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A disgruntled flyer is suing Emirates airline and claiming his nine-hour flight was 'ruined' by an obese passenger seated next to him.
Giorgio Destro, a lawyer from Padua in northern Italy, claims the 'spillover' caused by the South African man neighbouring his 29K window seat, made for a deeply uncomfortable journey from Cape Town to Dubai.
According to an Italian newspaper, Mr Destro is 'gold member' flyer, but says Emirates wouldn't let him change seats and refused to offer an apology or any form of compensation.
People over a certain weight or size should be required to buy 2 seats. I don't care if it's embarrassing for the obese person, or that it's more expensive, because it's not fair that a normal sized person in their seat should be subjected to a very large person sitting next to them, who may be sweaty or smelly, and need to be rubbing against them or feel confined to their seat due to having to climb over a very large person in getting out.
People try to claim this is similar to crying babies - you can't control crying babies or unruly kids, you can't control this. Okay, but while babies may be loud and annoying somewhere on the plane, chances are they aren't violating your personal space/the seat you purchased by literally spilling over onto it and essentially pinning you to a corner or ensuring you're stuck next to a very large person for the duration of what may be a very long flight.
No one should be subjected to this type of discomfort and invasion of space - space that you paid for. If you're big, airline should move your seat to next to an empty one or make you buy 2. If neither option is available, wait for the next flight. Sorry but that's the way I think it should be.
If I want to book a flight for 4 people, they make me buy 4 seats. Even for my children. That's reasonable because people fit into a seat. So people should buy as many seats as it takes for them to fit in comfortably.
If the combined weight of my wife and I is the same as an obese person, why are we still buying two seats?
I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, in MOST cases, obesity can be avoided or "fixed", but not in all cases, and if he wins the lawsuit, where would it end? Would people have the right to refuse to sit next to anyone whose appearance or behaviors interferes with his "seatmate's" comfort? (For example, some kind of severe palsy or very bad body odor or s/he has a colic-y baby who won't stop crying.)
But I also must ask why the lawyer felt that someone else should suffer instead of him. Does being a Gold Member (or whatever) mean that he is entitled to preferential seating? (Serious question.)
So if someone is sitting next to a gay couple smooching and that caused them great discomfort...they might get those gay germs...I guess that person could sue too.
The space the give isn't suitable for people over 6' tall either (according to my husband). Should they be charged more for their height? Maybe we should just pay based on size, like cattle. Awesome. Lets do that!
You should be able to refuse to sit next to someone who touches you the whole flight.
I am average size to thin, depending on how much I am working out. I used to be heavy (and I wasnt the devil). And often my shoulders still touch the person I am sitting next to, even now. I have wide shoulders.
So a person who is size 6 should pay more because they have line backer shoulders that touch people next to them?
Team lawyer, because I was stuck in the middle seat between two sweating, obese men on a flight to Europe once. It was utter hell. I paid just as much as they did and I was entitled to all of my seat instead of being squished between them the entire flight. I was unable to move because all seats were taken. If someone is overweight enough to encroach on someone else's seat, they need to purchase two. And if they don't want to, the airline needs to make them, or no flight.
Team lawyer, because I was stuck in the middle seat between two sweating, obese men on a flight to Europe once. It was utter hell. I paid just as much as they did and I was entitled to all of my seat instead of being squished between them the entire flight. I was unable to move because all seats were taken. If someone is overweight enough to encroach on someone else's seat, they need to purchase two. And if they don't want to, the airline needs to make them, or no flight.
Did you know that sitting in the middle seat, as a thin person, next to typical sized people is the exact same. It freking sucks!
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