Air Plane seats

GOT_Obsessed

Hi. I am heavier than I should be but working on it. Air plane seats have not been the most comfortable for me because I carry my weight in my thighs. I always try to sit as compact as possible so my neighbour doesn't have my fat leaking over to them. It's not fair to them. I am fat, they are not.

A morbidly obese friend of mine has never flown and said something that just did not sit right with me. Something like "Plane seats should be way bigger to fit real sized people."

I was walking on thin ice but said something like "I disagree because it keeps me in check for not putting on more weight. (I fly at least once a year.) If the seats were bigger the plane would have less of them and the flight cost would go up."

What are your thoughts on my comment and the issue as a whole?
Be honest. I can take it. Sometimes I can be insensitive with my comments.

Ke22yB

I was morbidly obese and I paid the price to fly in first class because at a 56 inch waist I just didn't fit in coach seats I lost weight and became what I consider a real size person now and fit and do whatever or wherever I want. more important than the money I save now is the freedom this represents, picture a 170 pound weight draped around your shoulders as you go thru life.
wherever you take your inspiration to change your life is great, so if its airplane seats that's fine

TitoTim

Not for obesity reasons such, just customer service. Yes. Airplane seats should be bigger. Service should be better. All the nickel & dime fees need to stop. This will never happen because people keep looking for the lowest fares.

lemurcat12

I agree with you. Airline seats are what they are because people would rather have cheaper, less comfortable flights. They also nickel and dime you for everything these days -- my personal pet peeve is that I wish they'd find a way to charge for the overhead vs. for checking or at least let people without overhead bags board first. But that's a digression!

Someone can pay for better seats, including first class for wider seats, and IMO that's fair, as is making someone who simply does not fit buy two. There are times when you are much more likely to get less full flights, and someone bothered by the seat sizes and who doesn't want to spend more could look for those.

I will say that I fly a lot and it's one of the things that has gotten a ton better since I lost weight. I was never at risk of not fitting in a seat or that uncomfortable (I'm only 5'3, which helps), but I like not having to think that people are hoping not to be seated by me. I can go back to just hoping I don't have some chatty person next to me! ;-)

Packerjohn

TitoTim wrote: »

Not for obesity reasons such, just customer service. Yes. Airplane seats should be bigger. Service should be better. All the nickel & dime fees need to stop. This will never happen because people keep looking for the lowest fares.

Yep. Interesting article on air fares now vs 50 years ago:

Excerpt:
" A ticket on TWA in 1955 from Chicago to Phoenix, for example, cost $138 round-trip. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $1,168. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, because the average salary in the United States is higher than it was in the 1950s. That round-trip ticket between Chicago and Phoenix would cost the average person today a little more than 1% of his yearly income to purchase. Comparatively, the average person in the 1950s would pay up to 5% of his yearly salary for a chance to fly."

Full article:
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3022215/what-it-was-really-like-to-fly-during-the-golden-age-of-travel

Sunnybrooke99

I don’t think seats should be bigger bc that would raise the cost for everyone, including children, but they should be more modular, based on weight. It’s not perfect, but it’s not just fat people who take more space. Big guys w broad shoulders also invade into my seat. I have mixed issues about bigger people spilling into my seat. I do feel bad for them, but I also don’t want to share my seat. I feel like it’s my space, and I paid for it.

Packerjohn

JerSchmare wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

TitoTim wrote: »

Not for obesity reasons such, just customer service. Yes. Airplane seats should be bigger. Service should be better. All the nickel & dime fees need to stop. This will never happen because people keep looking for the lowest fares.

Yep. Interesting article on air fares now vs 50 years ago:

Excerpt:
" A ticket on TWA in 1955 from Chicago to Phoenix, for example, cost $138 round-trip. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $1,168. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, because the average salary in the United States is higher than it was in the 1950s. That round-trip ticket between Chicago and Phoenix would cost the average person today a little more than 1% of his yearly income to purchase. Comparatively, the average person in the 1950s would pay up to 5% of his yearly salary for a chance to fly."

Full article:
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3022215/what-it-was-really-like-to-fly-during-the-golden-age-of-travel

Wow. That’s interesting.

My gut reaction is that that seems true. Prices have not really increased in my lifetime. They just keep finding ways to keep costs low.

Yep, you can get pretty good quality seats/service if you're willing to pay 5X the regular coach price on a flight.

VintageFeline

When I fly now, I try to fly what is now premium economy. You can pick them up for not an outrageous amount more and it's worth it to know my personal space isn't going to be invaded. I am socially anxious at the best of times, nevermind when someone using half my seat along with their own. When I was my biggest, actually no, when I was some way below my biggest I still felt very aware that I did fill the whole seat and would literally cram myself as far up against the window side as was humanly possible. It's nobody elses fault but my own that I was close to spilling over and out of a seat.

And if I could afford to fly first/business/upper you can be damn sure I'd do that too.

Packerjohn

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

Hi. I am heavier than I should be but working on it. Air plane seats have not been the most comfortable for me because I carry my weight in my thighs. I always try to sit as compact as possible so my neighbour doesn't have my fat leaking over to them. It's not fair to them. I am fat, they are not.

A morbidly obese friend of mine has never flown and said something that just did not sit right with me. Something like "Plane seats should be way bigger to fit real sized people."

I was walking on thin ice but said something like "I disagree because it keeps me in check for not putting on more weight. (I fly at least once a year.) If the seats were bigger the plane would have less of them and the flight cost would go up."

What are your thoughts on my comment and the issue as a whole?
Be honest. I can take it. Sometimes I can be insensitive with my comments.

IMO, she probably needs to work on her own issues rather than playing a victim.

malibu927

Ke22yB wrote: »

I was morbidly obese and I paid the price to fly in first class because at a 56 inch waist I just didn't fit in coach seats I lost weight and became what I consider a real size person now and fit and do whatever or wherever I want. more important than the money I save now is the freedom this represents, picture a 170 pound weight draped around your shoulders as you go thru life.
wherever you take your inspiration to change your life is great, so if its airplane seats that's fine

When my mom was still able to fly this is what she did. It made for an excellent flight from Ohio to Las Vegas when we went together.

GOT_Obsessed

So in your people's opinion was my comment rude?

lemurcat12

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

So in your people's opinion was my comment rude?

Not at all.

cwolfman13

Morbidly obese isn't "real sized" people.

malibu927

GOT_Obsessed wrote: »

So in your people's opinion was my comment rude?

No

GOT_Obsessed

Ok good. I don't want to make anyone feel bad but sometimes it's just hard to hold it in.

jdlobb

I fly from Dallas to New York regularly, and usually pay between $150 and $300 round trip. That is dirt cheap.

When somebody complains about how “expensive” it is to fly I generally just assume they don’t fly very often, either have no frame of reference for what flying normal costs, and/or buy their tickets at the worst possible times. (Most people who don’t fly regularly buy their tickets either too early, or too late. Never buy a plane ticket 6 months in advance, you’ll get screwed hard)