Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 25, 2014 10:51:59 GMT 12
from The Dominion Post....
Woman forced from seat by obese passenger
By MATT STEWART | 5:00AM - Saturday, 25 October 2014
SQUEEZED: The woman complained to Air New Zealand about the sitting.
A PASSENGER has complained to an airline after she was squeezed out of her seat by an obese man — and forced to spend most of a trans-Tasman flight standing in the aisle.
Caralyn Young, of Tawa, says she was crammed in next to the man on the fully booked flight from Brisbane to Wellington last Monday night.
He was tall as well as being overweight, she said. “One of his legs would have been twice the size of mine, and he was taking up one-and-a-half seats, but he was a nice guy and he apologised to us.”
She complained to Air New Zealand, which was code-sharing the flight with Virgin Australia, that her flight was ruined, her safety was compromised, and the plane should never have left the Brisbane tarmac.
She felt sorry for the man, who was clearly humiliated and was unable to fit in the window seat. He moved to the aisle, leaving Young jammed between him and her 10-year-old grandson, who was in the window seat.
The man was wearing an extension seatbelt and had the armrest up. Apart from takeoff and landing, Young spent most of the flight standing in the aisle, or cramped in the flight attendants' area.
She said passengers behind and in front of the man had resigned themselves to being stuck in their seats for the duration of the three hour 20 minute flight.
As obesity becomes more of a global problem, the issue of dealing with overweight travellers has become a thorny one for the airline industry.
A 2012 survey conducted by flight comparison site Skyscanner found overweight people invading others' space was second only to bad personal hygiene as the biggest bugbear for passengers.
Luke O'Donnell, spokesman for Virgin Australia, which was operating the flight, said when a passenger appeared unable to travel comfortably in one seat, all efforts were made to seat them next to an empty seat.
Young was not comfortable and “every effort was made during the flight to reaccommodate [her] needs and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused”, he said.
It was not a breach of airline rules for the man to be wearing an extension seatbelt or to have the armrest up, and the man never presented a safety risk to the aircraft.
Virgin Australia's “comfort seat” policy meant a passenger could book an extra seat if they wanted.
Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin said it appeared that, in Young's case, Virgin Australia had failed to provide the service she had paid for — a single seat.
“If you're sitting next to someone who is really big, then the service that's being provided is not fit for purpose because you can't fit in your seat.”
WEIGHTY FARE
In April 2013, Samoa Air became the world's first airline to introduce a size tax by charging passengers by their total weight and that of their belongings. Chief executive Chris Langton defended the policy at the time and said it was the fairest way of travelling. “Unfortunately aircraft run on weight — not seats.”
But Carolyn Costley, associate professor in marketing at Waikato University, said the practice could lead to price discrimination against the overweight: “It becomes a punishment on people who may not have control over their size.”
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/62682792/Woman-forced-from-seat-by-obese-passenger
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