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A beautician has criticised Ryanair after her seat had \u2018too short\u2019 a safety belt, saying their standard size belts could be viewed as \u2018fatphobic\u2019.<\/p>\n
Katie Higgins, 33, from Ayr, says her experience earlier this month flying from\u00a0Glasgow\u00a0to visit family in Cork left her feeling \u2018lassoed\u2019 to her seat, because the budget airline\u2019s safety belt at its maximum length was too tight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Katie wears a size 16 \u2013 the average dress size in the UK \u2013 but says\u00a0there was barely an inch of room left after connecting the metal fasteners.<\/p>\n
Frustrated, she went to Facebook to air her concerns. After she posted about this, she says lots of people have admitted to purchasing their own extenders to take on board flights, because they want to avoid the embarrassment of asking for one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Katie said: \u2018I flew on Friday, and I was lassoed by the seatbelt. I flew back again on the Monday and the seatbelt was looser. So unless I\u2019m doing magic tricks over the weekend, this is a bit of an issue.<\/p>\n
\u2018I haven\u2019t complained before because I feel like it would fall on deaf ears. It\u2019s one of those situations that\u2019s like, \u201cput up or shut up\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n
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She worries the experience could be damaging to people, and this was confirmed when one woman commented on her Facebook post saying a similar experience had her holding back tears her entire flight, as she struggled not to \u2018cry\u2019.<\/p>\n
Another added: \u2018I have just flown to Croatia and had to ask for a belt extender. I don\u2019t give a flying f*ck what people think but you can see the looks of disgust.\u2019<\/p>\n
Some else wrote: \u2018I\u2019m so glad you posted this. I thought it was just me. I can\u2019t even breathe when I\u2019m on a Ryanair flight and it\u2019s much too embarrassing to ask for the extender. I know I shouldn\u2019t be, because as you said, we all come in different shapes and sizes.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Katie says that she isn\u2019t \u2018delusional\u2019 about her size, but there is a safety issue and she fears the budget airline\u2019s tight seat belts could harm \u2018the self-esteem and mental health\u2019 of some passengers.<\/p>\n
Katie explained: \u2018With other airlines, you can usually pull the length of the belt a little and try to adjust it, but there was none of that.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was across me, and there was about an inch [of room] at the bottom and nothing else. If it was any tighter, I would have been very uncomfortable on the flight.\u2019<\/p>\n
She hasn\u2019t gone to Ryanair directly about the issue, as she feels it would fall on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fatphobic, but I think a lot of people could see it that way. I think it\u2019s them cutting corners more than being fatphobic,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n
Katie says that her confusion only heightened on her flight home the following week, when she was given a fitting seat belt \u2013 which led her to claim that flying with Ryanair is like \u2018potluck\u2019.<\/p>\n
Ryanair has been contacted for comment and we\u2019ll update this article when we receive a response.<\/p>\n