Originally Posted by flyupfront

One of our associates, Mike, was on an Eagle flight last Friday that was completely full. Mike was assigned a window seat on the right side. When he approached his row he discovered a very large man (est. 400 lbs), in essence occupying both seats. The gentleman had his own extender seat belt and moved as close to the window as possible (because there was no way Mike would fit in the window seat.) Mike couldn't fasten his seatbelt but faked it (by placing the left portion of the belt over his left hip and putting his crushed arm over the right side of his body) so they wouldn't kick him off. It was the last flight home on Friday.

Mike "shoe horned" himself into the seat, with his left leg clearly pushed into the aisle. He couldn't get to the right hand portion of its seatbelt as it was buried under never never land. He asked the flight attendant if there were any other seats available to no avail. I think he would have sat on the wing were that an option.

Mike endured an hour and a half flight in which he was jammed into about 1/2 of a normal seat. When the cart came down the aisle he was forced to get up and impose on the people a row forward or backward to slip in (standing) while the cart passed.

While I'm sympathetic to those who are severely overweight I can't believe AA didn't do something to avoid this situation. Knowing the flight was completely full there was clearly no way two men could fit in any way that was remotely comfortable or safe.

What would you do/would you have done?