The Tricks and Trials of Traveling While Fat

[Elmore Furth]

Hey, I weigh more than I want to so I'm not going to throw stones.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AYwY74fDryU/SxnLMVw7SFI/AAAAAAAAY9k/n3Sa1GaNReU/s400/obese+man+fat+guy+on+economy+seat.jpg

By ROB GOLDSTONE
Published: October 20, 2010

AS soon as I board an aircraft, the first thing I do is make a beeline for the flight attendant and begin a routine that has changed little in 20 years:

Discreetly, I point toward my stomach, offer a half-smile and wait for a nod. Once I’m in my seat, I prepare for the “handoff.” Without making eye contact, the flight attendant approaches, and, like a player in a secret drug deal, quickly slips a small package into my palm: a seat belt extender.

It starts with finding a place to sit on the plane. The airline industry has responded to its ever-widening clientele with new rules: a handful of carriers, including United and Southwest, now insist that passengers who cannot fit comfortably into an economy seat (with the armrests down) buy a second seat (something I’ve done for years whenever possible); and three domestic carriers have instituted a policy that bans overweight people from sitting in exit rows. (Our bulk, they reason, could hinder an evacuation in an emergency.)

Yet for large travelers like me, the issues persist long after we have figured out whether to buy one seat or two. Going through airport security, for example, I could set off the metal detector not because I’m smuggling a box cutter or pistol, but because my girth comes too close to the sides of the machine, prompting it to beep. (After years of trial and error, I have a technique to eliminate this embarrassing possibility: I extend my arms forward, lower them with my palms out and twist my torso slightly to one side.)

The Tricks and Trials of Traveling While Fat

[demmiblue]

1. Methinks you already did. n/t