Study Reveals Challenges Obese Flyers Face
Luciana Mangas May 31, 2016
A study led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers reveals that obese people have more than just an uncomfortable flight experience, News Medical reports.
The research, called “An Exploratory Study About Obese People’s Flight Experience,” was published in the Journal of Travel Research, and it highlights the typical challenges these passengers encounter while boarding, in-flight and getting off the plane.
“Most participants agreed that the way people stare at them during boarding and deplaning is humiliating, and at times even shameful,” explains Professor Yaniv Poria, chairman of the Department of Hotel and Tourism Management at BGU’s Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management. The survey included 11 men and 13 women, ages 22 to 64, who had been on short and long flights.
Participants said that trying to get to their seats by squeezing through aisles is particularly uncomfortable because they can’t avoid touching other passengers. Dr. Poria and Jeremy Beal, a graduate of Virginia Tech’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Program, suggest that a possible solution would be to allow obese passengers to board first and deplane last so as to not cause any discomfort to any parties involved. Additionally, a redesign of restrooms and tray tables would help tremendously in the welfare of these passengers.
“We assumed that the greatest difficulties obese people faced on planes were caused by tight, confined spaces,” Dr. Poria says. “We were surprised to find that the way other people reacted to them was so ‘unpleasant’ and ’embarrassing,’ causing them to feel universally ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘uneasy.'”
She also comments that the crew can solve this awkward situation by respectfully and discreetly moving a passenger sitting next to an obese person to another seat. Some of the participants indicated that African American female crew members are usually less judgmental and more helpful.
“Obese people think that others regard them as individuals who intentionally decided to be disabled,” Dr. Poria explains. “Moreover, obese people feel that they are perceived as thieves, since their ‘chosen’ disability increases costs for other people. Obesity is a social disability as it prevents obese people from feeling safe in public.”
[Photo: Charles O’Rear/CORBIS]
I am in the full belief that if you need a single(one)(1) seat belt extender that you need to purchase two seats mandatory. I am sick of the I suffer from a medical condition bull crap of why they are obese. And then I see them turn around and pound nothing but sugar and fat down thier gullet. I am by no means a small guy. 6'1" 270. But I can fit into my seat without my leg fat or belly fat flowing into the seat next to me. I know of a few people who are obese and they only but first or business class tickets because they don't want to be uncomfortable themselves let alone make the people next to them uncomfortable. The worse I ever had was last on a plane as the first standby passenger and got to my seat with the flight attendant looking at me and I said how the fuck am I supposed to fit between those two people. I said it loud! I was pissed! Married couple sitting window and isle with I kid you not no view of the middle seat! Obese people don't want to be viewed differently. But they need to understand they they are not able to be viewed the same as a non obese person. Just like a person missing his legs doesn't expect to be viewed the same as someone with legs.
Is it possible that "the way people stare at them during boarding" is down to a fear that the starers in question will end up with a sizeable chunk of the obese person occupying their own seat-space for the next half-day, whilst simultaneously blocking their means of escape? Although I have some sympathy with the difficulties the morbidly obese suffer - I'm no racing-snake myself, albeit nowhere near that class - it's other passengers who're impacted the most. I've spent most of the following week suffering excruciating lower-back spasms caused by my back being bent out of shape by a man-mountain in the next seat, on a fully-loaded 747 on a ten-hour trans-Atlantic.
I weigh in at 313# and 6'1. I have never had an issue with the seat belt, putting down the seat arms, or having anyone complain about my size. I will also admit that I buy the extra legroom seats on flights.
Agreed, it was a small sample. Paradoxically, a small sample of a large sample.
I bet if they did the same study of those seated next to these passengers there'd be similar results: they'd be made to feel uncomfortable and uneasy through no fault of their own. Except it really isn't their fault they have to sit next to someone too big for their seat.