[anal_reactor]

Moral argument: it's a sexist strategy. Yet another situation where men pay more and get worse service.

Economic argument: fat people are more likely to make use of on-board food service despite high markup, so you want as many of them as possible.

[spauldo]

Speaking as a fat person, air travel is horrible and I'll happily drive a couple thousand miles to avoid flying.

On a flight to Greenland I spent six hours smashed up between the window and a stranger (constant, sweaty, skin-on-skin contact) because they put three fat guys right next to each other on a full flight. I'd rather have taken a couple months of vacation and ridden the icebreaker in.

[account42]

> they put three fat guys right next to each other

Much better than subjecting someone who has made better life choices to the consequences of yours.

[spauldo]

Is it, though?

I don't particularly want to make life choices based on what's most economically efficient for airlines, but you do you I guess. And while my being fat is definitely a result of my life choices, that's certainly not the case for all of us.

Regardless of what size you believe everyone should be, the airlines have to deal with the size that people actually are. They have made the choice to size their seats in a way that causes this problem. They could have just plastered "no fatties" at the ticket counter, or maybe had a section of seats reserved for fat people at a somewhat higher price point and required people over a certain size to use them, but instead they've chosen to sit us all together. And they do so with the knowledge that judgemental assholes will just blame the fatties instead of them.

But keep playing their game, you appear to be good at it.

[account42]

The airlines are dealing with the size people are by, in your example, preventing those oversized for their chosen seat from negatively impacting others.

> And while my being fat is definitely a result of my life choices, that's certainly not the case for all of us.

It literally is. No matter the genetic predisposition, you need a caloric surplus to get fat.

> They could have just plastered "no fatties" at the ticket counter, or maybe had a section of seats reserved for fat people at a somewhat higher price point and required people over a certain size to use them, but instead they've chosen to sit us all together.

They do provide bigger seats at a higher price point though. You have chosen not to make use of them and then blame the airline. If you are big enough that sitting next to someone your own size causes you discomfort then you would be encroaching the space of someone smaller sitting next to you. That wouldn't be fair to them.

[4gotunameagain]

I mean, it is kind of optimal. Fat guys will experience constant, sweaty, skin-on-skin contact in a flight anyway, so placing them together reduces the total constant, sweaty, skin-on-skin contact experienced.

[spauldo]

A fat guy next to a skinny person doesn't experience skin-on-skin contact. Which is why I do everything I can to get an aisle seat and hope the middle seat is empty or has a skinny person in it.

[4gotunameagain]

I'm a regular guy and I have experienced skin on skin contact when someone overweight is next to me on a plane. Why should I have to endure that ?

[spauldo]

Ask the airline, they're the ones that choose narrower seats than the manufacturer's recommendations. I assume this was a budget flight or one of the airlines like American Eagle that service smaller airports?

[4gotunameagain]

Having wider seats than necessary would mean less passengers per flight, ergo unnecessary ticket price increase.

[anal_reactor]

Fly business class next time.

[spauldo]

No business class on the Pituffik rotator. The only other option is flying through Copenhagen (good luck getting the company to pay for that) or sitting in a jump seat on a C130 with your shins against the cargo.

[joshstrange]

> Yet another situation where men pay more and get worse service.

Is this some kind of satire? In many cases (for a whole slew of things), I feel like men pay less and get better service.

[account42]

What are those cases? Vanity products where perfectly comparable cheaper options are available?