400lb man causes passenger to stand for 7 hours on US Airways flight

A passenger had to stand during a seven-hour flight after a morbidly obese man sitting next to him made it impossible to get into his seat. Arthur Berkowitz said his 400lb neighbour on US Airways Flight 901 from Anchorage to Philadelphia spilled over into his personal space.He was not able to sit in his seat, could not move elsewhere in the aircraft because it was full and was therefore forced to stand up.

Mr Berkowitz also claims his ordeal in July presented a safety risk because he could not use his seatbelt during take-off and landing.'I didn't fly from Alaska to Philadelphia on Flight 901,’ Mr Berkowitz told consumer advocate Christopher Elliot’s blog. ‘I stood.’

'His size required both armrests to be raised up and allowed for his body to cover half of my seat,’ he told the website, elliott.org. The flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia is one of the longest non-stop U.S. domestic flights and Mr Berkowitz thought he had a spare seat at first.