YOU DON’T have to be overweight to feel squashed in an aeroplane seat – many a passenger has complained about stingy leg room and being too close to fellow fliers for comfort.

However, larger travellers who squeeze into budget airline Ryanair’s planes could soon be paying extra.

The airline is considering a “fat tax” on overweight passengers.

It has been brought about by Ryanair passengers, because in an online survey, more than 30,000 of them have voted in favour of excess weight fees.

They are now voting on how the airline should charge customers – by weight, by waist measurement, by body mass index (BMI) or by charging for an extra seat if a person’s body touches both armrests.

“With passengers voting overwhelmingly for a ‘fat tax’ we are now asking them to suggest which format the charge should take,” says company spokesman Stephen McNamara “The above four points seem to us to be the simplest, fairest and administratively easiest to apply. In all cases we’ve limits at very high levels so that a ‘fat tax’ will only apply to those really large passengers who invade’ the space of the passengers sitting beside them.”

Former air hostess Claire Stabler, of Osbaldwick, knows exactly how it feels to be large.

After leaving her job with Virgin Atlantic she ballooned to 12.2 stone. She later dropped to nine stone and became a Slimming World cover girl.

Being overweight is humiliating enough, she says, without being singled out for ridicule.

“It’s really embarrassing for overweight people on a plane,” says Claire, 32.

“When they have to ask for an extension of their seatbelt it makes them feel very embarrassed and I can absolutely see how they feel.

“I think the fat tax would be humiliating and that airlines should have larger seats anyway. They might not be able to fit as many people in there.

“Even now flying can be extremely uncomfortable, even though I’ve lost the weight.”

North Yorkshire life coach Lisa Clifford, who helps people to lose weight through hypnosis, believes it could shatter people’s confidence. Your body is private, she says, and talking about it in public, and admitting you are overweight, could be hugely embarrassing.

However, if the “fat tax” meant bigger seats, it could be a good idea.

“I know ladies who have to ask for the extension on the seatbelt and it absolutely kills them to ask for it,” she says. “I think it would possibly be nicer to have the comfort of the bigger seat rather than having to ask for the extension.

“But nobody should know about it apart from the airline.

“It should be anonymous and you shouldn’t know what the surcharge is unless you are booking it.

“That would be difficult if you were part of a group or someone was booking for you.”

Ryanair’s options include charging per kg over 20 stone for men, and 15 stone for women; per inch for every waist inch over 45 inch (male) and 40 inch (female), for every point in excess of 40 points on the Body Mass Index (+30 points is obese); or to charge for a second seat if a passenger’s waist touches both armrests simultaneously.

“I know a lot of ladies who are over 15 stone,” says Lisa.

“We are a growing nation. I think the waist touching the armrest idea is a bad one because you will have people saying ‘you shouldn’t be in that seat, you’re touching me’.

“It creates animosity by other passengers policing the process, which I think is unfair.”

The best idea, believes Lisa, is to create a selection of bigger, more comfortable seats that everyone has the option to buy.

That would ease embarrassment and give everybody the chance to be more comfortable, she says.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara believes a “fat tax” could be an incentive to lose weight.

“‘These charges, if introduced, might also act as an incentive to some of our very large passengers to lose a little weight and hopefully feel a little lighter and healthier,” he says.

However, Dr John Givans, of the North Yorkshire Branch of YOR Local Medical Committee Ltd, does not agree.

He questions the motives behind the idea, pointing out that you cannot lose sustainable amounts of weight in the short time before your holiday.

“I don’t think it will make any difference.

“Losing weight has to be a long-term improvement and you’re not going to lose weight in a week,” he said.

“It’s a good thing to encourage people to lose weight, I can’t deny that, but I do suspect Ryanair’s motives.”

The revenues from any fat tax would be use to lower the airfares for all Ryanair passengers, the company claims.

Weight for it

The full RyanAir poll results:

• 29 per cent said excess fees for very overweight passengers should be introduced

• 25 per cent said they would pay a euro for toilet paper with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary’s face on it

• 24 per cent said they would pay three euros to smoke in a converted toilet cubicle

• 14 per cent wanted an annual subscription to access Ryanair.com

• Eight per cent thought passengers should be charged a “corkage” fee for bringing their own food onboard.