He added that there was a young exchange student from Eastern Europe on the same row as him who was ‘pinned up against the window’ by the obese man because there was so little space.

Flight attendants whom he told about the problem said they could not help him as he was not allowed to sit in their jump seats.

‘They were sympathetic, but could not do anything,’ he told elliott.org. ‘No other seats existed on plane.’

Mr Berkowitz claims they admitted their gate agent had made an error in allowing the passenger to board without having bought two seats.