An outbreak of common sense with a hint of behind-the-hand chuckling comes from Brazil.

With all of the tact and subtlety of a whites-only swimming pool, the Metro in Sao Paulo have installed chairs specifically for the more rotund figure. They are blue instead of white and reinforced to withstand a dual-cheek payload of 550lbs.

Even better, and for the hard of thinking, they are located via a cartoon of a lardy chap with the unsubtle wording “Priority chair for obese people.” This may explain why people are not using them…the embarrassment factor.

Being twice as large as standard seats, they are unlikely to ever be a feature of budget airlines who in their ruthless efforts to bulk up your tickets on the extras cut costs are contemplating doing away with seats altogether. They will also be ineffective against the other perennial curses of travel, The Screaming Brat and of course The Bloke With Broadsheet Fully Extended.

The chair itself comes with a built in chocolate vending machine and a Speak-Your-Weight device which just makes a giggling sound. Okay, so that last bit was made up.

Via the unmissable croatiantimes.com – your daily guide to weirdness.