Southwest Airlines is [censored] awesome (warning: seriously awesome)

[Rootabager]

Who care if you make them mad? They cant chase after you.

This is a great policy. They should also make them sit in the back of the plane so I dont have to look at them.

[GambleGamble]

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as an encroaching fattie who flys Southwest a lot, they don't enforce this, or if they do you've gotta be a lot fatter than I am

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...I was once asked if I could get the armrests down which I can with no problem and thats what that...otherwise never even been questioned.

[wslee00]

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Last year the beginning of the WSOp coincided with a fatass convention of some sort in las vegas, there were 7-8 MORBIDLY obese people on our plane and all but 1 were on the left side of the plane

landing in mccarran the plane kept rolling left on landing and you could feel the pilots fighting to keep the plane level, it would be funnier if it wasn't the most scared i've ever been on a plane in my life

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A plane like a 737 has a max weight of like 68,000 lbs. Uh yeah an extra few hundred pounds on one side of the fuselage near the center of the plane is going to make a huuuuge difference. It will totally unbalance the plane.

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There are reasons there are weight restrictions on planes.

I've travelled with hockey teams who were not able to take all their equipment with them on that flight and had to have some of it delivered on the next flight.

All of it would fit just fine. It was just too heavy and they have specific rules about maximum weight.

This is more likely to happen on medium to smaller size planes of course.

7 obese people at 350 lbs apiece on one side of the plane.
Tack on just a couple empty-seats and a couple little kids on the other side of the plane and you've got a pretty significant imbalance and I definitely think this would make a difference.

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Again geeks on the internet think they know everything just because they "figured" it could be a problem.

First, yes there are weight restrictions. All planes have a maximum takeoff weight. But, that wasn't I was challenging. Poster claimed that 7 obese people on one side of aircraft unbalanced the aircraft and caused it to roll to one side.

When balancing a plane, they are specifically talking about maintaining a proper center of gravity - forward to aft. Having heavier people on one side of the aircraft or another doesn't matter, unless they all weighed like 800 lbs and nobody sat on the other side. A plane's balance left to right is easily maintained by the length and weight of it's wings.

On the other hand if they had like 20 obese people all forward and a bunch of kids aft then there would be a problem and they would correct it. Conversely, if you had everyone on the plane sit in the back 10 rows and nobody up front there would also be a problem.

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hm - so i guess when on one flight the flight attendants moved some people to the other side of the plane was just for [censored] and giggles... those crazy attendants

[_brady_]

I wouldn't think even a couple thousand pounds difference on one side of the fuselage would cause a noticeable difference in roll stability. The roll of an aircraft is controlled by ailerons on the ends of the wings. A small deflection from these can easily counteract the moment about the center of gravity caused by the weight difference.

As to why the flight attendants try to balance things out...my guess would be to keep the airplane performance at it's best. Deflected ailerons will cause a significant amount of drag, therefore you would obviously want them as close to zero deflection as possible.

Like I said though you wouldn't notice the plane rolling due to a some fatties sitting on one side of the plane.

[XXXNoahXXX]

Bradyams,

[TxRedMan]

Last night I caught the red eye out of Vegas back to DFW. It was the first time I was next to an obese person, and it sucked. Her and her husband were both obese, and they had asked if they could upgrade to first class, and they (me too) were told 'no', the flight was full. When they shut the door to the plane, two first class seats were empty. [censored] USAirways, they [censored] suck.

Anyways, this woman is basically spilling over into my seat, and I've got to give up 1/4 of it to her arm/side body combination. And i'm about 6'2 230 so it really sucked.

If I were say, my height and above 260, I'd fly first class all the time b/c 3 coach seats = 2 first class seats in terms of size.

I didn't like having to give up part of my seat b/c the lady couldn't fit in hers.

I know it's a sensitive issue, and if I were obeses I'd be pissed about having to buy 2 tickets, but it really isn't fair to people who bought a ticket and have to sit that close to someone else on a flight.

[AlienBoy]

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Last year the beginning of the WSOp coincided with a fatass convention of some sort in las vegas, there were 7-8 MORBIDLY obese people on our plane and all but 1 were on the left side of the plane

landing in mccarran the plane kept rolling left on landing and you could feel the pilots fighting to keep the plane level, it would be funnier if it wasn't the most scared i've ever been on a plane in my life

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If true this is a gross violation of FAA regulations. It is the part of the flight attendants' safety duties to balance the plane side to side as well as keep the center of gravity behind the wings.

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You people are cracking me up. I'm a pilot - the few hundred pounds of differential caused by fat people sitting on one side of an aircraft as large as a 737 (what Southwest flys) is irrelevant to weight and balance.

First, their weight is just a few feet from the center of gravity, and second, all large transport aircraft have ample trim controls to adjust an aircraft for level flight regardless of loading.

Any perception that the aircraft kept rolling in the direction of the fat people is pure superstition.


AB

[ChipWrecked]

Sounds like leveling to me anyway. I saw the fattie convention CSI episode too.

[Bigfoot]

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Also, I had no idea they didn't get hassled about this BEFORE check-in etc. This puts the burden on me to bitch about it if I have to sit next to them - but if the plane's full and they or I can't move, what's the point? I'll only be worse off, as I now have to deal with a pissed off at me fatass instead of just a fatass. WTF?

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If you complain about a fat person encroaching on you on Southwest they will give you a partial credit on your airline ticket. At least they used to, I'm not sure if that has changed at all as I don't fly SW very often.

[Dale Dough]

Now that seems a lot fairer. I don't really care whether they punish the fat person, I just want that MY situation somehow improves.

Tx, how did you deal with this? Did you repeatedly ask for first class seats for either you or them? How did they react when you complained?

I have only once sat next to a fat woman, on a flight from Amsterdam to LAX (11 hours). I thought I was gonna die - I'm 6'3 180 and I need my room!

But a higher force came to my rescue. She asked if she could change seats and sit next to her friend. The purser told her 'no, all seats are full'. Turns out the friend is sitting in the row behind the door, with like unlimited leg room. Being the nice guy that I am, I offered to switch with the friend [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


But seriously, if that hadn't happened, I don't think I would have complained. WTF can they do about it? It's actually pretty [censored] up that the airline doesn't take care of this in advance. They should force them to buy two seats before even boarding the plane. Now it's on the other passengers, and if the plane is full it'll be too late to complain.