An Italian lawyer is taking Emirates airline to court after being obliged to sit next to an overweight passenger on a long flight.
Giorgio Destro, from the northern Italian city of Padua, claims to have had to endure nine hours on a flight in July from Cape Town to Dubai because a considerably heavy man in the seat adjacent to Destro’s window seat was taking up too much of his assigned space.
Destro said his request to change seats was rejected on the grounds that the flight was fully booked.
"For 9 hours, I had to stand in the aisle, sit on seats reserved for the cabin crew when they were free, and in the final phase of flight resign myself to suffer the 'spillover' of the passenger at my side" the lawyer told local media.
Included in his law suit is a photo Destro took illustrating the cramped conditions the two travellers had to share.
The lawyer worked formerly for the Italian Consulate in South Africa. He is a frequent flyer with Emirates and one of its ‘gold members’. But even after the flight, he says that the airlines refused to offer either apology or any compensation.
Now he is asking for €2759.51 in compensation composed of €759.51 as the cost of the flight and an additional €2,000 in damages.
The hearing is scheduled to take place in Padua on 20 October.
Comments
Why not allocate to every ticket holder a flying weight, which could be used against both their personal weight and their luggage? Fat people would have slim suitcases, and vice versa.
Some airlines require obese people to buy 2 seats; this leads to arguments at checkin.
Luggage weight is strictly controlled, but passenger weight isn't.