A Rather Large Man

August 26, 2009

in Portly Stories

Flight was from Washington Reagan to DFW. I took my seat by the window and as it got closer to take off, I still did not have anyone sitting in seat next to me. I am thinking “sweet….I’ll have room.”

They were about to close the door and one more person got on. It was a rather large man. He stopped at my row, looked at me and stated “that arm rest is going to have to come up or I won’t fit.” I just stared at him as he moved the arm rest up and flopped into the seat. I was in shock as he took up his whole seat and overflowed into part of mine. I was practically pinned up again the side of the plane.

As soon as the safety speech was done, he signaled to the FA and asked for the demo belt. This is when I learned that the seat belt they use to demonstrate how to buckle up also doubles as a seat belt extender.

Through out the whole flight he kept adjusting himself and kept shoving me into the side of the plane. At the end of the flight, he smiled and left.

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

saw August 26, 2009 at 6:16 pm

If someone said to me "that armrest is going to have to come up or I won't fit", my answer would be… "I guess you won't fit…" And this is coming from a guy who's not Mr. Tiny himself…

Hint… Exit row seats are now safe from "squish"… Most airlines now do NOT allow seat belt extenders in exit rows.

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DSD August 27, 2009 at 4:34 am

I'm with SAW, I would have sweetly said "that sounds like a personal problem" as I firmly planted my arm on the armrest.

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Jodi August 27, 2009 at 4:47 am

I am not a skinny girl (although I do not take up more than one seat), I have lots of friends and family members who are in the severely obese category and while I sympathize with their plight – since I fight weight gain myself daily – I do not understand someone who is so large as to need the armrest up to "fit" NOT buying a second plane ticket. If they know they are going to take up more than one seat, they need to buy more than one seat.

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Jody August 27, 2009 at 6:42 am

I'm with the others — armrest goes down (especially since I don't know you) and if you can't fit that's your problem. I'm no skinny-hipped woman but I don't want to spill into somebody else's seat.

Something similar happened on Southwest. As a fellow got into the center seat, he put the armrest up and said "I need this up." After he was seated I just put the armrest back down and went back to my book. He muttered something like "I guess you don't" and kept quiet the rest of the flight. If he'd put up a fuss I'd have called the flight attendant — let them sort it out.

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Bob August 31, 2009 at 3:56 pm

Fat people suck shit! Those pigs should be required to buy another seat to plop their flab on instead of innocent bystanders.Totally disgusting.

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saw August 31, 2009 at 6:05 pm

Bob.

What's disgusting is your tone. As much as I defend those who are put out by people who are overweight, I'll equally defend those people who are overweight from nasty words and jackasses like you.

I hope you get sick someday, or injure yourself and put on 50-80 pounds. I hope everyone looks at you and calls you a fat f**k. I hope it makes you feel like shit.

Have a nice day 🙂

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MJ September 13, 2009 at 8:32 am

SAW, very well put. I appreciate being able to use my full seat without having to share the (already limited) space with another person, but it doesn't mean I hate fat people or feel the need to insult them.

Sadly, a lot of these "passenger" stories involve people insinuating that fat people shouldn't be allowed to fly at all.

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Tony March 9, 2010 at 3:14 pm

I think they should strap obese people to a pallet and load them in the cargo hold.

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