Airline had blunt response to woman who was 'wedged' between 'obese' passengers on flight

An airline had a blunt response for a woman who complained she was ‘wedged’ between ‘obese’ passengers during a flight.

Look, sitting in the middle seat of a row on a plane isn’t exactly the most enjoyable experience. If you’ve not got someone falling asleep on you, you might have someone chewing your ear off from the second the plane takes off.

But usually, you just get on with it – maybe doing the odd ‘wake up’ cough or putting your earphones in.

Rarely would you take to X to publicly shame your seat neighbours.

But one traveller took to social media to complain about the ‘obese’ people sat beside her, calling it ‘not okay’.

American Airlines later responded to the flyer but its acknowledgement has received an extremely mixed response.

The passenger, Dr Sydney Watson, wrote on X last year: "I am currently - literally - WEDGED between two OBESE people on my flight.

"This is absolutely NOT acceptable or okay. If fat people want to be fat, fine. But it is something else entirely when I'm stuck between you, with your arm rolls on my body, for 3 hours."

@SydneyLWatson/ X

Dr Watson continued her rant by declaring she didn't 'care' if her statement 'is mean'.

"My entire body is currently being touched against my wishes. I can't even put the arm rests down on either side because there's no fking room," she continued. "I'm sick of acting like fatness to this extent is normal. Let me assure you, it is not."

She resolved: "If you need a seat belt extender, you are TOO FAT TO BE ON A PLANE. Buy two seats or don't fly."

After tagging American Airlines in her repost, telling the company they 'need to talk', the airline responded.

It wrote: "Our passengers come in all different shapes and sizes. We're sorry you were uncomfortable on your flight."

The airline added it offers 'a variety of seat sizes and styles, so [its] customers can select what works best for them' - the variety being the different classes of seat onboard the aircraft.

However, American Airlines has received extremely mixed responses for its reply to Dr Watson.

@americanair/ X

Some users agreed with Dr Watson's outrage at the airline's reply. "Seriously? Your passengers shouldn’t be taking up multiple seat areas. I have had this happen multiple times on American and Sydney is right this is NOT acceptable!!!" one said.

Another accused the airline itself of 'hating fat people' for not being able to 'accommodate them with proper seating'.

A third commented: "@americanair is supportive of two of their passengers violating the personal space of another passenger. @americanair forces passenger to endure unwanted touching by other passengers for an entire flight."

Other users defended the airline and criticised Dr Watson for her harsh comments.

One said: "I feel sorry for those having to sit next to Sydney!"

LADbible previously contacted American Airlines for comment.

Topics: US News, Viral, Travel, Plane Etiquette

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_