He has a good point, he didn’t get the space he paid for.
I once was seated next to an obese man who took half my seat. I’m tiny but it was still incredibly uncomfortable. I was furious the whole flight.
Some airlines have policies like this to avoid this kind of situation:
https://www.southwest.com/html/generated/help/faqs/extra_seat_policy_faq.html
This is a familiar problem. Paying for more room and then having someone encroaching in your seat increases the angst. Because it is awkward to address, it is best handled in advance of seating. I have also sat next to average size people who had no sense of where their body was and were irate when politely asked to prevent their elbow from repeatedly jabbing my torso. No easy way to stop that on a full flight (guy was rude to flight attendant over nothing also). There is such a thing as air rage.
Many people are bigger and some folks are just more oblivious. Horrible combination with increasingly tight quarters. Like Southwest’s policy if it is implemented consistently.
my uncle was one time on a flight stuck between an obese man and a guy with no arm…he was forced into the nub of the missing arm the entire flight as the large man was taking up part of his seat. he felt the guy was humiliated enough so said nothing. he said it was awkward and very uncomfortable but looking back on it years later it is like an episode of seinfeld.
For me, it really depends on the person’s attitude. If the person is apologetic and offers to buy you a drink, it is one thing. If the person is like “suck it up buttercup,” it is a totally different matter. That, and the duration of the flight, of course. 
Note that the Southwest policy uses “may” instead of “shall.” I wonder how many “customers of size” actually buy that second seat.
On Southwest I look for a very large person in an aisle seat when boarding, then I grab the window seat next to them. That usually results in an empty middle seat unless the flight is completely full. On my flight a couple weeks ago we had the only empty middle seat in the entire plane.
I used to look for slim people but would always end up with somebody in the middle between us. Then a friend slapped me upside the head and stated the obvious: “everybody wants to sit between the two skinny people!”
this is easily the best CC thread title i have ever seen.
I agree that this is super annoying, but what was the airline to do in this case? The flight was full.
Since the flight was overbooked (i.e. not enough seats to accommodate all passengers), they need to deny boarding to at least one passenger. Most airlines will seek volunteers to give up their seats (for additional compensation) before involuntarily denying boarding to someone (with required additional compensation).
If there are no passengers who voluntarily give up their seats for compensation, the obvious choice to deny boarding to is the customer of size who did not purchase sufficient seats to accommodate himself (i.e. fitting into the seat with the armrest down).
^^^But seriously, how could they possibly go about this? Look each passenger up and down as they board and then deny the obese one? That seems like grounds for another lawsuit on behalf of the large person.
Usually, when a flight is overbooked, boarding denials are sight unseen. I’m sure they’ve got some criteria (last purchased, cheapest fare, etc.) but appearance isn’t one of them.
It seems to me that the only fair way to do this is to make it clear at the point of purchase that passengers who don’t fit the seats will have to buy two seats or be denied boarding. Waiting until boarding and oh, hey, you’re too fat to fly doesn’t seem kind or ethical.
“If there are no passengers who voluntarily give up their seats for compensation, the obvious choice to deny boarding to is the customer of size who did not purchase sufficient seats to accommodate himself (i.e. fitting into the seat with the armrest down).”
This will open a whole new can of worms, IMO. The EU Court ruled that obesity should be treated as disability in certain situations with implications to employers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30529791
The obese person who was denied boarding because of her condition can argue that common carriers and places of public accommodation should be held to the same standards and should not discriminate on the basis of morbidly excessive weight.
They could use a standard that is less subjective, like being able to sit in the seat with the armrests down. And make that policy explicit on their web site and contract of carriage.
Seated with the arrests down seems fair…there may still be “spillage” but it is a genuine measure.
Part of the problem is that they keep making the seats smaller. Even “normal” size people are squished in some of the seats.
Or maybe it is that the passengers have been getting bigger, along with the perception of what “normal” size is.
The Boeing 737 airframe has been used for decades, with 3-3 economy class seating. It is not like there is much leeway to make the seats and aisle any different width than they have always been.
https://www.seatguru.com/charts/generalcharts.php indicates that airplane economy class seats are generally 17" or 18" wide.
Actually, the seats ARE smaller. You can google and find proof of that fact. Not to say that people aren’t getting bigger. Both are true.
One of many: http://qz.com/177043/airline-seats-are-now-1-5-inches-narrower-than-they-used-to-be/
That article compares different aircraft. Each airframe has different contraints on seat width. Generally it is the very wide bodies that allow for an extra seat in each row, in exchange for a 1.5-2" reduction in seat width. For example, most airlines’ 777 have either 9-across economy seating with ~18.5" width, or 10-across economy seating with ~17" width.
But smaller airframes like the 737 and A320 generally stick with the standard number of seats, resulting in almost all airlines offering 6-across economy seating with ~17" width in the 737 and ~18" width in the A320.
If seat width is of concern, you can look up each airline’s aircraft on https://www.seatguru.com/charts/generalcharts.php .
My DD (18 years) was seated next to an obese gentleman on a flight we took together last year. She is 6’ tall and was crowded into only half of her seat, a few rows behind my own seat. She didn’t say a word when she was getting settled in during boarding but when I looked around and noticed what was going on I found a flight attendant and quietly told her what was going on and that it was unacceptable for my daughter to not have access to her whole seat and the “air space” over the cushions/armrest.
It ended up that the gentleman was flying with others in a group and the flight attendant had my D swap seats with one of them who presumably was willing to cede half of the seat. It was super awkward because the man and several others in his group had some sort of intellectual disability so my D was worried about hurting his feelings by looking like she didn’t want to sit next to him.
Of course the whole scenario could have been avoided if Delta had just assigned my family (and the other group) seats together when we purchased the tickets, but they would be foregoing the additional revenue during the ticketing process. Why * give * a group seats together when you can make them pay extra for them?! That’s a rant for another thread.
There was a time not that long ago that DH who is 6’3" could fit in a seat fine. Now when we fly even my 5’8" kid has trouble. Anyone with broad shoulders is uncomfortable let along having their legs hitting the seat in front of them. You don’t have to be fat to be squished.