(on putting the armrest up)
Originally Posted by
manintheback
Why do you believe you have the right to reduce another passengers comfort by doing this and also the real aim of allowing you to use up part of their seat for which they have paid for their own use - not yours.
I never do it when I am sitting next to a poor sod stuck in the middle seat. Not because I will flow into their space -- which I don't - my weight is all up front, not side to side.
I want "my" room as much as they want "their" room. I don't want their wallet, iPod or keys sticking into me just as they don't want my legs splaying out to their natural pose (hint, ladies - men don't sit with their legs together). But when there's no one there, why not be comfortable?
The economy seat width is 17-18" on most planes (17" on old 737's, 18" on modern A320's and 777's). Look at your trousers. Anyone wearing size 34 trousers or less can sit more or less comfortably in a 17" width seat.
Everyone else cannot - the seat and body will intersect. Even my relatively short (175 cm) fitness freak brother wears size 34 trousers. He has a BMI in the low 20's (at the lower end of the supposedly "healthy" weight range).
The median BMI of US adults is 27, which means most folks are somewhat overweight and thus do not fit seats comfortably. In my experience of twice weekly or more frequent flights, no one besides young kids and small women with no hips can sit within seat bounds. The seats are simply too narrow for modern, healthy humans, let alone fat dudes like myself.
Andrew