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Obese Passengers

OBESE PASSENGERS WEIGH DOWN AIRLINES

Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers. Ref. Source

Passengers Obese

Perhaps when we buy a ticket, it should be priced per pound of weight. Having to increase ticket prices because they need more fuel to fly with all the over weight people of the world doesn't seem fair to people who are not obese. Why should I pay more so the 600 pound guy can fly? I don't think this would be prejudice. No one is saying you can't fly because you weigh too much. They would just be saying you must pay your own way, no matter what you weigh. People who smoke cigarettes pay more in life insurance because they are going to most likely cost the insurance company more because they will live shorter lives and therefore pay fewer premiums before the policy is paid out. People who have more car accidents pay more in insurance premiums because they cost the insurance company more in repairs. So, why shouldn't heavy people pay more to fly because the cost the airliner more in fuel to get off the ground?

Obese Passengers Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

I work for America West Airlines. This is an ongoing problem. An obese passenger buys a ticket on a full plane. He takes his seat and two thirds of the seat next to him. The passenger in the seat next to him arrives and can't fit, or if he does fit, it is very uncomfortable. The regular size passenger then contacts the airline and wants a refund of half his ticket because he paid for one seat and only got a half seat. From his perspective, he has a point but he is never given a refund. If we force the obese passenger to purchase two seats, he then may have a discrimination case, so it's a no win situation. The way we usually handle it is to reseat the large passenger so he has nobody sitting next to him. That's a problem if the flight is full. In that case, we ask the large passenger to wait and take a later flight. If he refuses, we then ask for another passenger to volunteer to fly later in exchange for a future travel award. So it usually works out ok but there are times when it doesn't.

Passengers Obese

I fly quite a bit and this really is a problem as Gaucho said. Many times I have gotten on a plane and the overflow of the person next to me does take up a large portion of my seat and definitely takes up the WHOLE armrest. On some of the larger flights, this is not too much of a problem because you can move more to the other direction and use that armrest. However, on some of the smaller flights, there really is literally NO room left for you.

Obese people hate this as well. I traveled with a guy that weighed about 350lbs. He really did not like to travel because not only did he know that it inconvenienced people around him, but HE was uncomfortable in the small seat. He equated it to being placed into a huge vice for a few hours.

There really are not a lot of solutions that work out for all sides: the obese, the other passengers and the airlines. Unfortunately, it seems the best idea is to continue creating information on weight management.

Vincenzo

Passengers Obese

In my humble opinion it should be the responsibility of the obese passenger to realised that if there is a law that may required them to pay for two tickets or by weight, it is not based on discrimination. If the obese passenger is taking his seat and half of mine and pretend to pay for one seat only it shows to me a great selfishness and that he/she does not really care whether you are struggling to fit in half of a seat. I have been in situations where they even put a face of "offended" just because you are complaining you cannot fit in. What are you supposed to do if the companies do not want to refund you the ticket!?

Obese Passengers

If I were a obese person and asked to pay for 2 tickets, then I would want those 2 tickets to result in a comfortable seat. The obese person actually is not comfortable in those small seats (as my traveling companion for 3 years told me). This really is a difficult issue. If you make the seats bigger, then the airlines have no hope of making money!

Vincenzo

Obese Passengers

True and I do not want to sound bad, but it is not the fault of the Airline that the person is so overweight, therefore, even though I understand he/she may be uncomfortable, the truth is that he/she should be understanding and pay for the two tickets (whether they are or not comfortable). Do they want to reach the destination?, Are most people traveling with them in the same airplane with the same problem?. I am not going into the matter of whether they are to blame or not for their weight, all I am saying is that since they are responsible somehow for making other people feel uncomfortable in half seat, then they should pay for two seats.

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Of course, there is always the option of first class. By the time a person would pay for two coach seats, they could have bought one first class tickets, and those seats are most definitely larger.

Rather off topic, but...
It definately is a tight spot, especially with the fact that our society is so law suit happy. In our eyes, it's easy to see that by making somebody buy a ticket based on weight makes sense. You have to consider the nature of a lot our law suits, though. People are suing fast food restaurants because they eat 15 burgers a week, sit on their butt, get fat, and then blame the fast food industry that they're a lazy bum. The sad part is that they win. Taking an approach such as that would only open up another "Get rich quick" scheme to people.