Flying with Obesity
The process and experience of flying with an extra seat for people with obesity
I am writing to discuss what flying domestic is like in Canada for a person living with obesity. To do so, an individual must request an extra seat for the flight from the airlines. Therefore, my focus will specifically be on the process of requesting this extra seat and my personal experiences with such a process.
The case of McKay-Panos v. Air Canada set the precedent that says that Canadians living with obesity are entitled to request an extra seat on domestic flights within Canada. Since the ruling only applies to domestic flights, I will be addressing the two main airlines which handle domestic flights within Canada -WestJet and Air Canada.
Filling In Forms
The process begins with filling out a specific ‘fitness for travel’ form. WestJet and Air Canada both require this lengthy form to be filled out by your family doctor. This is the first major impediment most Canadians could face in trying to obtain an approved extra seat – millions of Canadians do not have a family doctor and for those who are lucky enough to have one, they sometimes face a month’s long wait or greater to see their doctor. The medical form requires your doctor to physically measure how wide you are in your hip region, take your weight, and calculate your BMI. This is an invasive procedure that many may not feel comfortable doing. Also, it is important to note that neither Air Canada nor WestJet list what their obesity threshold is to successfully obtain an extra seat. Clearly, one could go to all this trouble and still be denied. It may also take a fairly long period of time for the doctor to complete the forms. I would therefore advise beginning this process as early as possible.
Once the doctor has completed filling out the form and signed off, you need to email it to each airline’s respective medical desks where your request for an extra seat will either be approved or denied. The usual turnaround time is within 1-2 weeks. If approved, you will be given a reference number for the approval. This approval is valid for one year on WestJet and three years with Air Canada. After the time expires you must repeat the process again.
To actually obtain the extra seat you must first book your plane ticket and then call the airline’s medical desk and provide them with your reference number. They will then book the extra seat. This of course requires that two seats are available next to each other, so make sure you book the extra seat as early as possible.
Several years ago, having this extra seat did not confer any special help or benefits. However, when I flew recently, I noticed tickets booked with the extra seat are now flagged as medical/disabilities and allow for the person to have priority boarding at the gate. It is important to note that the airlines reserve the right to re-measure you at the gate (in front of everyone else) if they think you are lying about your waist size.
My Experiences
It is excellent that this system exists allowing an extra seat for people living with obesity. It has been a massive help for people such as me. However, its rollout has been rocky. The first time I flew with the extra seat, they called my name to come to the gate attendant before they began boarding. I was worried they were going to re-measure me in front of everyone as I had been warned about such an occurrence. Luckily, I was instead asked to help escort another person with disabilities onto the plane. Their system had me flagged as a disabled flyer and I can only presume that the gate agent thought it would be easier if they had one disabled passenger escort another on the plane. I was, of course, happy to help the passenger as best I could but the experience felt bizarre and a little callous. However, without asking me if I could help, they simply assumed that I was capable to do so.
On another occasion, the person at the medical desk who booked the extra seat for me did not think it was important that the two seats were booked next to each other! Unbeknownst to me, until I boarded, the person booked two seats in different parts of the plane. When we began boarding and someone sat next to me, I was confused and a little distressed. When I explained the situation to the flight attendant, they kindly moved the other person to another seat. However, it was a highly embarrassing situation since the attendant had to explain – in front of the other passengers – to the person why they had to be moved from the seat they had reserved for me. I was also lucky the flight was not full and that there was an available seat for that passenger to be moved to.
One final thing I have noticed is that this process is not conducive to people who are shy or might have difficulties in public. Often, when I fly with the extra seat, the gate agents call my name to the desk to let me know I can board first and ask if I need any help boarding. The assistance is appreciated but you certainly feel daggers being shot at you by other passengers at the gate when you board first. You also need to be assertive on flights since sometimes I have had the person next to me not know the extra seat is for me specifically and will try to ‘muscle in’ and put their stuff on any partially empty part of the seat between us.
Conclusion
Overall, this entire process is long, tedious, cumbersome, and not very accommodating to people who might also have other disabilities as well. This practice was forced upon airlines by a court ruling and it certainly shows in how they treat it. In my opinion, it needs to be streamlined, the approval needs to be available for a longer period than one or three years, and the paperwork must be less onerous and invasive. Obesity should be treated with the same respect afforded to any other disability or impairment, especially when it comes to flying, which is stressful at the best of times, and always much more difficult for a person of size. However, the extra seat is still helpful and makes flying in Canada much better in terms of experience and should be rolled out to all flights, not just domestic ones.