New Photo Brings Flying Overweight Debate Back

I don't think the new policy for the airlines goes far enough and have a few suggestions... A. People who smell should have to pay more too..that includes disgusting perfumes and colognes as well as body order; B. People who yammer on and on nonstop without regard should be have a surcharge added when the depart the plane; C. On overnight flights, those who snore should have the same surcharge (included in this category would be crying babies - day or night); D. Unattractive people should be charged more. This could be decided on by fellow passengers during the flight - flash everyone's pic on screen and we vote for the top 5 ugliest on the flight. I really do not want to have to look at them throughout the entire flight. To decide on attractiveness a poll of be ; E. Intoxicated passengers are a real pain in the butt - charge them more; F. If you're in a middle or window and seat, you should only be allowed 1 free pass to use the restroom. After that, you will be charged every time you disturb a passenger to get by him/her. Actually, why not charge for the use of restrooms too? These are just a few quick thoughts off the top of my head, I bet a could come up with a few more and my flights on those oh-so-accommodating airlines and airline execs could put more money in there pocket. A last thought... maybe they could take a tape measure to everyone's backside before boarding the plane and base ticket price for each passenger that way...

Fat apologists now have visual proof (as if they needed it) how dangerous, unhealthy, and disgusting these fat bastards are and how they infringe their fatness upon other people's personal space. And how much gas is wasted by airlines who have to fly these porkers around?

If you spill over into another person's space, you should pay for two seats, no questions, no excuses. My sympathies lie squarely on the poor sap who is stuck being squashed by a whale on a six hour flight. In this case, the only civil rights being violated at the people sitting around him, and the poor stewardesses who can't even maneuveur their drink/food cart around this guy.

Sure he can fly, if he (1) pays for the three seats he occupies, (2) pays for the compensation of the passengers that couldn't fly because of him, (3) doesn't occupy an exit row, and (4) remains seated until everyone else has been evacuated off the plane in case of an emergency.

I would complain having to seat next to somebody of those proportions. Exceptional proportions are suppose to have exceptional seats, and i shouldn't be the one getting the cost of the lack of exceptional seats.

listen, i'm a big guy, i'm 6'6" and about 380. i fly pretty often, i don't bulge out into the aisle like homeboy in the photo, i don't need a seat belt extender on most planes (there is one commuter plane that i just barely can't buckle), i fit (quite tightly) into one seat with no spill over. i usually sick my leg into the aisle because i'm 6'6", not because i'm fat, and also because there's usually some tiny 5'1" female agorophobe in the bulkhead seats who "just likes having the extra leg room" (yes, actual conversation with a lady sitting with me in the bulkhead seat) and gets on the internet at 5am the day before to reserve the bulkhead seat. Nobody has ever offered to put me in the business class or first class cabin, even if there are plenty of empty seats. they have offered to put me in rows with two empty seats before. Here's the thing, because of hockey and lacrosse injuries in highschool and college, both my knees and my back are screwed. my opportunity for excercise is pretty limited, and i'm pretty dedicated to swimming and ice skating (low joint impact excercises), and i don't eat the amounts that most of the assholes who comment on the stories and make fat jokes would like to believe i consume, but i still weigh what i weigh. also, through no direct fault of my own, i am 6'6" tall, and i have broad shoulders and a generally wide carriage (even when i was at fighting weight in highschool and college, i still didn't fit into an airline seat comfortably, it was basically the same as it is now). i would seriously be pissed to have to pay twice the amount for a ticket because of my genetics. most of you see a fat person and automatically assume they are lazy disgusting pigs with no self control, that's not always the case, there are a ton of issues beyond peoples control that can lead to obesity. i'm not saying that there aren't a lot of lazy disgusting pigs around, but it's not like it's a 100% of the time causal link.

i'd be willing to wait for a not so packed flight if mine was full and there were no seats available and i would be inconveniencing the crew or fellow passengers, but instituting a policy to charge me twice is bullshit.

And to all the closed minded, frustrated highschool bully mentality, wastes of brain power out there that constantly belittle fat people on these comments sections, i'm glad to see that civility, tolerance, and understanding towards your fellow man is alive and well.

i look forward to your "shut up fatty" comment, that you'd never have the balls to say to my face.

BM, you've just clearly stated that you don't spill over into others seats, etc. THIS GUY clearly does. I am small and how do you think i feel ALWAYS having to be the one the HEAVIEST people sit next to because they think they can take up the space i'm not using, that's just as unfair. I'm sorry, maybe i have my own issues by not wanting other peoples rolls, skin, etc, pressed up against me for the duration of a trip, be it bus, subway, airplane, IT'S NOT FAIR. I should not be paying the same price of someone taking up the space of at least 2 people and i'm tired of these heavier people assuming I should be fine with it, i'm not, it grosses me the hell out to have anyone but my fiance, with their body pushed all up against mine.

Interesting debate, but DEFINITELY a photoshopped photo. Take a close look at the image and you'll see that his shirt "spills" over the headrest as a result of two poorly merged image layers (1. big guy 2. little seat). This is even more obvious when you look at the back of his leg. Another clue of photo-fakery is the complete indifference of every passenger on the plane to the (pardon the obvious pun) "elephant in the room".

also, to everyone who thinks it's a fake there a couple of things to consider. first, the picture actually has some blur on the top left portion of the chair he is sitting in which accounts for the seat looking shorter. his shirt is somewhat blurred over it. second, is the lighting. the lighting is consistent throughout the entire picture. third, take a look at the first chair on the left, looks to me like the same writing is right at the top of the chair, not to mention that almost every other chair fails to have the same consistent placement of the writing. and as others have pointed out, the chair looks stressed. this picture is real.

considering that roughly %25 of america is considered obese as of 2008 ( http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html ) i think the next best business could be husky travel. airlines, trains and buses that specifically cater to fat people. skinny people are welcome, but the disclaimer will be: "get squished at your own risk."

He should walk where ever he is going. No in-flight snacks either.

They should have armrest free sofa seats on planes and charge for your ticket based on a ratio of weight and volume (Marx Baby!). That said: This guy is fucking fat and should not be allowed an in flight meal.

Whether it's real or fake, there are definitely people that size around and more getting that big by the year. Will the airlines put a weight limit on passengers? I can't imagine someone like him being able to get through an emergency exit over the wing.

Forget about the second seat, put him in cargo. But honestly, maybe our insults will inspire him to lose weight.

I swear I once saw this guy on the Cross County Parkway on a moped so ridiculously small for him that it was literally wedged up his bum. THAT was hilarious. Sitting next to him on a plane, however, would absolutely not be. I kind of feel bad for him but come on, unless he is blind and has never seen an airplane seat, he ought to have bought two instead of deciding to just put himself in everyone else's way. It's contemptuous.

It's now common practice for airlines to charge extra for everything -- from selecting a seat, to checking in luggage, to supplying drinking water -- yet they didn't see fit to charge this guy for an extra seat?

Governor-Elect Chis Christie seems to be enjoying his flight back to Newark.

not a fake. the guy is sitting on the armrest closest to the aisle and you can see the chair is straining on one side from the guy's weight.

I feel bad for the overweight in this scenario but he clearly poses a safety problem.

This is a growing problem unfortunately...However, I don't buy the photo since the guy is blocking half the aisle..No one get past him and forget about the carts...This can't be real..but the point is made..Safety issue here.

sounds like rare people from this discussion ever fly.

the guy is sitting there blocking the aisle because he is waiting for the crew to finish boarding all passengers, and then they will hopefully find two adjacent seats for him somewhere. if none is available they will put him in first class. if no seats are free there either - i do not know what will happen, never encountered that situation.

Hey that's me! and fuck you bitch (who ever you are) for photoshopping me in there (and making me slightly wider) I hope i sit next to you on a flight someday... when I do I'll shit in my hand and smack you in the ear.

Fake. Unless he somehow he made the top 3 inches of the back of his seat magically disappear.

I dont think so. The top of the seat is not "missing" , the upper left corner of the seat is actually bent toward the camera, foreshortening it. The color of the light reflecting off the fabric on the top edge of the seat happens to be very close to the color of the man's shirt, so this makes it hard to see where the seat ends.

Good choice of colors for clothing on his part, i guess he was trying to blend in...

It's reclined under his weight.

Nah, it's not reclining. Look at the position of the type on the back of his seat compared to the seat next to his. It would be further down, facing down. It's fake.

Not that I'm a fatty lover.

I agree, this is photo-shopped. Though it will still give me nightmares...

No paying any amount of money for any number of seats is acceptable. Extreme obesity is a safety issue. No such persons should be allowed on a commercial passenger airplane.

Actually, I'd want that guy on my flight....over the Andes with my soccer team.

I believe it was a rugby team, not a soccer team that feasted on their own.

You win, good sir.

Yeah. This sucks. I agree that extra wide and/or obese people should pay for 2 seats. This situation just happened to me on my way back from New Orleans. On my connecting flight out of Houston (which I almost missed because my flight from NOLA was riding around the runway for over a half an hour searching for a free spot to dock) I was seated next to what I would believe were two former high school football players. They had all the armrests up and the guy next to me (possibly one of the widest men I've ever encountered) was taking up more than a quarter of my seat. We couldn't have even put the armrest down if we had tried. I sat crushed for about 10 minutes until we started to taxi. Luckily I was able to move to another seat. If I hadn't, my circulation would have been quite compromised.

To add insult to injury, Continental also lost my luggage. I did get it delivered the next evening.

Um fuck that guy, not to mention how people probably couldn't get their beverages b/c the cart couldn't pass. If he were on Sully's plane, would he have clogged the aisles and exit and prevented everyone from escaping before drowning? My guess is yes.

Since the airlines are known and ridiculed for poor and/or bare bones service, why don't they do a favor for 90% of their customers and ban fat people? That's something rude that they can do that would actually make most of their customers happy.

I've had two flights in 2009 in which peoples' fat spillover crossed the plane of my armrest; they should be forced to pay for the "air rights" above my perfectly slim hips. At least buy me a drink.

If he were on Sully's plane, would he have clogged the aisles and exit and prevented everyone from escaping before drowning? My guess is yes.

If he were on Sully's plane, he would have eaten the geese.

Hey, this is fun!

If he were on Sully's plan, no one would have survived, he would have guaranteed a very quick SINK

If he were on Sully's plane, would he have clogged the aisles and exit and prevented everyone from escaping before drowning? My guess is yes.

If he were on Sully's plane, people would have been able to swim above him to escape.

Dang.

And get this - was on a flight (still at the gate) and a reaaaaallly big guy leaned back and actually broke the seat. It was fully packed flight, and the pax would not leave the flight, so we sat at the gate for 2.5 hours while they pulled another seat off of another plane, and bolted it into the seating tracks on our MD80. Even the Captain tried to convince the pax that he should really get the next flight, especially since HE broke the chair, but I think being just post-9/11, the airlines didn't want to kick anybody off flights. At the end of the day, the final authority lies with the Capt...and in this case, if the flight departed as shown in said photo, there is a fair amount of negligence on AA's part, IMO.

weird - look at the width of the dude's seat compared to the one next to his.

I remember a couple of years ago, a weather man (name deleted)of great mass and equal obnoxiousness, boarded a full Delta Shuttle to DC. The seat next to me was empty. I prayed not for a safe landing that day but for the weather man to simply pass by selecting another row. I lived to write another day...

It looks like a 737 (by the 3-3 seating). There are several seats on that a/c that have fold-up armrests...Usually, the FAs will pop the armrest up for preganant women, but I rarely see them offer that help to pax like this dude. I try to look at the positive side - if there was a rapid decompression, the dude would probably plug the hole pretty well. Just sayin...

Or at least serve as a flotation device for the majority of the manifest.

Fat Camp? I hope he's heading back to Sea World.

"While it's hard not to feel bad for the passenger"

I beg to differ. Do you realize that he if leans over, the plane will spiral out of control??

He should be allowed to buy two seats, or not be allowed to fly at all.

While my gripe has nothing to do with this, it's somewhat related.

Crowded Subway:

Anyone with backpacks refusing to remove them from their back and hold them by their side are super obnoxious—over weight people further complicate this. Don't people realize when they turn or move they're bumping people and causing a ruckus?

Yes! This annoys the fuck out of me as well.

It makes everyone so top heavy, there is no space up there, just hold it by your feet.

'shopped. You can tell tell by the pixels.

i thought rush limbaugh flew first class.

you win

This guy isn't just fat, he's also head and shoulders above the other passengers -- the photo looks poorly photoshopped. If it is indeed an authetic photo, though, this guy probably has some sort of chromosomal or genetic problem -- this isn't just run of the mill American obesity.

how can this possibly be real? you can't move those armrests. he would have to be balanced on the top of it, which he clearly is not.

its not like the man is a blob and can swallow it up!

what are you guys talking about? Those armrests can be raised up into the backs of the seats, making the 3-seat bench.

The one on the aisle can't be raised. It's clearly been absorbed into his enormous buttocks.

The aisle rest can indeed be raised - there is a small recessed button (in a hole) about 3" from the hinge on the underside that you press in with your fingertip and it raises. I raise mine all the time to make it easier to exit. Im a frequent flier. lol

I was just about to slap myself for having come back to gothamist and spent time reading this ridiculous debate that could not benefit me in any way. If this works on the window arm rest as well, then you have just made my day. Can't wait to try it. Thanks!

look at his shoulders. his body position clearly indicates he's sitting on the armrest. he's so fat that he's essentially sitting on two armrests, his, and the poor schlub's next to him.

i don't agree that he's propped on both armrests. he's too far to the left. just an edge of him (yes a big edge) would be on the right armrest. its more like he's straddling the left armrest.

he's taller than the other guy, but his rear looks low into the seat. it just doesn't seem real to me.

it's one of those "fuck me" moments for the middle guy where you just say to yourself, "i guess i'll go to the bathroom when we land. on the bright side, i don't have to ask the flight attendant for a pillow."

He's the air marshall. Anybody tries to hijack the plane, he sits on them them and eats them.

good job for him you would need more than a box cutter to

disable that whale

Yeah it does look as though he's sitting on the arm rest. and the plane is still at the gate is seems since the luggage compartments are open and ppl are coming in.

but LOL'd at this: "and I would suggest a totally unacceptable traveling companion for the guy next to him"

Hmm, I guess there's no love for the morbidly obese amongst the marshmallow set...

So he's actually sitting on the armrest? And I wonder if the plane ran out of "extensions".

Also, I think airplanes do occasionally have weight balance issues on half-full flights, so would this tip the balance in a full flight as well?

how about duct tape and rope?

Probably tried that, but he ate it.

It looks like he is sitting on the armrest. There is now way the seat belt would fit around him, isn't it a safety issue ?

I can't believe they didn't make this guy buy two seats. This is a huge safety issue.

pun intended? hee hee

I thought the big guys were obligated to buy two seats on planes if they exceeded the seat dims?

"While it is hard not to feel bad for the passenger". your right, it wasn't his fault he got that fat. The food jumped into his mouth and his body was allergic to exercise. HE IS FAT, TELL HIM HE IS FAT. Feel bad for the person next to this fat ass

i hope he's on his way to fat camp.

shamooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

What about those two seats behind him? Improvise, people! Improvise!

I'm not sure, but it looks like they're boarding -- the bins are open. So those seats may have been sold, but just not yet occupied.

Try cramming that into a lavatory. Call out the oshiya!

"he's a major safety hazard in an evacuation, a gross inconvenience for the cabin crew"

Major Gross.

now that's a fat ass!