Airline seating has always been tough for a big guy.  You have few choices.  Suck it in and live with the tight seating, upgrade to a business class or first class seat to get a little more comfort, or purchase a second seat.  Otherwise, for comfort’s sake, we will choose to travel by other means.

Kevin Smith took to Twitter on Saturday after allegedly being thrown off of a Southwest Airlines flight for being “too big to fly.”  I’m still absorbing and processing all the information about what happened, but here’s how the average media outlet covered the situation. Kevin Smith is not known for being a modest person, especially about uncomfortable topics, and his weight is no exception.  He really has never had much of a problem speaking about his weight, but based on comments he’s made in the past, he’s just as conscious and apologetic about his size as most big and tall guys when he is in public.

Smith produces an audio podcast called SModcast, where he lambasted Southwest for the poor decision-making and customer service extended to him regarding the incident.  Apparently, Smith bought multiple tickets for a flight earlier in the week to the MacWorld convention because his wife was supposed to go with him but ended up canceling at the last minute, however this information has been spread as that he routinely does this because of his size, which he claims is not the case.

When he found he could get a standby seat on a flight that would allow him to arrive home earlier in the day, he jumped at the opportunity.  Only after he had his baggage on board and stepped on to the plane for the 5:20PM flight was he told that he was deemed a “safety risk” by the airplane’s captain and asked to leave the aircraft.

Smith claims both passengers on either side of him weren’t bothered by his presence (he asked) but the the flight attendant persisted, stating “We’ll try to make it up to you outside”.  He also claimed that he saw and made eye contact with another large man on the plane who appeared to be in a panic that the same thing was about to happen to him.  Smith claims he felt targeted as the other overweight passenger was not asked to leave the completely full airplane, however Smith didn’t want to draw attention to his fellow big & tall passenger.

During and immediately following the incident, he began sending twitter messages and certainly had a lot to say on the topic, which I’ve outlined below.  The screen shot of the above tweet was the first tweet, here’s what followed  There’s a lot to read, so bear with me…

Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a “safety risk”. Again: I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as “Silent Bob.”  5:58 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

So, @SouthwestAir, go fuck yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no “safety risk” (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And fuck your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don’t embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don’t sulk off either: so everyday, some new fuck-you Tweets for @SouthwestAir.  6:06 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.  6:10 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

Dear @SouthwestAir, I’m on another one of your planes, safely seated & buckled-in again, waiting to be dragged off in front of the normies.  6:41 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

And, hey? @SouthwestAir? I didn’t even need a seat belt extender to buckle up. Somehow, that shit fit over my “safety concern”-creating gut.  6:44 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

Hey @SouthwestAir! Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off! http://twitpic.com/1340gw 6:52 PM Feb 13th from Echofon

After being booted from the plane, Smith was told at the customer service counter that he was not kicked off the plane by the pilot after all, but was removed due to a “safety concern” which he believes stems from a male employee in the jetway who questioned his presence boarding the plane.  Southwest staff couldn’t seem to appropriately explain the safety concern, other than that he was taking up more than the standard passenger “space allotment”.  Employees appeared not to use the word “fat” because of their fear of getting sued over using such terminology.

After being offered a one hundred dollar voucher for his troubles but not many other answers in regards to the situation, Smith decided that he would take to Twitter and rely on social networking to spread the word about his story.  After arriving home that evening, it was then that Smith took to his podcast, along with his wife with whom he was telling the story to, explaining the details of his side of the story.

There’s a lot more to the story, and perhaps it’d be easier to listen to the whole SModcast Episode to get a better idea of Kevin’s side of the story.  In essence, he claims that he planned to let the whole thing go and vote with his dollars (by choosing a different airline) but heard a really similar story of mean-spirited customer service towards “people of size”  by a shy young lady sitting next to him on his now much delayed flight home.

So, Southwest has offered an official apology on their blog to Kevin Smith entitled “Not So Silent Bob”.  But it’s not exactly convincing.  The verbiage is vague and still points to his weight, when he claims to frequently fly purchasing only a single seat.  Here’s what Kevin had to say about it:

@SouthwestAir “Our apology to KevinSmith and more details regarding the events from last night: http://cot.ag/96KHC7 ” So your apology is “Sorry, sir. But you ARE kinda fat…”? I flew out AND back IN ONE SEAT, YOU PIECES OF SHIT! SModcast in two hrs tells WHOLE story.  about 20 hours ago from web

Smith has a platform to speak out against Southwest, and he’s certainly using it.  From what you read on Twitter and in other places, it’s become large versus small in a battle of who deserves the seating more.  A few folks told me they wanted to see what I have to say on the issue, and I suppose that’s what I should write here…  The above is mostly just reporting what actually happened from a few different angles.

When I find out I have to fly, I immediately get nervous about it.  Even if it’s months in advance.  I’m not just big, I’m also tall, which Kevin Smith isn’t.  I have several aspects to consider when I fly… the seat width is generally less of an issue for me than is the headroom and legroom.  But combine the lack of all these things into a complete package which will make me just about as uncomfortable as I’m ever going to be in any situation.  Also, when I “encroach” on to someone else’s space…  it’s not my torso that’s the problem (Kevin Smith calls this his “gut”), usually it’s my shoulders.  I’m built like a linebacker, which means I’ve got some weight packed on the torso, however my shoulder width and legs are literally enormous when compared to the average sized human.  I fit in the seat, I just take up more of the free space in the area it provides.  I wouldn’t call it comfortable, but I wouldn’t say I don’t fit.  I’ve seen men taller and some much wider than me “fit” into places they shouldn’t, and yet they live with it.

Smith makes a really strong point on his podcast, one that I have always lived by:  “I would never choose that seat if there was a fraction of a chance that I could not fit into it.  That’s how I live my life, I’m a fat person.  We navigate the world differently than other people, we have to think ten steps in advance for our own dignity.”  The preceeding quote may be the most profound piece of this whole insane story…

We do live differently day-to-day, we navigate it with the knowledge that if we don’t think ahead that an embarrassing situation is sure to await us.

This reference to dignity is something that most airlines haven’t been very good about when it comes to their policies on people of size.  Southwest says that you must be able to sit in the seat with both armrests down or else you are a “person of size”.  I would say on most planes, my torso fits in that area well enough, but I still like to have the aisle armrest up so I’m not forced to be restricted.  It helps me angle my body out into the aisle a little better so I can put my leg out there and stretch it out a bit.

On an Airplane, we are given a box to fit in.  If you don’t exactly fit in this box the way that they want, you are not an optimal customer.  An optimal customer is a high revenue customer, and thus they are the most appreciated.  Those customers who cause issues or don’t fit into the airline’s “box” for which they get the best revenue often get the short end of the stick.

Society has many boxes for us Big and Tall people.  These boxes are very interesting.  If you are large,  you are given a free pass if you are wealthy or famous, but otherwise they’d rather not bother with treating you in a similar fashion as everyone else because it’s a hassle to them.  Kevin Smith finally got treated, maybe for the first time since he was young, how we all get treated for being big and tall.  Did the airline handle this properly?  No.  Could Kevin Smith have done something differently to alter the outcome of the situation?  Possibly.  But ultimately, there’s still a long way to go before we figure out how to treat people who don’t fit into society’s little boxes with some dignity and respect.

While Kevin seems to have mostly laid this to rest on his blog, as it appears he’s now tired of fighting about it, I think the point still remains that we all need to be a little more tolerant.

Categories: Travel
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A fresh article on the USA Today website, “Smaller jets squeeze big and tall fliers“, caught my attention this morning as I was digging through my daily news feeds.  I especially like this part, which I find to be quite interesting…

Macsata says airlines’ “fat tax” overlooks the fact that seat size hasn’t kept up with increasing girth. From 1960 to 2002, Americans have become on average of about 25 pounds heavier. The typical seat width — at 17 inches to 18.5 inches — hasn’t changed since 1958, he says.

They haven’t changed the seat geometry since 1958?  Wow.  Not only does that make it tough for Big and Tall flyers, it also just goes to show that they really aren’t working much on the ergonomics of the seats…  which is something that has probably advanced quite a bit since 1958.  No wonder I’m stiff when I walk off the plane.  Ow.

There are a few good tips in here, which have been mentioned on this site before in our travel series:

Tealer has simple strategies for air travel: book as early as possible; fly during less-busy hours, such as early in the morning or overnight; and avoid exit and emergency rows where armrests don’t go up.

But there’s something in here that I’d like to specifically address, especially as a tall person, that I believe is not true:

SeatGuru’s Daimler says legroom in regional jets isn’t less on average than on mainline aircraft. But the ceiling is lower, and the aisle is narrower. “There is a feeling of being tighter overall. For those sitting in window seats, the wall curves earlier.”

If I fly Northwest out of Port Columbus International to the west, I usually end up on a Canadair regional jet to Minneapolis where I lay over and hop on a bigger plane to head to points west (Omaha, Salt Lake City, etc).  I’ve spent my fair share of time on them, and I disagree with the above statement.  I think you feel tighter overall because you ARE tighter overall, especially in the legroom department.  Go take measurements from the seat to the back of the upright and locked seatback in front of you on a Canadair CRJ-900 and then do that same measurement on an Airbus A320 variant.  I haven’t done this, but I’m guessing there’s a difference…  Sure, narrow armrests add to an overall feeling of discomfort…  but when my knee will literally not fit in the regional jet, but has enough room to wiggle around on an A320?  Yeah, there’s a difference.

I have to admit that I often consider driving anywhere (and often do end up driving there) if it’s less than 500 miles.  By the time I drive to the airport (1.5 hours), trudge through security (30 minutes to 2 hours), fly there (1-2 hours+), de-board and grab my luggage, rent a car (another 1-2 hours) and drive to my destination, I’m already at a point where I could have done 400-500 miles in that day in a car with a lot less stress (depending on traffic) and a lot more freedom to do as I please.

Regardless, air travel is a necessary evil that I often fight, but I’m always taking notes on a way to make the experience better for me and for those who would have to sit near me on the plane.

Comments, questions or otherwise?  Leave us a note in the comments section below!

Categories: Big & Tall Lifestyle, News, Travel
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A while back, I began writing a series of articles about flying as a Big & Tall man.  I sent off a note to Mark Peacock over at TravelCommons asking if he had any tips for the best seats on planes, etc.  Mark sent us a big shoutout on his TravelCommons Podcast #71 and let us in on a little tip… the window seat of the second exit row of an Airbus A319 as configured on United airlines is the best seat to stretch your legs.  Looks like Frontier Airlines also has this setup on their A319, according to seatguru. I had stated in Part 1 of the Flying the (Big & Tall) Friendly Skies series that the Airbus A319/A320 had the most room in standard seating for Big & Tall guys, but have never noticed that seat in all my time on Airbus craft.  We appreciate Mark’s shoutout and look forward to attempting to snag one of those great seats in the future!

I’ve been listening to TravelCommons since 2005 and have listened to every show Mark has ever produced.  If you are a frequent business traveler looking for tips and tricks of the trade, subscribe to TravelCommons.  I no longer travel regularly for business, but I find Mark’s common sense approach still helps to make my personal travel just that much more efficient and enjoyable.

Thanks, Mark!

Categories: Site News, Travel
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Of all the things I do to prepare for a trip, by far the most stressful (to me) is actually researching my route and purchasing the ticket.  The reason I have so many issues with this portion of the process is attempting to route flights to and from my destination through a halfway decent layover point (if necessary) on planes I’m comfortable riding in.  This can prove challenging at best, but a few key websites can be really helpful in this area.

Researching and booking flights

Two of my go-to websites that are very helpful are Kayak and SeatGuru.

Kayak is a travel site that lets you select destinations, dates, times and a myriad of other options to help you plan your route.  It is less traditional than most travel sites because it even draws information from other larger travel booking services.  Kayak does not have it’s own travel booking service, it’s simply a search engine for the best price on travel and has some really great features to help you nail down the perfect travel schedule for the big and tall guy.

I’ll try to be brief, but a few of the great things about Kayak are it’s ability to show you pretty much up-front (after hitting the details button) on your flight search what kind of plane you will be riding on (so you can beware of the dreaded CRJ Regional Jet or the much hated D95 Narrow-body Jet).  Also, it allows you to modify and narrow your focus on departure and arrival times, layover time and location, as well as many other great things.

A site I use that is always open in another browser tab or window is SeatGuru.  If you are unfamiliar with your plane or flight, SeatGuru is an absolute must to help you plan and prepare for your trip.  SeatGuru has seating layouts and information on most major airlines and their floor plans for each type of airplane (example pictured below).  This can be particularly helpful during the booking or check-in process when selecting your seats.  Some of the great little details of SeatGuru is the lengths they go to detail seat comfort.  From “lacking legroom” for whatever reason to “next to a commonly drafty window in this type of plane, don’t sit here if you get cold easily”, SeatGuru never fails to provide me with the knowledge I need to book my flight with confidence.

A huge part of the hassle and annoyance of travel is just making it through security and getting to my departure gate.  The travel experience can be a real downer if things don’t move along quickly and efficiently.  While doing some business travel for a company I used to work for and searching for tips on efficient travel, I discovered the TravelCommons Podcast.  Although I don’t travel for business much these days, I do like to travel for leisure. Finding ways to reduce stress and hassle at the is a huge help, as flying is generally an uncomfortable experience for the big & tall.  The TravelCommons Podcast discusses a wide range of topics relating to frequent travel, it’s perils, technology that travels well and how to overcome tough situations on the road.  If you’re a frequent traveler, or even an occasional traveler looking for tips on how to make your next travel experience less painful, give the TravelCommons Podcast a try.

In defense of layovers…

When researching and booking my trip, I use the sites mentioned above to get myself the best big guy-friendly seating and planes.  Unfortunately, your destination requires a few bad planes along the way and there is no avoiding it.  If such an occasion arises, take a layover to stretch your legs (and you may get a bit of a discount on the flight, too).  Layovers really don’t bother me, as I’ve already convinced myself that the day is lost to travel.  Once I accept that a two hour layover isn’t really going to make much of a difference, I take advantage of that time to stretch my legs and relax in the large seats at the gate.  I usually enjoy this time, mostly on longer 2-3 hour layovers as it gives me a chance to get some “real” food as well as use the restroom without worrying about people waiting or having to fold myself in half just to fit in the tiny bathroom.

On the other hand, I do appreciate direct flights within the continental U.S. if they are held to around 4 or 5 hours…  but only if I’ve got a decent seat on one of my “preferred” planes, as referenced in Part 1 of this series “Choosing your plane wisely.”

In Part 3 of this series, we’ll talk about seating and boarding.  Have any travel tips, stories or experiences for your fellow Big & Tall man?  Drop us a line in the comments section or at email us at tim@sizeoflife.com.

Categories: Travel
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This can read a few different ways, so here’s a snippet from an article over at OK! Magazine reporting that Air France is now going to charge for emergency exit seats on their planes.  I’ve always seen the people who proactively take these seats as receiving the privilege of additional legroom in return for their service and ability to open the emergency door should something go wrong.

Link to the article.

AIR passengers who ask for extra legroom in economy are to pay £40 for the privilege.

Air France became the first airline to introduce a supplement for the prized seats next to emergency exits or at the front of rows.  Until now, taller passengers have often been able to reserve the seats with a request.

Now surcharges will be applied to long-haul flights. An Air France spokesman said: “It will be a small charge to have to pay for extra legroom.”

Carriers including Singapore Airlines have also just started a similar scheme.

British Airways said it had no intention of introducing the charge.

So far as I’m concerned, Air France isn’t really the first carrier to do this…  I can’t recall, but either on a Northwest or Frontier flight that I took earlier this year, this was an option that was made available to me when I was doing electronic check-in and printing my boarding passes.

As a big & tall person, this can strike me a few different ways.  When legroom is minimal or giving me problems at many places (sports, concert and theatre venues just to name a few) I’ll often ask for a better seat or to place a folding chair in the handicapped section.  I usually try to be a courteous person, but sometimes it must be done for the sake of myself and those who would be forced to be around me under these circumstances.

I’m split on this one.  It’s a free market and the airlines can do what they want…  however accommodating those of us that have slightly different needs.  Perhaps this is akin to charging for a second seat if the passenger has a wider waistline.  I tend to see this as the bean counters finding another way to monetize extra space on the plane.  But when there’s an empty row at the back of the plane, I usually grab that row and sprawl out to get comfortable…  are they going to charge me for that next?

Categories: Travel
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For my first bit of actual content for the site, I’ve decided to write about some recent experiences with airline travel and how they affect big & tall men.  Readers will find that I will always state with any review that your mileage may vary, however I hope to provide what may be at least a small bit of guidance.

I have an equation that I frequently use to determine whether I fly or drive to a function, event or vacation destination.  Determining whether one should fly is an individual choice, and I always factor things in like rental car cost, parking cost, flight time, plane type and many other factors.  Everyone is going to be different in this respect, so I’ll refrain from expanding any further on the issue.  But once you’ve made the decision to fly, as a big & tall man, you have some legwork to do to keep the experience pleasant.

Your choice of air travel as a big & tall man can sometimes be a difficult one.  After speaking with many big & tall men, traveling for any reason can become a huge hassle if airplanes are required.  With this short series of articles, I hope to help minimize that hassle for you with recommendations and ideas that have worked for me countless times.  Planes and seats to choose are important to helping you determine how to get the best experience, and other factors such as boarding and baggage tips can enhance the experience even more.

Part 1 – Choosing your plane wisely.

Choosing your plane wisely can make or break the trip for you.  Picking a bad plane can dictate a large portion of your travel experience and make life miserable for you and those around you.  Some people choose to spend the extra money for a more spacious business class or first class seat, however for the budget conscious, this is not always an option.

Recent trips have placed me all over the continental United States via a few different planes.  Over the course of the last few years, I’ve come to love the Airbus A319/A320 series of planes.  They are extremely common here in the United States with budget carriers and generally afford “enough space” for me to be comfortable for up to 3 hours.  No matter the seating configuration, most of the A319 and A320’s I’ve flown in have been spacious enough to accommodate me, although some variations can and will cause issues.

EDIT: Thanks to Mark Peacock over at the TravelCommons Podcast for featuring us on his blog / podcast.  Mark went even further by giving us a tip on the exact best place to sit on an Airbus A319 if you can get it…  The window seat of the second exit row on United and Frontier Airline’s A319 is configured without a seat in front of it… giving you the most legroom possible in today’s fleet of aircraft.  Thanks, Mark!

However…  My “good enough” may not be enough for others.  The A320 is spacious, but would be uncomfortable if either of my dimensions were much larger than they are currently.

I go to great lengths to avoid certain planes with terrible seating configurations.   The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series and the Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ-900, etc.) almost never have a spacious seating layout and can most literally not accommodate my leg length regardless of seating position.  The bulkhead seats in a CRJ-900 are the ONLY seats that I can sit in, and they are always the first to be reserved.

Now it’s your turn… Most of my air travel experience takes place on domestic flights.  My wife and I are considering a lot of international travel in coming years, however I could really use input on the subject.  If you’d like to write a small blurb about your big & tall international travel experiences, drop us a line via email at tim@sizeoflife.com or write something in our comments section of this post.

In part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss researching and booking your trip.

Categories: Travel
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