Debate over why man charged obese plane passenger $180
A debate has sparked online after a passenger charged an obese man $180 for sitting in the seat beside him on a five-hour flight.
On Tuesday, Reddit user BigBawluh posted his experience on the “long-haul” flight in the US, explaining he had specifically selected an aisle seat in a row of two.
He said “a very obese man” boarded and was assigned to the window seat next to him, but as he sat down the passenger found he “seeped into about a third of my seat”.
“I sit down and am pressed up against him, making me uncomfortable. After a minute, I decided to be upfront and tell him: ‘Sir, I’m sorry but this situation is not working for me,'” the Redditor wrote.
“He wasn’t rude, but sort of gave me a shrug as if there’s not nothing he can do — although he did sort of tighten his arms in to try and be narrower. It just wasn’t enough, though.”
The passenger said he stopped an airline attendant to ask if the man could be moved to two seats, but she said the flight was too full.
“The guy seemed embarrassed and didn’t want to get up. He mentioned how he can’t wait for a later flight,” the Reddit user said.
“I felt bad for him but I was also thinking about my own comfort on the long flight — the comfort I paid for.”
To relieve the situation, the passenger said he asked the man to pay him $180 – half the cost of the flight – as “compensation” and he agreed.
“From my perspective, I gave the guy a valid option to stay on the flight and I was compensated for literally having only 75 per cent of my seat max (let alone the feeling of a person’s body pressed against you involuntarily). A win-win,” the post read.
“He wasn’t angry at all, if anything he seemed quite relieved we could work it out privately.”
The post caused a debate online, with many saying the man was out of line for asking for compensation.
“The $150 didn’t make you any less squished in your seat, so it really feels like you just blackmailed this guy for being fat,” one person wrote.
But others sympathised with the situation, saying it was an outcome where both parties were happy.
“He lost something (part of an airplane seat) and was compensated for it. It’s no different than if they’d gotten a discount up front because they weren’t getting a full seat,” a Redditor said.
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