By Sophie Foster, Deputy Travel Editor for Mailonline
14:19 June 30, 2024, updated 16:33 June 30, 2024
A travel influencer has ranked some of the biggest airlines operating in the UK from best to worst for plus-size passengers.
Becky Price posts airline reviews on her TikTok channel under the username @xBeckyPricex and spoke to MailOnline about her experiences with Ryanair, EasyJet, British Airways and Tui.
The British size 20 to 22 traveller rated each of the four airlines on comfort, seat size, accessibility (such as the availability of seat belt extenders), toilet size, aisle width, amount of legroom, and the service and helpfulness of the passengers and crew.
She explained: ‘I’m a plus size girl and I make no secret of that. Many plus-size people are afraid to fly because of the space available and whether they would fit.
‘They can fly and will also make wonderful memories abroad, but I wish airlines would improve the space available. This affects everyone, whether you are tall or wide.” Read on to discover Becky’s favorite airline for taller passengers – and the one she had a ‘terrible’ experience with.
British Airways
Becky took an international flight from the United Kingdom to Cancun, in Mexico, with BA.
She said: ‘It was a big plane for a long flight, but the seats were small – I was in economy class.’
For that reason, TikToker gave British Airways a three out of five rating for seat size. That is the lowest score in a category.
Becky noted that “the biggest challenge is the available seating space, whether that’s width or depth, and also whether the seat belt fits or not. [if] the tray table [will] be useful.’
Beyond seat size, the vlogger gave British Airways a glowing 4.5 for overall comfort, lavatory size and aisle size.
Although the seats were small, the seat belt fit — “the seat belt just went over me, there was some room in it,” she said — and she didn’t have to buy a seat belt extender. These are available on all flights for passengers of larger stature and add extra inches to the seat belts to ensure taller passengers are safely secured.
One of the TikTok star’s main focuses when traveling is finding an extendable table that stands flat so he can easily serve meals and drinks.
Commenting on BA’s tray table, Becky, who explains that she carries most of her weight around her mid-abdomen area, revealed that she could “just about open it with a little bit of belly on it.”
Becky gave BA a four for legroom, a 3.5 for crew service and helpfulness and a five for accessibility.
“You get little extras like a TV and a blanket, so I enjoyed flying it,” she noted, giving it the highest overall score of all the airlines tested.
General opinion: 4.5/5
Tui
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Becky flew to Ibiza with Tui airline and said: ‘I like flying with Tui, I’ve never had any problems with them.’
The mother, who usually flies with the whole family, said: ‘We were assigned row 23, we are a family, and I took the aisle seat.’
However, Becky recalled that the tray table presented a slight problem if the front passenger chose to recline. The TikToker said, “My first test is always the tray table: does the tray table open and fully extend?
‘I’m a UK size 20 to 22 and it opened fully but there was no room to move and it got worse when the front passenger reclined his seat. It drives me crazy, how selfish, it’s only a two hour flight. But I could use the tray.”
She gave the tour operator a four-star rating for comfort, seat size, toilet size, aisle size, legroom and service, which also included the helpfulness of the crew.
Her seat belt test was golden, with the traveler adding, “The seat belt was broken and there was room left.” Tui only received five out of five ratings for accessibility.
General opinion: 4/5
Ryanair
Budget airline Ryanair didn’t fare well with Becky, who declared her flight “terrible” – it was the worst rated of the four airlines she tried.
The airline received a score of two for comfort – partly because it said the flight was “unbearably hot” and partly because of the seat belt.
And when flying Ryanair, Becky noticed some differences with the size of the seat belt. She had previously flown from the UK to Hungary and was able to fasten the seat belt without an extension.
But when we flew to Tenerife, Spain, this was not the case. She said: ‘I recently flew to Budapest with Ryanair and had no problems, but this time I did need a seat belt extender for the first time in my life.’
Plus-size passengers wish there was an easier, more discreet way to get extenders on all flights.
She told MailOnline: ‘It would be great if there was an option to automatically order an extension strap when booking. Some passengers are ashamed of this.’
“But girls, please don’t be ashamed of asking for a seat belt extender, there is absolutely no shame in it.”
Ryanair received a score of two out of five for seat size and aisle size, a 2.5 for legroom, a three out of five for toilet size and a four for accessibility and service.
General opinion: 2.5/5
EasyJet
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Budget airline easyJet did well. Becky noted that it had “comfortable planes” and that she “never needed a seat belt extension” on any of the flights.
The vlogger flew to the Greek island of Rhodes with easyJet and noted: ‘We were allocated row 31, which was at the back of the plane. The tray table could be fully extended, but the seat belt was shorter than that [some] ‘I have used the full length of the seat belt on other airlines.’
However, Becky said that ‘the flight was lovely’ because ‘the staff are always cheerful and helpful’ and ‘the seat is comfortable’.
In her rankings, Becky gave easyJet a three out of five for aisle size, a 3.5 for comfort, a four for seat size, toilet size, legroom and service. EasyJet also got a five for accessibility.
General opinion: 4/5
Becky travels as much as possible and has visited Budapest and Tenerife this year – she has tickets booked to Dublin, Ibiza and New York in the coming months. Becky always flies economy, ‘whether with a low-cost airline or a scheduled airline’.
To see more of Becky, visit her TikTok account – @xbeckypricex – And Instagram profile that has has more than 18,000 followers. She posts about her ‘recognizable’ life, fashion, travel and vlogging.