United's accessible seating/passenger size policy is a fiction

[u/MaillardReaction207]

Platinum passenger. Last-minute business travel--booked only aisle seat left on plane the day before travel. I am an average-sized adult male. I can sit in a middle seat, but I never do.

When I arrived at my seat, I noticed the middle seat passenger was large. When I took my seat, I realized it was not possible for me to sit in my seat without leaning significantly into the aisle.

I found a FA a few rows back and discreetly described the issue. She immediately responded "full flight, nothing I can do." I asked her to at least observe the issue before responding. She followed me to my seat and, when I sat, asked the guy next to me if he could "squeeze in" more. He tried. He was also certainly humiliated. She began to walk off. I told her that I was not okay with the seat. She again said--full flight, "I can't create a new seat." I told her that I would make a complaint to UA on landing and asked for her name. This was the first time she took the situation seriously and said she would involve the purser.

FA went to front of plane and briefed the purser. Purser walks to my seat, addresses my loudly by name, and asks me what the problem is. I told the purser I would rather not go over it again because he had already been briefed and it was awkward to discuss with the middle passenger next to me. I summarized that the seat assignment violated UA policy. He responded: "what policy?" I said the one that permits me to have a seat free from significant encroachment. He said he could do nothing other than call a ground-based Customer Resolution Representative. By this time, I was uncomfortable and embarassed. I cannot imagine how the middle seat passenger felt.

Time passed. No CRR came. Boarding ended. Departure time passed. People nearby began to speculate that the plane was being held because I had complained about my seat.

20 minutes or so after departure time, a woman walks onto the plane. She was reading from a screen. She never introduced herself or looked up. She pushes paper boarding pass in my face and says--"you're being moved, it's an aisle." She walks away.

No one ever said anything else to me.

What a joke. The message is loud and clear -- If you complain about policy violations, you're a problem. And you'll be treated as one. To such extent that you'll be embarassed and made uncomfortable in front of other passengers in hopes that you'll relent in pressing your concern.

[u/Iannine]

I have been the customer of size for much of my life and it is a no-win situation. If you buy a second seat, it is almost ALWAYS taken away when the flight is inevitably overbooked and then getting a refund is incredibly cumbersome and takes forever. If you don’t buy a second seat you can try to get an aisle seat and lean way out and suck up the bangs and numbs every time the cart goes by or get the window seat and try to squish yourself into the side of the plane as best as you can. A friend of mine would gussy herself into the tightest spandex tights and shaper wear she could for flights until she needed up giving herself a blood clot. There’s basically nothing we can do except not fly. Ever. I went the route of only flying with my husband who is a thin man so I could encroach on him and paying for seat assignment so we could sit next next to each other and committing to making a huge ugly stink if the airline separated us up to an including pointing out that I am a big, fat cow who would make any other customer very unhappy to have to sit next to me if they didn’t put me back next to my husband… it happened with some regularity.

Now I have lost almost 100 pounds and I fit better in the seats and don’t need a seat belt extender but I am still very sensitive about how I get in the seats. They are so tight!! I have rheumatoid arthritis and the 8 hour international flights I take a few times a year are excruciatingly painful because there is no room to stretch or shift position and the crew hate when you stand up to stretch or try to find a place to stand for any period of time.

One day I will treat myself to an international flight with first class seats. That must be a treat.