# Ass too big for one seat on a commercial flight.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924 "2013-11-02T14:48:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/21 "2013-11-03T15:20:24Z")
If only [Kevin Smith](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35406030/) was a poster here. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/22 "2013-11-03T15:37:09Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The hopper flights between San José de Costa Rica and Liberia (the Costa Rican town, not the African country) include a total weight per person allowance: heavier people can carry less luggage. I took that flight but from Liberia to San Jose. San Jose was socked in with fog so they where going to go to an airport nearby… They rubber-banded a GPS to the control yoke so the pilot could find his way. Really odd now that I think back about it. Something must have been messed up with the nav computers on the plane. I think it was a dehavilland DHC 6 twin otter. Nature Airlines. It was… interesting. My Wife did not think it was funny at all. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/23 "2013-11-03T17:04:54Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > They rubber-banded a GPS to the control yoke so the pilot could find his way. Really odd now that I think back about it. Something must have been messed up with the nav computers on the plane. I think it was a dehavilland DHC 6 twin otter. Nature Airlines. It was… interesting. My Wife did not think it was funny at all. IANA airline pilot, but I don’t think large aircraft have a ‘nav computer’. (I’m not sure what a ‘nav computer’ would be.) For navigation you have a magnetic compass, a directional gyro, and VOR receivers. LORAN and DME were popular for a while. Dad had them in his Skylane. He had an ADF in his Skyhawk, but I’ve only seen those in older (pre-mid-'70s mostly) airplanes. Granted you could (can) couple an autopilot to your LORAN or VOR + altimeter, but that’s not really a ‘nav computer’. On something like a ‘Twotter’ on a short flight, I see no problem navigating with a VOR and a sectional chart. In any case, I actually wanted to allay any concerns about a GPS attached to the yoke. Portable, yoke-mounted GPS are quite common on General Aviation aircraft. There’s often a lack of panel space, and that’s the only place to put them. Since many DHC 6s were built before 1989, it’s reasonable to assume that many of them don’t have GPS built into the panel. (No reason you can’t reconfigure a panel to accommodate one, but it’s expensive.) So my assumption would be that the GPS on the yoke was a convenience. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/24 "2013-11-03T17:58:08Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Seems that they don’t have to be adjacent: > [37 stone man told to buy 2 airline seats and given them in separate rows | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2457971/37-stone-man-told-buy-2-airline-seats-given-separate-rows.html) It’s irritating that they don’t name the airline. What would be the possible ramifications if he’s not making shit up? If there’s an airline that flies out of Ireland that forces people over 20 stone to buy an extra ticket I’ve never heard of it. How do they check? Have they started weighing passengers at check in nowadays? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/25 "2013-11-03T18:10:22Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > They rubber-banded a GPS to the control yoke so the pilot could find his way. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > So my assumption would be that the GPS on the yoke was a convenience. They did that in one of the flights I took: the pilot was newish and the copilot a veteran of the route. I figured it was basically the same as a driver switching a Tomtom on when driving to a not-very-familiar location: it’s just an extra data point, a third way to calculate where you are (the two pilots are ways #1 and #2). None of my GPS has been built-in, but man, that nice lady inside is a lot better at reading maps than my usual copilots! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/26 "2013-11-03T18:32:37Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > that nice lady inside is a lot better at reading maps than my usual copilots! [Dog is my copilot](http://www.dogcopilot.org/storage/PILOT.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1366895407020) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/27 "2013-11-03T19:28:52Z")
At what point do being squished by your seat mate combined with the vibration of the plane make it frottage? Just askin’. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/28 "2013-11-03T21:21:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > They did that in one of the flights I took: the pilot was newish and the copilot a veteran of the route. I figured it was basically the same as a driver switching a Tomtom on when driving to a not-very-familiar location: it’s just an extra data point, a third way to calculate where you are (the two pilots are ways #1 and #2). None of my GPS has been built-in, but man, that nice lady inside is a lot better at reading maps than my usual copilots! This^^^^^ I am not a bit happy about the number of pilots that can’t use a map even adequately. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/29 "2013-11-05T19:36:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > (I’m not sure what a ‘nav computer’ would be.) . Without it’s precise calculations you could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/30 "2013-11-05T20:06:02Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > If there’s an airline that flies out of Ireland that forces people over 20 stone to buy an extra ticket I’ve never heard of it. How do they check? Have they started weighing passengers at check in nowadays? Just a guess, but if it were anyone it would be RyanAir ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/31 "2013-11-06T15:46:12Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Seems that they don’t have to be adjacent: > [37 stone man told to buy 2 airline seats and given them in separate rows | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2457971/37-stone-man-told-buy-2-airline-seats-given-separate-rows.html) I don’t see how the non adjacent seats are a problem. All he has to do is say to the guy next to him “I have an empty seat two rows back, wouldn’t you be more comfortable there than here?” and bingo, two empty seats side by each. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/32 "2013-11-06T19:52:58Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I don’t see how the non adjacent seats are a problem. All he has to do is say to the guy next to him “I have an empty seat two rows back, wouldn’t you be more comfortable there than here?” and bingo, two empty seats side by each. Unless the guy sitting next to him is being asked to give up an isle seat for a center seat. Sure, he may end up being more comfortable in the center seat but he may wonder why he should have to ‘downgrade’. It strikes me as a very half assed solution by the airline. It seems to me that they were more concerned with getting more money from the customer than really solving the problem. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/33 "2013-11-06T20:04:35Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I don’t see how the non adjacent seats are a problem. All he has to do is say to the guy next to him “I have an empty seat two rows back, wouldn’t you be more comfortable there than here?” and bingo, two empty seats side by each. Most international airlines I’ve flown with won’t allow you to change seats at will; it has to be agreed by cabin staff. It’s also not easy to change seats - you have to be buckled in for the first twenty minutes or so, for example, and it’s probably only then that you realise changing seats is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/34 "2013-11-06T20:12:37Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Unless the guy sitting next to him is being asked to give up an isle seat for a center seat. Sure, he may end up being more comfortable in the center seat but he may wonder why he should have to ‘downgrade’. It strikes me as a very **half assed solution** by the airline. It seems to me that they were more concerned with getting more money from the customer than really solving the problem. (Bolding mine) In light of the thread title, that’s \*precisely \*what it was… \*\*BOOM! \*\* ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/35 "2013-11-06T21:10:19Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Just a guess, but if it were anyone it would be RyanAir If (and I suspect they don’t) RyanAir have such a policy it isn’t well known no enforced in my experience. Speaking as a fat lard the last time I boarded a RyanAir flight I had no interaction with any of their staff until I was right at the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/36 "2013-11-06T21:29:44Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Unless the guy sitting next to him is being asked to give up an isle seat for a center seat. Sure, he may end up being more comfortable in the center seat but he may wonder why he should have to ‘downgrade’. It strikes me as a very half assed solution by the airline. It seems to me that they were more concerned with getting more money from the customer than really solving the problem. Or if said guy was traveling with his wife or kid and thus wouldn’t want to split his travel group up. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/37 "2013-11-06T22:21:49Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Unless the guy sitting next to him is being asked to give up an isle seat for a center seat. Sure, he may end up being more comfortable in the center seat but he may wonder why he should have to ‘downgrade’. It strikes me as a very half assed solution by the airline. It seems to me that they were more concerned with getting more money from the customer than really solving the problem. At a minimum, they should require at least one of the two seats not be a center seat. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/38 "2013-11-08T03:41:50Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The real kicker is [how they make the seats smaller all the time in order to stuff more people into coach](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304384104579141941949066648). It’s not going to be long until absolutely normal-size people are “too big” for a seat. > [@Raguleader](#): > > Having flown on an airliner recently, I can assure you, that time came long ago. 😃 What are you defining as “normal sized”? I’m 5’7" and 175 pds and have no trouble fitting comfortably into an airline seat. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/39 "2013-11-08T04:07:20Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I know that at least one airline (in Samoa) is starting to charge passengers based on a metric of weight and distance. In short, if you bring more weight with you (both your own weight and your luggage’s weight), you will pay more for the flight. If you travel light (whether that means you weigh less, or simply pack less stuff with you) you will pay less. [They also have a special XL class](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=694287&highlight=Samoa), with more room. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924/40 "2013-11-08T04:41:42Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The real kicker is [how they make the seats smaller all the time in order to stuff more people into coach](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304384104579141941949066648). It’s not going to be long until absolutely normal-size people are “too big” for a seat. I have a solution for that. make the seats with side slats so each person gets the space they paid for. I’ve been the center of a fat person sandwich before and it was not pleasant. The bulk of the person on either side of me spilled into my personal space. I had to sit with my arms folded in the whole flight. I looked like the guy in the [Jimmy John’s commercial.](http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/gnID_bp3yDw/mqdefault.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-too-big-for-one-seat-on-a-commercial-flight/672924.md?page=1)