A Flying Fatty

[darul]

I just flew mytravel premier gold to orlando and I must say the seats for a fatty are a bit restricted.... in economy the armrest between the seats moves and can be put away, in premier gold the seats are solid so no chance of moving the arm rest. does anyone know which airline/class is best for fatties (Excluding first class)?

thanks

darul

[adh619]

BA have more leg room than most - depends on how fat I guess

Tony

[E. Cosgrove]

My son is a big Guy. 6'2" and 19 stones. Virgin premium economy accommodate him just fine.
Liz

[Robert5988]

I assume you are talking about seat width as opposed to legroom.

There is no simple answer to your question. Firstly there is no defined industry standard and different airlines measure in slightly different ways. The same aircraft can also have different seating configurations. Obviously scheduled airlines are generally better than charter.

As a guide to seat width on transatlantic planes:

Virgin: economy = 17.5” premium economy =20”

BA: economy(WT) = 17.5” WT plus = 18.5”

AA: economy = 17.2”

US Air: economy = 17.0”

One thing to note is that those exit row and bulkhead seats without a drop down table in front of them have slightly reduced width as the table is housed in the armrest.

[rainyday]

You might be better buying two seats in economy and lifting the armrest between them - it probably wouldn't cost a whole lot more than premium economy. Just make sure you check in on time to get the two seats together!

[CarolAnn]

To be honest, we have found the various us airlines to have significantly wider seats than Virgin/BA, but I haven't measured them! The whole experience was fab actually, but you can't direct, can you[?]

[blott]

For seat pitch, try here http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/seats_americas.htm and for seat width try here http://www.sizewise.com/articles/skies.html

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:For seat pitch, try here http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/seats_americas.htm and for seat width try here http://www.sizewise.com/articles/skies.html[/quote]

The trouble with the second link is that it is an article published by a pressure group for big people. It gives the plane but doesn't take into account the airline or seating configuration.

A Civil Aircraft Authority(CAA) study found some charter seats were only 15" wide. It has been determined that 36% of British women had hips 15" plus wide and 5% of them over 19" wide.

A big problem is of large passengers 'overflowing' into fellow passengers seat space. There have been cases in UK and USA of law suits on this matter and Virgin paid out a considerable sum in damages to a women who had been damaged by being 'crushed' by an obese woman sitting next to her.

I can get in all seats width-wise but I am tall and broad shouldered, as is my son. If we sit next to each other our shoulders 'overlap'. If sitting in an aisle seat I also find that people constantly bump into my shoulders - especially those coming on board with backpacks.

It is relatively easy to increase legroom by removing a row or two of seats - as AA have done.
Less easy to increase seat width as taking a seat out of each row results in a huge loss of capacity.

[Ray&Sarah]

We have flown virgin premium economy and they seem to accomodate the larger person fine.:)

[E. Cosgrove]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blott
For seat pitch, try here http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/seats_americas.htm and for seat width try here http://www.sizewise.com/articles/skies.html
[/quote]
Blott how do you know so much about everything?
I wish I had web addresses at the touch of my fingertips like you[msneek]
Keep up the good work:)
Liz

[rosie]

I thought the same Liz, everything there is to know about Fl, Blott has the answer :):):)

Its great here :D

[Calamity Jane]

Blott.. you could change your name to "the Oracle" and have a picture of Yoda as your avatar :D:D:D:D:D:D