A few weeks ago I flew to BEDA’s Binge Eating Disorder Conference in Philadelphia on a Delta Commuter Jet; a medium-sized jet with four seats across. I was flying from Cincinnati and was excited to see the The Xavier Women’s Basketball Team on board (March Madness!).
It was 9:00pm. Departure had already been delayed two hours (crew issues). The plane was packed. After everyone had boarded, a flight attendant made an announcement. “The plane is overweight.”
You could feel the tension. People started making awkward jokes. A man, whom I believe was the Xavier Women’s Team Coach, pointed to a man I think was an assistant coach and said, “OK, you, OFF the plane.” Everyone on the team laughed. Interestingly, though, I don’t think people were focused or concerned that the plane would crash. Based on the jokes, it appeared people’s minds went where my mind did. I immediately started thinking, “Is it me. Should I get off the plane? Do I weigh too much?”
For the next few minutes, there was a lot of awkward laughter. In an attempt to lighten the load, the ground crew emptied some fuel. The gasoline truck came and went. Then there was another announcement. “Sorry folks. We’re still overweight. We need three people to volunteer to leave the plane”.
Travel Vouchers were offered. Only one man jumped up to accept. The attendant made the announcement again, and then again. No takers. Minutes passed. Discomfort increased, so did the value of the Delta Vouchers…now up to $600. offered to anyone who would get off the plane. [private_membership circle]
I started having images of the flight attendants walking up and down the aisle and selecting people; telling them to get off the plane. Of course, I thought I’d be one of them. I think no matter what my size, I would have assumed I would be singled out. Old body image issues die hard! I was so relieved when, finally, two more people volunteered.
Funny thing is, I bet if I had polled very single woman on that plane (and maybe some men, too); skinny, medium-sized, athletic, tall, short, fat, formerly fat, and everything in between, I bet most were feeling and thinking what I was thinking…could what I weigh cause a plane to crash? And, how the heck do they actually know what we and the plane weigh? Are we sitting on some giant scale? It was surreal!
I felt great relief when the plane was finally airborn…
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Ellen Shuman is a Life Coach who specializes in empowering people who are working on emotional and binge eating recovery. She is the founder of A Weigh Out & Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment, President of the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), and Co-Chair of the Academy for Eating Disorders Special Interest Group on “Health at Every Size”, ellen@aweighout.com [/private_membership circle]
