When Pretoria-based Kabelo Seitei‚ a frequent flyer‚ boarded a flight in Cape Town last August‚ she asked the cabin controller for a seatbelt extension and was told one would be brought to her.
When that hadn’t happened by the time the aircraft started to taxi to the runway‚ she alerted the cabin attendant and the aircraft turned back. It is a requirement of the South African Civil Aviation Authority that every passenger be secured for take-off and landing.
After a half-hour wait‚ an attendant clutching a bright orange extension strode down the aisle‚ stopping at row 28 to fasten it around Seitei.
And then came an announcement which Seitei‚ an English moderator with the national education department‚ remembered as: “We are dealing with some obese cases on board and therefore had to go back to find extension belts. We don’t usually need them on this flight out of Cape Town…”
