Passenger Sues British Airways After Being Seated Next to 'Extremely Large' Man

© AFP 2023 / JUSTIN TALLISA British Airways Airbus A380 lands at Heathrow Airport in London on July 4, 2013. British Airways is the first UK airline to take delivery of the A380 and the first long-haul flight will be to Los Angeles on September 24, 2013
A British Airways Airbus A380 lands at Heathrow Airport in London on July 4, 2013. British Airways is the first UK airline to take delivery of the A380 and the first long-haul flight will be to Los Angeles on September 24, 2013 - Sputnik International
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It is the nightmare scenario for all fliers depicted on movie and television screens: being seated next to an uncomfortably overweight passenger who takes up all the room, including yours. Yet, for one man, that nightmare became a reality, and now he’s trying to sue the airline involved.

British Airways is being sued for £10,000 by a frustrated passenger who says that he was injured after being forced to sit next to an obese man on a flight from Bangkok to London.

Stephen Prosser, 51, claims to have suffered a pelvic injury after being pinned against the side of the plane by a passenger he reportedly described as "6ft 5in elk, weighing about 23-stone."

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Prosser claims that the sheer size of the large passenger, who was seated in the middle, left him crushed throughout the 12-hour flight, allegedly causing nerve damage to his back, according to an interview he gave with the Daily Mail.

Moreover, despite repeated requests to change seat, Mr Prosser insists that the air cabin crew refused to help him.

According to the Guardian, on November 16 2018, Pontypridd county court in Wales were told that the flight's cabin crew repeatedly ignored Mr Prosser's request to be moved and his concern that if he were forced to continue sitting next to the man, whom he described as an "extremely large passenger," he suffer injuries. 

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Although the flight was full, Mr Prosser maintains that the cabin crew could have moved the obese man to the aisle seat, reducing discomfort for others.

The plaintiff also told the courts that: "he was that large that he had to force his buttocks between the armrests of the seats. He sat with his knees wedged against the seat in front and the rest of his body was overspilling into my seat by some inches."

"I was immediately aware that this was going to be problematic for me and I could feel the weight of his pure bulk putting lateral pressure on my upper body. This forced me into a position of unnatural posture," he reportedly added. 

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Prosser also told the courts that since the incident he has been unable to work properly as a consequence of chronic back pain. 
However, not everyone has brought into his version of events.

Timothy Salisbury, who represents British Airways at the trial, said that Mr Prosser was "exaggerating," according to the Guardian.

A verdict on the trial has not yet been cast.     

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