At what waist or hip size do you start to feel too big for airplane seats, on average?

[Anonymous]

I haven’t been on a plane before, so I wonder if plane seats are really as small as people say. How many inches around your waist or hip can you have until your extra weight starts exceeding your own seat? I’m a big person myself with 45” hips and I’m not sure if that’s too big.

(P. S. I know people aren’t really flying in planes as often these days, for now, but still curious.)

Updates

+1 y

Oh and my waist is like nearly 39” too so I’m not lacking in weight there either

[MORPHEUS_12]

The average economy class seat is 17 to 18 inches. Anything waistline bigger than 36 inches is going to be tight. The thing is it's more than just hip or waist size that matters. It's whether or not your body is "encroaching" into the seat next to you. I have been on flights were the passengers next to me was spilling over into my seat so I had to sit all 5 hours with my arms squeezed in and I hurt so bad afterwards.

In 2005, Air France flight 358 crashed in Toronto and because a morbidly obese passenger had a great deal of difficulty evacuating the plane, Air France makes its bariactric passengers buy an extra seat. It also matters if you can use the existing lap belt that the airline has in the seat or whether you require the use of their extender buckle. Each plane usually on has just a few like 3 to 5 extra extender buckles. I was on a plane where we were late pushing back from the gate because we have 6 passengers who couldn't safely sit without having an extender. Many are embarrassed to have to ask the flight crew for the extender. Also if you are going to have to be flying a far amount you can buy the extender buckle from Amazon fairly cheap. Just don't forget to take it with you or you won't get it back. Also another thought is can you move down the aisles of the aircraft with ease. The FAA width of an aisle is between 12 to 20 inches depending on the plane. This is why it's really smart to study the layout of the planes that each airline is using on more popular routes the planes are going to be bigger, whereas as some connecting flights to less popular places can be literally Iike flying in a can of biscuits. I hope that you find this information helpful. Best wishes.

https://youtu.be/s0M8w83Ag2s