A woman has shared the “struggle” of travelling by airplane as a plus size person – leaving TikTok users divided, with some insisting she should pay for two seats.
Kirsty Leanne, 29, from Shropshire, shared a video of herself on an airplane with the tray table unable to full extend and the seatbelt tight against her stomach.
Kirsty, who runs a website about travelling as a plus size person called Plus Size Travel Too, is a passionate traveller – but says the experience is less than comfortable for larger people.
“I travel regularly and flying is definitely one of the most stressful parts of travelling while fat,” Kirsty, a content creator, told Jam Press.
“I wanted to make a light-hearted video – using a very popular TikTok trend – to illustrate things that I know a lot of people face when they travel.
“Choosing a comfortable seat, asking for a seatbelt extender, tray tables not going down, small bathrooms are all things we have to worry about when we travel and so I wanted to show people that they’re not alone.”
In the TikTok, Kirsty can be seen boarding a plane before sitting down and showing the seatbelt tight against her stomach, while the tray table isn’t able to come fully down – captioning the post “emotional damage”.
The clip was viewed more than one million times and racked up 42,000 likes, but divided users.
Some people insisted Kirsty deserves to fly comfortably, while others felt the airlines shouldn’t have to change to accommodate plus size people.
One person commented: “These comments aren’t it, everyone should feel comfortable traveling.”
“Everybody’s being so mean… I’m sorry. You deserve to fly comfortably,” another user said.
Someone else added: “These comments are NOT IT. I’m a flight attendant and it is definitely up to the airline to work with you to find a solution.”
“Anyone commenting about her weight needs to educate themselves. It’s the airlines responsibility to provide equitable service,” one person added.
However, critics argued that airplanes shouldn’t have to accommodate her.
One user said: “When I was a bigger gal I bought an extra seat.” [sic]
“Doesn’t make sense for airlines to make seats bigger, they then lose seats and therefor money,” another person argued.
Someone else said: “Imagine thinking airlines should completely change for you.”
“Really not fair to others to take up 1 and a half seats. Buy 2 seats or don’t fly,” added another user.
Meanwhile, other people felt the seats were already too small on airplanes.
“Those seats are way too small to begin with I feel you,” said one person.
Another user added: “The reality is even for average-weight people the seats still feel unethically small.”
“No because why is everything so small on these planes. I’m mid-sized and I feel cramped,” said someone else.
Another user said: “People saying it’s her fault like airlines haven’t been shrinking seats for the last 20 years. I’m 6’3” and I barely fit in coach.”
“The seats have honestly gotten smaller and now you have to pay for extra room for what used to be a normal seat size,” insisted one user.
Someone else agreed: “Honestly I feel like we could all benefit from bigger seats and more leg room.”
Regardless of the person, airplane seats are much too small for even the healthiest human,” added another user.
Kirsty believes adjustments could help many people – regardless of weight.
She said: “I don’t think my size is relevant as I think this applies to people of a range of different sizes.
“A lot of people are commenting ‘don’t be fat then’ like it’s a simple and easy change to make, but what they don’t realise is that I spent 10+ years of my life trying to lose weight and I was tired of my every waking moment being about ‘points’ and calories.
“I finally started to live my life and I am so much happier for it.
“A lot of people can’t lose weight as easily as others for many reasons and I think that people don’t realise that or choose to ignore it because it doesn’t fit their narrative of plus size people.
“There’s a lot of comments about what airlines can do to be more inclusive and personally, I wish there was an easy answer but there isn’t.
“A number of seats that are catered towards bigger sizes would be beneficial to so many people – pregnant people, tall people, body builders – but I understand there are often difficulties around this.
“Some companies have a customer of size policy, however, which could be a great solution in the interim.
“Passengers get refunded their second seat if there’s a seat free on the plane at the time of boarding – it’s great!
“There are also a lot of comments about buying a second seat or booking first class and while I recognise that this is a great solution, it’s not viable for everyone as airfare is already very expensive.”
