Revolting: Airline Passenger's Gross Seatmate Story Is Really Stirring Up a Response

If you've traveled by air a lot, as I did for many years, you've seen it; a corpulent mass, squeezing down the main aisle of an airliner, one that makes you think, repeatedly, "please don't sit next to me." And if you have traveled a lot, you've probably had it happen to you: An outlandishly oversized seatmate who takes up their seat and half of the seats on either side. I'm not small guy myself, but I fit in the seat — unless a 300-pounder is in the seat next to me.

This is what happened to independent journalist Breanna Morello on a recent American Airlines flight, and her story is really stirring up the internet.

We need to have a serious conversation about overweight people flying on commercial airlines.

I’m flying on @AmericanAir and after paying extra money to upgrade my seat, I got stuck next to a man who is 300+ pounds and stripped mid flight.

None of the flight attendants wanted… pic.twitter.com/gok6UPK9et

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) October 2, 2026

She writes:

We need to have a serious conversation about overweight people flying on commercial airlines. 

I’m flying on @AmericanAir and after paying extra money to upgrade my seat, I got stuck next to a man who is 300+ pounds and stripped mid flight. 

None of the flight attendants wanted to confront him. 

He smells like (poop) and weed. 

He’s literally sitting in my seat and keeps touching me. 

For context, he’s literally 300+ pounds and I’m 120. 

Why does American Airlines think it’s acceptable to treat people this way?! 

I tried reaching out discreetly during the flight, but they have no avenues to do that.

The weight issue is one thing, and honestly, all by itself it would merit an angry response. But the overweight passenger evidently removed his shirt mid-flight, and nobody in the flight crew was brave enough to tell him, "Put your shirt back on! What's wrong with you?"

At the very least, Breanna Morello should have had the full price of her ticket refunded.

This is one example of a larger problem [pun intended] with air travel. The airlines, not just American but all of them, charge extra if your luggage is over a certain weight, but not if a passenger is overweight. That's the first thing that should change: Passengers over a certain weight, let's be generous and say 300 pounds, should be required to purchase two seats. Think that's unfair? Well, do some push-ups, mostly pushing yourself up and away from the dinner table, and walk your tubby butt around the block a few times. 

Also, in this case, American Airlines seems to be badly negligent. At the very least, this guy should have been required to buy an extra seat, but once on the plane, the very least they could have done was to insist that he keep his shirt on. And, as Morello reports, he clearly should have bathed before flying; or at least, it seems, in the weeks leading up to the flight. A person like this, one who is grossly overweight and carrying around a malodorous aura, frankly shouldn't have been allowed to board.

Airline passengers pay for clean air; more to the point, they pay for their seats. Their whole seats. That's what they deserve to get. And if a passenger doesn't fit, that's just too bad.

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