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Maybe. I travel almost constantly for business and I can tell you that after September 11th, before the airlines started trimming routes, there were a lot of empty seats on a lot of planes. It probably would have been pretty easy for this guy to move. Moreover, you notice he's not suing the passenger himself for taking up extra space, is he? I wonder why that could be?

It amuses me that this issue focuses on the large. People forget that the tall, pregnant women, the disabled, the elderly, and people who insist on traveling with a baby on their laps all have the potential to take up more than their "fair share" of space. Yet no one is arguing that these people be forced to pay extra. Heck, no one is even arguing that people in wheelchairs pay less for bringing their own seat!

Bottom line- there are some real jerks out there who feel free to vent their spleen well away from the judgemental eyes of their fellow passengers. Here on the web, they can be free to be Clymers, but I think the vast majority of people would be better behaved in public if only out of shame.

I heard this man on KDKA radio this morning. The over weight man lifted the arm rest so that he could sit down. the air attendant had to get the person a seat belt extender so that he could be belted in and meet the seat belt on take off rule. This guy was so big he took up half of the other seat. There were three empty seats on the plane and at the last minute they were sold to stand by flyers.

When the man got home he wrote a letter to the airline, told them what happened and asked for an appology and a voucher for a future flight. The airline's answer was "That's too bad, nothing we can do about it, kiss off"

The $9500 the law suit asks for is the lowest thresh hold you can ask for in order to get a suit of this type heard in a court in Ohio.

but I think the vast majority of people would be better behaved in public if only out of shame.

Isn't that the truth for life in general in America these days. Using a 30 day month, a 3 hour flight stuck next to an overweight person is a whopping .4 percent of your time for just a single month. Get over it, life doesn't end.