[Bardan the Slayer]

As far as I see it, I don't think an overweight person who can fit (very, very snugly) into one seat, with effort, should have a right to complain about not being comfortable.

Should a large person have to buy two seats? Yes - not for his/her comfort, but for the comfort of the people next to them.

I am relatively tall in airline terms, being an even 6 feet. I know there are many, many people out there who are much taller than me and fly regularly. how they manage is beyond me, because my long-legged frame is squished into a seat like sardines in a tin. This situation is bad enough by itself, but combined with a large person sitting next to you, it would be unbearable. The airlines are unsymathetic in the extreme to tall people needing extra legroom, so I see no reason for them to make special arrangements/bigger seats for people who are only in the top 1 or 2% of the population in terms of their size.

Poeple with any physical deficiencies (which is all of us) have to face certain facts. You will never get a 300-pound 100m sprinter. I will never be capable of being a heavyweight boxer or powerlifter. No adjustments are made in these areas. I am not given bonuses based on my slight frame, and when I get to a room/airline seat that I have to squish into because of my height, I don't complain - i just do it/ it's not comfortable and it's not preferable to having things exactly the way I want it, but you have to make do.

It's also a question of load. On an airliner, weight matters. In terms of fuel economy and so on, then the load on a plane is a factor. If a 400 lb person wants to just sit in one seat and enjoy the same benefits as I do despite the fact he is way heavier than me and his size will not only make him the equivalent of 2 people weightwise, but will also make his body encroach on the seat of the person(s) next to him, then I want discounts from my airline tickets due to the fact I weigh considerably less than a regular person, and am considerably less of an impediment to other peoples' comfort.

However, I get the impression that even if that happened, you would still get complaints from exceptionally overweight people that thin people were getting preferential treatment.

In life, you have to make compromises based on the situations you find yourself in. If you are in a situation where you weigh twice as much as a normal airline passenger, then you should accept the fact you have to buy two seats and at least try to do it with a modicum of good grace.