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Dude Charges Fat Passenger $150 to Sit Next to Him on Flight

Many airline companies charge overweight or obese people the price of two tickets on commercial flights, so how wrong is it that one guy on a cross-country flight took matters into his own hands when the operator didn’t do their job?
Many airline companies charge obese passengers the price of 2 tickets 11 photos
Photo: traveller.com.au
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A story posted anonymously on reddit is causing quite a storm online, with the poster asking an honest question: was he inconsiderate for charging am obese man $150 to sit next to him on a 5-hour flight? Decide for yourself.

The poster says he had booked his flight in advance, making sure he reserved the option to choose his seat. He wanted an aisle seat in a 2-seat row, so as to make sure he had all the comfort possible for the 5-hour flight. He doesn’t name the airline company he flew with or offer details about his destination, but neither is relevant.

At one point, an obese man walked on the plane and headed towards him. As it turns out, he had the window seat, right next to the poster. The man (the poster), got up and let him in, only to see that the fat man occupied his own seat and about 1/3 of the one next to him – the poster’s, that is.

Faced with the possibility of spending the next 5 hours or more pressed against a stranger’s too-large body, the poster called for the flight attendant and asked that the obese man be moved. The flight attendant told the fat man that, if someone else didn’t let him share their seat, he would have to be deplaned and moved to another flight, where he would have to purchase 2 tickets.

“The guy seemed embarrassed and didn’t want to get up,” the poster writes. “He mentioned how he can’t wait for a later flight. I felt bad for him but I was also thinking about my own comfort on the long flight – the comfort I paid for. I told the guy, ‘Look, I’ll put up with this if you give me $150 – that’s half the cost of this flight and that would compensate me enough for the circumstances. He instantly agrees, pulls out cash and pays me. He even told me he appreciated it.”

The poster says other passengers gave him nasty looks and gossiped under their breaths, but he was satisfied with the arrangement because he’d gotten compensation for his trouble. Meanwhile, the fat man got to get to his destination, so in his eyes, it was a “win-win” situation.

Many commenters see his “offer” as nothing short of extorting a man for being fat, a public act of humiliation. Others defend him for standing up for himself and claiming that which he had paid for, at a moment when the airline company refused to act on his behalf. Not few are those who blame the obese man for not buying 2 tickets from the start, which would have prevented the incident.
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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