Air France forced to pay up in 'excess baggage' affair

Air France have been found guilty of prejudice against an overweight passenger, who was forced to buy two adjacent seats on a New Delhi-Paris flight in August 2005.

43 year old Jean-Jaques Jauffret, a 26 stone Parisian scriptwriter, has been awarded 8,000 euros, plus a further 5,500 euros for the refund of the tickets and to cover his legal expenses. Speaking to France 2, Mr Jauffret explained that he pays already from being obese from the looks of others and the difficulty of finding clothes that fit, never mind the humiliation of having his midriff measured with luggage tape by an Air France representative.

With the number of obese French people estimated at 10% of the population, Air France is under pressure to provide suitable seating on aircraft for its corpulent clients.

French phrase of the day - "Vous auriez dû acheter un extra seat quand on est gros comme vous" - or "You should have bought an extra seat as you are that fat" - charmant!