Suing the airline for lack of seat room?

[BSM 33]

Can I sue an airline if two very overweight people are on each side of me on a four hour flight and I was crushed in my "seat" for the entire four hours.
Honestly I could hardly breath and almost had a panic attack.
Something is not right about this. The gov should intervene if need be. I even told stewardess to move me to business class where open seats existed and they refused. I could have died of thrombosis or whatever it's called.

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you may file a suit for deficiency in service against airline if your seat area was affected because of your neighbors. You may claim compensation on the ground that your neighbor had taken a part of your seat and as a result you had not got complete area of your seat for which you had paid. You had brought the matter to the notice of staff but they refused to resolve your issues. You may seek compensation for negligence of your airline for failure to provide proper seat. You may have the burden to show that your neighbors had taken part of your seat.

AFF

[adjusterjack]

You can sue.

You will lose.

And there's no money in "coulda beens."

Consult an attorney if you don't believe me. Be prepared to pay many thousands in legal fees to pursue this.

Well you could try to use small claims court if the damages are limited, and that would cost not much.
But you would really have to prove some serious problem or complete lack of service/product.
And check your terms of service which may purport to limit where and how you can sue.

[goddessoflubboc]

You have no damages. You had an unpleasant experience, complain to the airline. Some are now requiring obese flyers to buy two seats.

[Lexus]

In this matter you could not raise a valid claim against the airline because you could not prove that the seat allotment was intentional.

If you can get a doctor's note that you were somehow injured that would help.
But that may not be easy to get.

Blog online against them!!

I know the feeling BTW, and if you are already uneasy about flying it can be claustrophobic beyond belief when that happens and you have no space whatsoever. I actually had a mild panic attack one time in that situation. I could feel my heart rate rise and I started sweating.