The fat should be made to buy two seats on planes

I was involved in a rather unpleasant incident on a British Airways flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow recently. (1) The aircraft was an Airbus A319 with a single economy (coach) class cabin which was fitted with seats with a width of 17.0" (2) and the aisle seat I was allocated was located next to a grossly overweight gentleman, whose considerable girth was overflowing onto my seat, thus preventing me from putting the armrest down or fastening my seatbelt. I therefore challenged the man and here is the gist of the ensuing confrontation: Me: Excuse me, you appear to be sitting on part of my seat, would you be kind enough to move over so I can sit down? Overweight Passenger: I'm sorry, but I'm as far over as I can get. Me: Then may I suggest you move somewhere else where there are two free seats together? Overweight Passenger: Well, I don't think there are any left. If only they made the seats bigger there wouldn't be a problem. Me: Well the seats seem big enough for everybody else and the fact is, there is a problem and that problem is that I paid over two hundred and fifty quid for a seat that is being partly occupied by a great sweating pile of flab, so what are you going to do about it, pieface? Overweight Passenger: Well, if you are going to take that attitude… Me: Yes I am going to take that attitude - I think I'm entitled to under the circumstances, don't you? I mean how much money did you contribute towards the cost of my seat? That's right, not a penny. So what makes you think you are entitled to sit on part of it then, eh? At this juncture a stewardess came up and asked if she could help so I politely explained the situation and asked her to displace the overweight passenger so that I could duly take my seat. However, she said that the plane was full and suggested that I take a jump seat instead. Naturally, I refused to sit on a tip-up seat at the front of the cabin being stared at by the rest of the passengers like I was some naughty schoolboy who'd been told to stand in the corner of the classroom as a punishment - what, just so that some greedy fat bloke could sit in the seat that I'd paid over ï¿½250 for? I don't think so! By then, the plane's engines were being wound up and the aircraft was clearly ready to push back from the gate. The stewardess started to get really anxious then because all passengers must by law be seated with belts fastened while the plane is taxiing, so she went into the cockpit. She reappeared a minute or two later, and said to me that she was very sorry, but since I was last on board the captain had instructed her to offload me and explained that the ground crew would rebook me onto the next available flight, unless I was willing to take a jump seat, of course. I suggested that it might be more appropriate, all considered, for the oversized gentleman whose blubber was spilling all over my seat to get the naughty chair, but she was afraid that jump seats were not designed to accommodate people of his size. So, given that the flight was only an hour and a half long, I reluctantly strapped myself into the jump seat and resigned myself to an uncomfortable journey watching old Five Bellies lolling around on my seat, scoffing airline grub and guzzling down bottle after bottle of complimentary booze. To my mind, there is something fundamentally unjust about people of normal weight having to make sacrifices for the fat on planes. After all, 99% of people who are overweight are so because they are greedy and lazy, not because they have some medical condition. (3) When I got back, I visited British Airways' website to check what their policy on seating the fat is. This is what it says: "British Airways offers its customers the ability to book an extra seat. There are many reasons why a customer might book an extra seat, the most common are for...Personal comfort – The customer requires more space than one seat provides, due to oversize..." (4) You will note that booking an extra seat is merely an option - it's not compulsory. However, it's a whole different ball game when it comes to baggage. If your hand luggage exceeds certain dimensions and cannot fit into the cradle at check-in, you are obliged to check it into the hold - which is something many airlines now charge for. (5) Surely the same principle should be applied to fat passengers? If they are unable to fit into a cradle measuring the dimensions of a seat, they should be made to pay for two seats or otherwise be refused boarding. Thank you. (1) P1 EGGLESTON/BRIANMR ADT G 30MAR09 * GBP 251.50 ABZ BA LON 217.00J1FL GBP217.00END FARE GBP217.00 TAX 10.00GB TAX 10.00UB TAX 14.50YQ TOT GBP251.50 S1 FB-J1FL B-1PC T S1/CBA/ET BA 1309 MONDAY 30 MAR 09 -------------------------------------------------------------- BRD TIME T D/I OFF TIME T D/I FLY/GROUND EQP E ABZ 1405 D LHR 1535 5 D 1:30 319 E -------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL FLYING TIME ABZ - LHR 1:30 AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319 (2) http://www.seatguru.com... (3) http://www.nhs.uk... (4) http://www.batraveltrade.com... (5) http://www.britishairways.com...