BryanHuang

Be prepared for a rant but key point is:

- Does SQ make oversized passengers buy an extra seat (Economy) or does any other airlines in fact? Do they intend to do so?

Long story short
- On red eye SIN - MEL in economy
- Full flight not an extra seat to be found
- SUPER HUGE guy in middle seat. Entire arms and shoulders into my chair, Violently adjusts his body every time I try to get my space.
- Digs his nose, crotch, underarms. Plays with whatever he finds there. Uses those same fingers to tap on my shoulder really hard to excuse him to go to the toilet. While I am sleeping.
- Continuously farts super stink b*mbs (sensitive word on flight). How do I know? He adjusts his left butt cheek to me of course.

I am NOT over-reacting am I?

Super helpful Leading stewardess notices me standing by the galley leaning and closing my eyes. Tries to find me an alternative seat but it truly was a full full flight.

Rant over thanks for listening.

lcpteck

Man you need a break, have a kitkat...

BryanHuang

Try having a kitkat next to that guy :P

Mwenenzi

No
No
No
Yes you are

Have you ever flown domestic flights in the USA??

shuigao

As far as I know only US carriers have some sort of "if you're too big to fit you need to buy an extra seat" policy.

BryanHuang

Yes flown domestic USA but not often. Probably not over 20 flights lifetime.

I guess I am over-reacting. Not helped that it was a 6.5-7 hr red-eye flight. And he was disgusting.

Often1

Best thing to do is to complaint before the flight closes. As there's no policy, you can't be assured that anything will be done. But, at least the more people complain, the more crew will report back on the problem. Don't expect anything. They really don't care.

shuigao

Out of curiosity, what are you expecting SQ to do? Put in a policy that passengers above a certain waist size or below a certain hygiene level be not allowed to fly?

BryanHuang

Nope not expecting them to do anything just:

- ranting (felt super unfair to pay for a seat and not get what i paid for)
- asking/wondering if there are/will be any policies in place for oversized passengers (Guess not)
- Trying to figure out if I'm a big cry baby when in fact this is bearable for others (More like trying to find out how fellow FT'ers deal with this kind of situations)

jbfield

Well, the seats are only designed with assumptions on maximum passenger dimensions - and the regulator enforces the minimum seat strength based on these...

Quite what those limits translate to in terms of the passenger's actual size is probably something the customer service department haven't ever determined....worth a bit of a push...


clearly if someone had grown to three times the size of a seat they'd not be accepted on board, even if there is no policy.

djjaguar64

There is no such thing as an over sized passenger. The term is Vertically Challenged.

elleana

I can't really see this happening for any airline. Would it be an absolute weight limit? Dimensions?? (how would they even be measured???)

Leaving aside the physical challenges, also sounds like a discimination suit waiting to happen.

To the OP - I totally sympathise with your unpleasant experience but unfortunately nothing really can be done.

On a somewhat related note, I've often wondered why people aren't given an absolute weight limit on body weight + carryon+ checked luggage...

stargold

Vertically challenged just sounds like short height. How about "horizontally unconstrained"?

I would definitely sort it out before the doors are closed, including offloading myself to the next flight, if it is clear that I will face the unpleasant prospect of having only half of my seat. Once they push back, there's not a lot they can do for you.

lingua101

Well KLM allow you to buy the second seat at discount. Here is the link

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Was he able to sit with the armrests down? That's usually one of the tests for an 'oversize' passenger.

This. The time for action is as soon as the POS takes their seat. Once on the way, little that can be done if it's a full flight.