Flight: Doha
Date: 10th December
According to World Health Organisation, worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. 65% of the world's population lives in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than those who are underweight. And most of all, this is preventable. People are quite sensitive about having a bigger person next to them on planes; provided the cramped up seating arrangements in the modern day airplane, it is fair, one would say.
With many airlines, if you are a stout fellow, it is necessary to purchase 2 seats and most of the time passengers choose not to do so. As polite as thy neighbour’s smile can be, they would never dare tell you that you are too fat to be sitting next to them and you should have paid for two seats. However they cry their heart out to the airhostess. And most of the time even if a spare seat is available, they wouldn’t want to move, instead they want us to move the other person.
This is an uncomfortable situation for the airhostess as she knows that the annoyed yet deceiving neighbour just wants to be seen as the good guy. When a bubbly, yet larger passenger was wheeled in to the air craft, it was obvious that a few neighbours next to him will complain sooner or later. Being proactive and with prompt help from ground staff we managed to clear up a whole row of seats for the convenience of this passenger, which might not have been possible to do on a full flight.
Throughout the flight he was looked after very well, and privacy was assured at all times, and I couldn’t help noticing a lady pointing at the passenger and threatening her children to sit still. After a while the passenger made his way to the lavatory for some peace and quiet. Life is not easy, if skinny people greet you with an “OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?” out loud as if the world had come to an end, and if you are fat they mumble it in their heads and tell your kids that they’ll be eaten if they won’t behave.
Life is not easy also for the emaciated or portly. After a while, a loud bang and a very loud call bell coming from the lavatory made us rush to investigate. Unfortunately it was the passenger, struggling to stand up. As the crew helped him up, he apologised with a smile and said “you guys ought to have bigger lavatories on them bigger planes!” He made perfect sense, we thought. The toilet was completely dislocated and had to be locked off for the remainder of the flight. However the passenger seemed to be rather amused by the whole event than taken a back and he cheerfully headed back to his row of seats not forgetting to make a funny face at the bewildered brood of kids. If he had been wearing red pants instead of his khaki ones, he would have perfectly resembled Santa Clause. After all, at least in North Pole, size doesn’t matter.
Love,
Dany
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