The Big Four airlines—American, Southwest, Delta, and United all have a case of shrinking seats. Their seats have shrunk by 2-5 inches in the legroom department and 2 inches in seat width in recent years.
Lower-cost airlines are even worse.
The tighter spaces worry some people because of difficulty evacuating during emergencies or bracing themselves properly. But an area that affects more people on a daily basis is being larger-than-average and needing extra space to fit in the seat.
Some estimates show that due to varying sizes, only 20% of people fit comfortably in airplane seats today. One woman took to Reddit to share her nightmare experience the last time she flew.
I am obese. Like I am comfortable having two seats in the plane type of obese. I am well aware of that and I really don't like to bother people with my weight. A week ago I was going to a conference by plane and because I was going alone (usually when I fly with my boyfriend I don't buy two since he sits next to me) I bought two seats. I fit in one but my side is usually touching the person next to me and I feel uncomfortable for them. It happened to me that they gave me nasty looks and I felt extremely uncomfortable the whole flight.
She already had one negative experience flying due to her size and unfortunately, even though she took precautions by booking an extra seat, she was about to have another one.
She sat in her seat and put the armrest of the one next to her up so she could be comfortable. A couple came over and sat next to her since they noticed two open seats in the row.
Her fears came true. Her side was touching the man and he even pushed her side a bit in an attempt to get her to move over more.
I was feeling extremely uncomfortable and asked him if he could go to his seat because I bought this one for my comfort. He told me no, since the seat is empty and he wants to be with his girlfriend. Well, I told him I understand but I feel uncomfortable and I paid for the second seat so exactly this doesn't happen. He refused again and started to chat with his GF. I called the flight attendant and quietly told her what is happening. She asked the guy to leave my second seat and he and his GF gave me a nasty look.
The girlfriend also mumbled something incredibly rude under her breath. So now the author of the post is wondering if she was in the wrong for insisting that they move.
3,400 commenters chimed in and most say she bought the seat, so no one can decide what to do with it but her. Plus, they said if the couple needed to sit next to one another, they should've paid extra to guarantee they'd get two seats together.
What do you think? What would you have done in this situation?
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