Woman’s honest review of flying Jetstar ‘as a fat person’ goes viral

Flying economy is far from comfort and luxury when travelling. But one Aussie woman has recorded an “entertaining” video on what it’s like “as a fat person”.

Let’s face it, when it comes to travel, economy is no place to be if you’re craving the height of comfort and luxury.

The narrow seats, little leg room and the impending argument over who gets which armrest.

But one flyer – who describes herself as a “fat person” – has given an honest review of exactly what its like to travel in the not-so-pointy part of the plane.

The video, which has received 240,000 views, starts off with content creator Ali Smith declaring the clip will explore what it’s like to travel with the budget airline “as a fat person”.

“Step one is dressing in compressive activewear and I can hardly breathe,” Ms Smith says while posing at the terminal in front of the camera.

Ms Smith says she considered asking for a seatbelt extender, but admits she “got to embarrassed” so proceeded to board the flight without.

“With a little hustle and bustle it fit, although I felt like I was going to decapitate my legs,” she says of the seatbelt.

“The next thing is to test the tray table. I was not expecting to be able to use my tray but in the end, it was OK.”

TikToker Ali Smith has done a video on what it was like to travel with Jetstar as a ‘fat person’.

Ms Smith joked that while she could lose weight, it would result in a less entertaining video.

She jokes that while the issue could be resolved by “not being so big”, it would result in a less entertaining video for her audience.

Ms Smith says that prior to boarding, she also “practised” how she would sit as to not

“encroach on the person next to me”.

To try to get a bit extra room, Ms Smith and her partner booked a window and an aisle seat – while hoping the middle seat would remain vacant. But that didn’t mean they weren’t “praying” nobody booked a last-minute fare and snagged the seat next to her.

The video has received almost 1000 comments from TikTok users praising the video’s honesty, but many encouraged Ms Smith to always ask for a belt extender because there is “nothing embarrassing” about the request.

She said she was ‘too embarrassed’ to ask for a belt extender.

The traveller gave her honest review of the economy flight.

“As a flight attendant, please ask for the extender. We are trained to give the seatbelt discreetly and there’s absolutely no shame,” one person wrote.

“Love your honesty,” another added.

“Thank you for normalising this! I never hear anyone talk about these struggles and fears when flying,” a third wrote.

Meanwhile another said: “I’ve never watched a video that could be more relatable. Every one of these thoughts are in my head when I fly.”