is enormous and easily takes 2 seats.,but he is a great fun guy just he loves his food Lol

 

Also he was laughing about how they had to get him a special chair on jomtien beach when he went with his girlfriend, but deep down I know it’s embarrassing for him especially when we sent together as a group to those Isaan buffetts and they have the red or blue plastic chairs that he cannot sit on because they break !!! Lol

 

When I go up to Soi Bukkhao and visut many of the British style bars I wonder how many of these farangs have trouble fitting in economy class because of their size,theres some big guys out there !

[paborn]

A few days ago you commented about how poor you are. I see it does not extend to business class airfares.

[ChristianPFC]

I once saw a passenger whose body fat was hanging over into the aisle of the airplane.

 

It's the airline's duty to make sure every passenger has his space, i.e. the fat does not hang over the armrest. They should have denied the fatty boarding. Even without the injury part, I find it unacceptable that someone from neighboring seat can invade my space.

[paborn]

I once saw a passenger whose body fat was hanging over into the aisle of the airplane.

 

It's the airline's duty to make sure every passenger has his space, i.e. the fat does not hang over the armrest. They should have denied the fatty boarding. Even without the injury part, I find it unacceptable that someone from neighboring seat can invade my space.

I agree with you. But, often the airline has a mess. Deny boarding, as they should, and there might arise a fight with the PC groups that call it "fat shaming" -it's hard to win.

[Guest]

I'm in agreement too.   If a passenger cannot fit within his seat, it's simply unacceptable for him to steal part of another seat that someone has bought and paid for.

[spoon]

If the airline isnt full, a reasonable airline crew can and should assigned the seat for the obese where it wont inconvenient other passengers. simply denying the person to aboard the plane is not something they will do, u can imagine the PR nightmare. And if they do it, people can also ask for crying babies to be denied boarding the flight too. In fact, if i recall correctly, there is one airline tried to do that before for their first class and/or business class and received quite a backlash.

 

There are just things people have to deal with when takig public transport. U are sharing the space and all of the passengers are also paying customers. To be honest, i would be totally annoyed too if a very obese person sits next to me, but if it happens and the flight is full, what else can i do and what else can the airline do? The article didnt mentioned whether the flight is full or not and just mentioned that the crew ignore his concerns.

[Guest]

There should be consumer protection laws that ensure a passenger will have the full use of the seat he has purchased.

 

It follows that on full planes, people who cannot fit within their seat should be denied boarding if they have not booked a seat that is large enough to accommodate them.   

This could be done by selling them 1.5 seats in a specific zone or having wide seats at a suitable price.

 

This is purely required to protect other passengers.

[paborn]

If they have to use a seatbelt extender that should be proof positive that the passenger has to purchase two seats. Can you imagine being in a window seat and having to climb over - just for the bathroom let alone in an emergency.

[Terry4]

I guess its a delicate subject for Airlines, but in this particular case the passenger who is suing described the other passenger as looking like a NZ Rugby league player so its possible just to be “ big” without being obese .

 

I guess for the comfort of other passengers if you are a big person you should consider at least buying 2 seats or alternatively flying Business Class although Thai Airways had some News a few months ago of refusing obese passengers in there Business Class flights.

 

Lets face reality and there are far more “ big” people around nowadays than ever whether they are obese or just heavy built ,even Ambulance Services are now creating emergency vehicles for “ bigger” patients.

 

Airline seats have got smaller , in reality shouldnt they just get bigger seats and maybe just charge a little bit more?

Shouldnt they have say a row of XL seats?

[Terry4]

I once saw a passenger whose body fat was hanging over into the aisle of the airplane.

 

It's the airline's duty to make sure every passenger has his space, i.e. the fat does not hang over the armrest. They should have denied the fatty boarding. Even without the injury part, I find it unacceptable that someone from neighboring seat can invade my space.

Certainly doesnt sound very empathetic Christian LOL

[a447a]

"I find it unacceptable that someone from neighboring seat can invade my space."

 

"....it's simply unacceptable for him to steal part of another seat that someone has bought and paid for."

 

"There should be consumer protection laws that ensure a passenger will have the full use of the seat he has purchased."

 

That's the crux of the matter.

 

It's not "fat-shaming." I don't care how large someone is, but if he is taking up part of the space I have paid for, I would consider seeking redress from the airline in the form of a partial refund.

 

I've experienced this situation on a short-haul flight. I only fly business class on long -haul, especially on overnight flights when I like to sleep. I'm small enough to easily fit in an economy class seat. Business class does not offer me value for money if the flight is only a few hours.

 

On this particular flight I had a window seat and the guy in the middle seat was morbidly obese. He invaded my space and that of the girl sitting in the aisle seat. To make matters worse, he obviously hadn't showered for a month. I was squeezed up against the window and his feet took up most of my space. I found myself in a very uncomfortable position akin to a contortionist.

 

The flight attendant had trouble passing me the meal tray and ended up passing it over his head. He had to eat his meal on his lap, or rather, on his stomach, as he couldn't open the seat tray. It was physically impossible for me to eat my meal - the one I had paid for!

 

The flight attendant saw the situation and was rather embarrassed. I asked if I could move to another seat but was told the flight was full. I then asked if I could buy a business class seat but they were also full.

 

She apologised to me as I left the plane. I told her it was ok, as it obviously wasn't her fault.

 

I paid around $600 for the seat but only got to use less than a third of the space. So in theory, the airline should have refunded me $400 and recouped that amount from him.

 

I never followed it up but these days I always consider business class on short -haul, although I usually take my chances in economy.

 

But why should a passenger have to pay extra to get away from someone who can not fit into their seat?

 

It would be difficult for an airline to ban large people outright. Imagine the reaction from the PC crowd! But they could always introduce a rule which states that if, when the passenger arrives at the check -in counter, it is agreed that he is too big to fit into his seat, he must pay for a business class seat or buy the adjacent seat. If these seats are unavailable, then he cannot fly. He should not be allowed to use part of another passenger's seat.

[paborn]

This is fundamentally only fair.

[a447a]

https://www.smartertravel.com/airline-obesity-policies/

[Jasper]

 

 

Dad who sued for being sat next to fat passenger loses court battle

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/29/dad-who-sued-for-being-sat-next-to-fat-passenger-loses-court-battle-8190282/?ito=cbshare

[vinapu]

Dad who sued for being sat next to fat passenger loses court battle

 

 

 

I noted  this reasoning by the judge:

 

 

"""He said: ‘Having heard his evidence, I have formed the impression that Mr Prosser had expectations of his flight experience that were unrealistic given the class of cabin that he chose.""""

 

 

Cleraly judge  thinks if you fly economy be prepared to all kind of indignities and be happy you arrived in one piece at all.  

[a447a]

And clearly, the judge doesn't fly economy!

[Guest]

And clearly, the judge doesn't fly economy!

Well, given what they get paid, I expect it's first or business class.

 

Incidentally, I was just looking at the EVA 777 seat map.   Right in the back row, the number of seats is reduced due to the plane taper, so there is just a pair outside of the aisles.   They could quite easily space these out slightly and assign them to obese passengers on full flights.  

The weight distribution would not be quite optimum, but on a plane of that size, I expect it should not be too much of an issue.

[Jasper]

On Thai Airways Airbus A380 or Boeing777-300 the last 2 rows seat of A-C side(A380) A-B (777-300) are always reserved. I thought these are for sick passengers but it well could be for fat ones too.

[ChristianPFC]

For hand luggage, there are meters where your hand luggage has to fit in. And sometimes they have scales/balances as well for weighing.

 

Something similar is need for passengers. A narrow door where the passenger has to fit through. (Akin to, but not as narrow as, the "slim-up room" in 39 underground sauna, where even I have trouble to squeeze through the bars.)

 

Or like bridges or underpasses have a bar at a certain height, so cars higher than that will hit the bar first which causes only little damage compared to hitting the bridge/underpass.

 

(I admit I had a few giggles while writing this post. But what else can be done?)

[spoon]

There is a slim up room in a sauna? Wow.

[Terry4]

We also need to be wary on this thread that everybody comes in different shapes & sizes and we shoildnt get to the " belittling" stage because someone is bigger than most.

 

Im sure there are larger readers on here and its not fair to belittle people and cross the line .

 

I have witnessed first hand a feminine type openly gay farang on a baht bus openly make fun of a obese man who was standing at the back of the baht bus with his girlfriend.

 

The farang soon shut up when the large guy of Pacific Islander apoearance asked him whst his problem was.

Ironically the boyz the farang were with also pretended to look away and not hear him.

 

Maybe he thoight the boyz would protect him

[vinapu]

fully agree that belittling people because of body shape or size is shameful but still accommodating them in public transport shouldn't come at expense of other paying passengers because politeness or political correctness.

 

That's up to transport provider not person who paid for and was assigned full, not half seat.

 

Readers of my October trip report may recall that I visited internet cafe  in soi Post Office in Pattaya  to find owner outside and warning me to enter at my own risk because guy inside smelled whole room up. It was not as bad as I expected but at least I had a choice, what choice one has if locked already in silver tube 10 Km above squeezed beside oversized person ? 

[Terry4]

All i can say is im glad im not fat or obese , i wonder what it would be like to be over 100kg ?

 

I use to know this 80yo dishwasher from

Melbourne, he was enormous

 

Mind you i loved Neal the big owner of the go go bar in boyztown , forget the name now .

 

He always wondered why he was so big, then was scoffing down chocolates,ice creams at the beach

[forky123]

While you’re at it babies who cry should be thrown off the plane, children who kick the back of seats too, people who talk too loud on long haul, people who stand in the aisle talking to a ‘friend’ with their bum 2 inches from your face, anyone who smells. There are many annoyances on a plane, get over them or upgrade.