rant · moment 9 of 21
Trapped Between Two Fat Guys on a United Flight
from Skin Pocket · #92
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
7 minAn extended story about being seated between two extremely overweight passengers on a delayed United flight, the shared humiliation, a fat guy's fake excuses to move seats, and reflections on being fat himself in public spaces.
- 25:12Tim boards a United flight delayed due to technical instrument problems the captain overshares.
- 25:53He walks to his seat and sees two large men: one muscular and reading a gun magazine, the other older and nervous.
- 26:44Tim sits down between them and has to squeeze into the skin pocket they're occupying, becoming a three-headed flesh sculpture.
- 27:08The two men didn't smell bad, but appeared as an unending row of flesh like Cerberus from Greek mythology.
- 27:30Other passengers visibly react with shame and disgust at the sight of the three of them.
- 28:11The fat guy on the left tries to move to a seat next to his son, then invents increasingly elaborate fake relationships to explain wanting to leave.
- 29:12Young kids boarding the plane stare at them like they're a spectacle, prompting Tim to feel ashamed.
- 29:34Tim was angry at United for seating three fat people together, nearly screaming at staff before realizing it wasn't the airline's fault.
- 30:20He acknowledges the situation was brutal and moves on to his previous worst plane experience.
- 31:13Tim explains that being fat is never preferable, but he can sometimes play it off as just a big guy unless shoved between other large people.
- 31:50In that position, he's just a meatball people point at, and other passengers feel grateful they're not like him.
- 32:07The plane lands and Tim pivots to a completely unrelated topic.