Killer Zebras

For all we hear about how fat people are overtaking the airlines and making everyone uncomfortable, according to at least 5 flight attendants to whom I’ve spoken, no more than 3 people on each flight are actually larger than the plane’s seatbelts accommodate. I started thinking about it and I realized that I was on over 100 flights last year and was never seated next to another fat passenger. Guys with broad shoulders, guys who sat with their legs wide open in the middle seat, one douche who jammed his elbow into my side to work on his laptop , several people with cloying perfume/cologne that gave me a headache, people who reeked of cigarette smoke and gave me a sore throat, several people with strong body odor, several screaming babies, and one poodle in yappy distress for an entire cross country flight, but not a single other fat person.

So, I first have to ask how big a problem fat people on planes really is? Is it overblown? Is it actually that seats have become smaller and the rows have been compressed in a way that makes most average sized people uncomfortable, but they want to blame it on fat people?