As we board the double-wide jet to Dystopia today, we have here a story from a plus-sized air traveler.

This plus-sized passenger is upset. Why? Because she barrels down the jet bridge, can barely fit through the door of the aircraft and then is forced to fit in the one seat she has paid for.

Before I roll on down the runway with this and hit V1 and rotate, I will add a disclaimer: this is not about fat-shaming naturally large passengers. I understand people have conditions that inhibit their ability to keep the pounds off. But Jae’lynn Chaney is one who has created a name for herself being plus-sized. Again, nothing wrong with this, either-not a way I would choose to live my life but hey-diffr’nt strokes for diffr’nt folks.

Chaney is so frustrated by the fact that she has to cram herself in one tiny airplane seat that she drafted a Change.org petition to the FAA for accommodations. It is soooo uncomfortable. It also is sooooo unfair. The airlines are not inclusive enough.

Yeah. An “extra cost” to other passengers so YOU can feel included? In other words, Jae’lynn or “Jaebae”, as she calls herself, wants other passengers, including those who are not plus-sized, to fork out the extra bucks for their seat so that she can occupy an extra seat.

During a flight from Pasco to Denver, my fiancé was subjected to hateful comments, disapproving looks and even [a] refusal to sit next to them, amounting to discrimination.

Similarly, on another flight, I was forced to occupy only one seat with immovable armrests that caused me pain and bruises.”-Jae’Lynn Chaney

You can read the whole petition here.

Among the other accommodations Chaney is requesting are: reimbursement for plus-sized passengers who had the sense to purchase an extra seat, airport assistance to plus-size travelers if necessary to include wheelchair assistance and priority boarding, larger bathrooms, seat belt extenders, and “alternative seating arrangements” (whatever those are).

Now, wheelchair assistance for the disabled and the elderly is one thing. Wheelchair assistance and priority boarding for someone who can’t put down a damn pack of Twinkies is another. Honey, the walking may do you some good, especially if you know you have to sit for hours on a plane. Trust me, your heart and your circulatory system will thank you for a few extra steps.

And, excuse me? “Alternative seating arrangements” and larger bathrooms? Girl, there’s only so much room in a 737. You do know that, right, sister?

Where will these “alternative seating arrangements” be? In the cargo hold perhaps? Maybe we should put babies in car seats down there so you can have an extra seat free of charge, Jae’Lynn? Speaking of which, shouldn’t mothers file a Change.org petition to the FAA for having to pay for an extra seat for their tiny human in a baby car seat? By Chaney’s logic, it is soooooo unfair that those who chose to procreate have to pay an extra charge for a 20-pound human! Let’s make everyone else pay for other humans’ decisions to grow their family tree!

Being forced to occupy only one seat can result in pain and vulnerability to poor treatment from fellow passengers.”-Jae’Lynn Chaney

Airlines are cramped enough as it is. If someone decides to spill out of their seat and right into my personal space, you bet I'm gonna be mad. The fact that you care more about being humiliated than someone's boundaries really says something

— MidnightLunaRose (@GothicaOctoling) April 12, 2023

But being the 25 year-old, (not-so-little) girl that she is, Jae’lynn, the Instagram “Influencer”, wants everyone else to pay for her plus-sized life of being an “Influencer”. You see, she has to travel so she can review destinations and post staged photos of her, #livingherbestlife, wearing free clothes and trying out free products and staying in free hotel rooms. That’s the livelihood as an “Influencer”. Why should she have to pay for an extra seat because she is the size of two people?

We get one life and one body, and we shouldn’t spend it hating everything about ourselves. We get so caught up in thinking we won’t do something until we’re a certain size, but we deserve to love ourselves at every single step of our lives. We don’t have to wait to live until we lose the weight. We don’t need to shrink ourselves to fit into society. Society needs to expand to include us.”-Jae’Lynn Chaney

I am firmly in agreement with some aspects of this statement from this young woman. She shouldn’t be self-loathing and should love herself. Chaney is on oxygen and has pulmonary hypertension and needs a wheelchair to move about in an airport. To reiterate: she is only 25 years old. She should love herself enough to not only want to see the world but to get healthy. Nowhere in the Oregon Live article cited is an mention on obesity being a risk factor and cause for major health complications and morbidity. The whole “body positivity” movement avoids these hard truths. Wear the bikini, they say. Stick with your 6,000-calorie-a-day diet. Have the double cheeseburger. YOLO.

Jae’Lynn goes beyond the YOLO to have someone wheel you to your departure gate, lug the oxygen tank, take up an extra seat and expect everyone else to pay for it.

Jae’Lynn may think she is discriminated against and singled out for being the plus-sized person on the plane but there is also the issue of a person such as her having a medical issue in-flight, which could be very likely and quite dangerous, perhaps, for other passengers, when a 300-plus pound person is blocking the aisles.

But we, as a society, must be less closed-minded and expand to be more inclusive, I guess…

This is disgusting and a perfect example of how a generation wants to be catered to. Nobody else should be paying for your bad habits.

— Shaun O'Hara (@ShaunOHara19) April 15, 2023

I can think of a few solutions, Jae’Lynn could charter a Dreamliner. Or, perhaps, go the Kardashian route and fly a private jet (Kim, the multi-million-dollar “Influencer” needs two seats for he surgically-altered double-ass). Those are just a few “alternative seating” solutions for her. But to ask other passengers to fork out extra money for poor health choices? This is nothing but plus-sized entitlement.

Photo Credit: Leonhard Lenz via Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons, Public Domain Dedication. CC0/Cropped