Airline thinks big on seats

An airline is offering its larger passengers the chance to buy bigger seats.

The proposal is seen as the solution for the well-upholstered traveller who finds squeezing into economy torture but does not want to pay for an upgrade to business class.

Travellers who admit to being large or extra-large will be able to pay for a correspondingly bigger seat.

The plan by airline Maersk Air will see a small seat on its Scandinavian routes priced at £45 and a medium about £90 - with the extra-large starting at about £270.

Maersk is scrapping business class, where prices start at more than £500, to accommodate the new seating.

Barry Prior, Maersk's UK general manager, said there would be no obligation to buy a bigger seat.