Imagine boarding a flight and finding yourself sat next to The Man Who Ate A Whole Family Of Horses For Breakfast. Sounds like a terrible yet incredibly entertaining film, but with the population becoming increasingly obese it’s a problem that’s going to grow in size (arf!). For example, this photo was allegedly taken by a member of the cabin crew on a recent American Airlines flight:

The photo was first published on the blog of Kieran Daly on Flight Global:

“This is sent to me with the absolute assurance that it’s a genuine picture taken by a flight attendant at American Airlines. The flight attendant took it to show her manager what was happening on the aircraft and why she was unhappy about it.”

The alleged concern of the staff member was that the passenger hadn’t bought two seats yet was still allowed to board. There would no doubt have been an issue with regards to discrimination if they had been barred from the aircraft, but really – you wouldn’t want to be stuck behind him in a fire, would you? Safe evacuation of the aircraft is a write-off, as is the trolley service, and even for a short haul flight, the guy in the middle seat is going to be scarred by that journey until the day he dies. It also makes a mockery of airlines charging outrageous amounts for excess baggage when you can smuggle a suitcase worth of additional weight on board in lard.

Judging by the comments on the post, plenty believe the photo is a fake, pointing out various artifacts in the image that are tell-tale signs, although some seem likely to be aberrations caused by the piss-poor quality of the camera. There’s also the point made that he appears to be sat on the arm of his chair rather than in it, but that may simply be an act of goodwill to stop the other passenger suffocating.

Regardless of its authenticity, it’s certainly started a conversation about how airlines should be behaving in these situations. Should passengers of a certain height or weight be charged more, or passengers of a certain waist size be required to take a second seat? Is that really discrimination if not only the comfort, but the safety of other passengers is at risk?

[Unusual Attitude]

Most of us struggle through arse-backward websites because we have little choice, other than to give up and check out the competition. Dustin Curtis, a UI designer and frustrated American Airlines customer, took a different direction:

Dear American Airlines,

I redesigned your website’s front page, and I’d like to get your opinion.

I’m a user interface designer. I travel sometimes. Recently, I had the horrific displeasure of booking a flight on your website, aa.com. The experience was so bad that I vowed never to fly your airline again.

How did this happen? If I was running a company with the distinction and history of American Airlines, I would be embarrassed – no ashamed – to have a website with a customer experience as terrible as the one you have now. How does your CEO justify treating customers this way? Why does your board of directors approve of this? Your website is abusive to your customers, it is limiting your revenue possibilities, and it is permanently destroying the brand and image of your company in the mind of every visitor.

Curtis went ahead and provided AA with a redesigned website that didn’t look like a jumble sale in a threshing machine. In case you haven’t looked recently, this is what the current AA homepage looks like:

And this is what Curtis presented: (more…)

Quick one here for you – The Onion reveal that American Airlines are planning to introduce charges for non-passengers as well as those who fly with them. Skills.