Man sues airline for being seated next to 'obese' passengers

The Wollongong man says he was forced to crouch kneel brace and stand throughout the lengthy flight which also aggravated his existing condition of curvature of the spine

Orlando Vargas | 07 May, 2017, 14:15

Documents filed in an Australian court say Taylor was placed in a window seat on the December 2015 flight, in an economy class row with two "grossly obese" passengers.

After spending most of the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles "crouching, kneeling, bracing or standing" Mr Taylor was left with permanent back and neck injuries for which he is now seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

"The airline could have put me in a crew seat or moved people around but they did nothing", Taylor told Sydney's Daily Telegraph [subscription], as cited by the UK's Telegraph.

Mr Taylor says he's since experienced aggravation of pre-existing scoliosis, a condition which causes the spine to curve out of shape.

American Airlines also said the 310-seat flight was completely full, and that "US federal regulations do not allow passengers to sit in jump seats".

Janson notes that if Taylor wins the lawsuit, it could pave the way to many more cases against airlines over how they seat passengers and design seating.

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Thomas Jansen of Shine Lawyers, who is representing Mr Taylor, alleged that his client asked the cabin crew to change seats - including offering to move to the toilet - "on numerous occasions" to "alleviate the pain and discomfort that he was suffering from".

'On each occasion, he was refused and rebuffed'.

Mr Jansen told news.com.au: 'Mr. However, he did take offence with the cabin crew because "they did nothing".

He explained: "If Michael is successful, there will likely be many more lawsuits around the world concerning this issue".

An American Airlines spokesperson told The Telegraph that the airline is now reviewing the lawsuit's allegations, but offered no additional comment at this point.

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Man sues airline for being seated next to 'obese' passengers

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