I'm 5'8" and weigh just under 400lbs and I have a 4 1/2 hour flight each way. I have booked first class, so I'm not worried about the 20" seats (I'll fit with an extender) but what I am worried about is the teeny tiny bathroom.
My last flight was when I was about 375, and I JUST barely fit into the bathroom. However, the planes I am flying on have retrofit their bathrooms since I last flew, and SHRUNK them by 25%. The bathroom is 24" wide (I've called). I'm worried about the bathroom and I don't know if I can hold it for 5 1/2 hours (assuming 1/2 hour to taxi in and out at the beginning/end of the flight). I think I can probably "hold it" for about 4 hours. Unfortunately, it does not have a disabled washroom on board.
So, fellow fat travelers, can I get your tips and tricks? So far I am considering:
- Getting one of those things that lets you pee standing up (I'm a woman), so I won't have to sit down and risk getting stuck in the bathroom
- Adding 2-3 incontinence pads to my underwear and just "going pee" once I can't hold it anymore at the ~4 hour mark and suffering for an hour and a half until we land and I can get to a bathroom (worried about smell here - another larger friend said to get "period panties" to keep the smell in - I have never used these incontinence pads)
- Taking salt tablets before flying so I will retain water and not have to pee
- Not eating for the 12 hours before the flight/on the flight so going #2 doesn't ever become an issue
- Severely limiting my water intake in the 12 hours before the flight to "just sips" so peeing will be less of an issue
- Attempting to "train" my bladder doing the above so I can get to six hours without a bathroom and only sips of water
- "Backing into" the bathroom so that I don't have to turn around
- Making a "model" 24" bathroom at home to see if I can fit (this seems ridiculous but I'm willing to try)
Can anyone give me any ideas for what to do? Will I be able to get into and use this bathroom? I am absolutely terrified of this flight but I have to do it (family stuff). I have never felt less human than when realizing I couldn't use something so simple as a bathroom.
Edit: Correction, I have never felt less human than genuinely asking for help and being shamed. I know I'm fat. I live and struggle with my weight every day, because when I was young I was periodically left without food for long periods of time. If I could have changed my weight, I would have. I HATE being fat. I've been on a diet off and on my entire adult life. I guess to you all that means I don't get to have normal human experiences, like traveling when family needs me. Heard.
I've heard a few but the only one that I've experienced is the CD scam where some person attempts to give you a CD and tell you it's their music. Then they try and get money from you. Most of the time the CD is just badly recorded music.
