When you book your next flight think about this
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E401,00.html
A WOMAN seriously injured after being squashed for 11 hours by a fat passenger sitting next to her on a transatlantic flight has won $39,000 compensation.
Barbara Hewson suffered broken blood vessels in her left breast and hand, torn leg muscles and sciatic nerve damage as she lay helplessly pinned down by the 140kg American woman.
The woman was so fat that her arm and leg spilled over on to petite Mrs Hewson's body during the 8500km Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Los Angeles.
She could not fasten her seatbelt during turbulence because it was trapped beneath their bodies and the pressure of the buckle tore muscles in her buttock.
Despite Mrs Hewson's complaints airline staff said the plane was full and they were unable to give her another seat. On arrival in Los Angeles, the 61-year-old freelance writer from Killay, Swansea, had to be taken to hospital, where she was given painkillers.
Almost two years after the flight, 1.5m Mrs Hewson is still in constant pain and walks with a stick.
"It was horrific," she recalled. "This woman was so enormous that she was literally sitting on top of me.
"Her left leg was pressing down on my right leg and her arm was across my chest, pinning me down.
"To add insult to injury, about halfway into the flight we discovered that her husband was sitting directly behind her.
"He clearly knew better than to sit next to his own wife." Mrs Hewson spent a month bedridden and says the experience has left her mentally scarred. "I used to be a feisty, enthusiastic person and loved travelling, but it has taken the stuffing out of me," she said.
Virgin Atlantic initially offered her a basket of tinned goods as compensation.
After a long wrangle, the sum was finally increased to $39,000, which she accepted on legal advice.
An airline spokesman said: "This was an unprecedented set of extremely unfortunate circumstances."
Edit: OMG like w00t would u do if this fat person was sittin on top off you in a 11houer no stop flight?
Saving money by crushing a stranger 
