Brett's Blog: Should Obese People Buy Two Airline Tickets?
December 2, 2008 | by Brett Blumenthal | 18 Comments
by Brett Blumenthal
On November 20th, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada. Apparently, an appeal made by Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet was declined and as a result, the one-person-one-fare-two seat policy will go into effect January 2009. The policy “stipulates that people who are too large to fit in one chair should be given two seats, so as to avoid unpleasant situations during the flight.”
As a frequent air traveler, I have witnessed extremely obese people overflowing into the seats next to them, and to be perfectly honest, I am amazed that those passengers don’t get charged for two seats. The passengers sitting in the adjacent seats, have barely a half of a seat to call their own…and they surely can not be comfortable. Unfortunately, they have absolutely no control over the situation. It is pure luck of the draw: Seats are assigned, and if the flight is full they can’t move, leaving them stuck in a very uncomfortable seat for several hours. However, they paid the same amount of money as the encroaching obese passenger next to them.
Ironically, the Canadian Court ‘agreed that this was a very delicate situation that could not be resolved without hurting either the feelings of people with extra pounds, or the benefits of the airlines.’ Forgive me, but the truth is that if every business had to worry about the feelings of consumers, there is a good chance a lot of companies would be out of business. When we think of the actual ‘costs’ for airlines, extremely obese people (I’m not speaking about overweight individuals, I’m speaking of individuals who have several extra hundreds of pounds on them) directly impact Airlines’ bottom lines: extra weight means extra fuel. Guess who will inevitably be making up the extra cost on this one? You guessed it…the average weighted passengers.
This ruling really has me confused. In a day when we are being charged for everything from the weight of our baggage to water to headphones for a B-Rated movie, how is it possible that a 450 pound individual can pay the same price for a ticket as a 150 pound individual? The 450 pound person is 3 TIMES the weight of the 150 pound person. Further, that 150 pound individual most likely will take up 1/3 of the space as the 450 pound person. Call me crazy, but this just doesn’t fly (pardon the pun).
I realize that this is a very sensitive issue and probably hits a raw nerve for a lot of people, but I can’t help but put this out there. I feel for those individuals who are extremely obese. But the fact that they are so overweight shouldn’t be anyone else’s problem but their own. Most obese people have a choice. It is extremely rare that a person who is hundreds of pounds overweight has absolutely NO control over their weight, and as a result, it seems extremely unfair that average weighted individuals should have to pay for another individual’s choice. Further, no one should have to give up their personal space for someone else’s ‘medical disability’. Granted, airlines could afford to increase the alloted space per seat in the main cabin, but regardless, if an obese person wants to fly and is so large that they take up two seats do you think average individuals should subsidize the extra seat? Or do you think that it is only fair that the obese person should pay for the space that they use. First Class and Business Class passengers pay for the extra space, why shouldn’t people who require two seats due to their size?
Personally, I feel that giving an additional seat to an obese person for free is enabling obese people to stay the way they are and to not take responsibility for their condition. The more people are coddled, the more they won’t change. Where will it end?
We are already paying higher insurance premiums because of obese people, does it make sense that we should now pay for their ‘right’ to a second seat on public transportation? Do you think that average sized individuals should subsidize free seats for extremely obese passengers or do you think obese passengers should be required to purchase two seats?
Related Topics:
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- Calculate your Lean Body Mass and Body Fat
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- Canadian News Article: Canadian Obese People Buy Two Airplane Seats per Ticket
Gee, Kelly, you’re quite the know it all. Proofread your own writing and learn to spell “lose”. It’s not “loose weight.”
If you buy two seats do you get double the baggage allowance?
I hope america adopts this law. airines have did it to themselves so i don’t care if how they feel.
and the skinny snobs hating on fat people…you better hope you never get sick or hurt and gain wait because of it…nothing worse than cruel superficial morons who judge others by their appearance and assume the dumbest…
when karma slaps you in the face later on, you better not whine about it.
As a frequent flyer, if I am often able to upgrade to first class. If I notice that there is a disabled or elderly person that needs a first class seat, I am happy to give up my seat for that person and have done it on more than one occasion. It is my great pleasure to perform this small act of kindness and I am just as blessed as they are. My favorite time of memory was when I gave my seat to a lady in a wheelchair. I came to find out that she had just come out of surgery and was concerned about how she was going to make it back to row 16.
If you take up two seats, you should be charged two seats. I fly with my disabled daughter fairly often. I buy three seats for the two of us. She is unable to sit, so I lay her down. I like having the extra space. Also, I am able to reserve the third seat as EXST which is short for extra seat. If you do this, be sure and have BOTH tickets scanned. The BIGGEST benefit of doing this, is that I am able to accumulate qualifying miles with the airline that I regularly fly. That builds up the miles quickly. I have accumulated 50,000 miles two years in a row and only flew a little over half of those miles.
Well….first off… screw you DAJ9336… you must be an obese person yourself, concidering that the only people that care, are the ones that are to f-ing lazy to go to a gym or eat right….It doesn’t take a lot to become physically fit. The people that are screaming obesity is a medical issue are people, well frankly like YOU!
Bradley: go re-read your comment: … ( I’ll wait )… you are an IDIOT. Enough said.
Becky: Bless you… I am very glad that you have the determination to loose weight, but still understand the inconviences it causes to others.
Amy: The only thing you said that I hear was : “Every lifestyle choice has its costs, and people should take FULL responsibility for their lifestyle choices.” End.
Emily: Again: “For each person, a standard rate and standard seat. If you need more, fine: pay for it.”
Thats all you said that made sense.
Barb: Your an f’ing IDIOT~ How many more people do you think they can fit on a plane? And if you had actually written it the way you MEANT to say it, then even if it wasn’t a “Sardine Class” FAT F’ing people should still get off there ass and do something to loose weight, and THEN AND ONLY THEN, we wouldn’t be having THIS CONVERSATION! Grow the F up!
Meghan: Are you freaking serious? if they are embarrassed to buy two tickets, then loose some f’ing weight! I don’t give a shit what your MAJOR was, you must has gotten a D because you f’ing suck at putting things together!
Jeff: If I read that right, then I like your way of thinking… why pay for one, if I can just be F’ing lazy, become obese and take up three seats because the Canadian Airlines have made it a rule that its only fair.?.?.?
Kayla: Girl, you are very very close: “If you take up two seats, you should be charged for two seats. It’s nobody’s fault but your own if you are too big to fit into a normal seat. People who are in wheelchairs didn’t cause their disability, if you lay around and eat until you are too big to squeeze your ass into a chair then that is your own fault. Stop bitching and lose weight and you wouldn’t have that problem. “Political correctness” does NOTHING to fix ANY of society’s problems.”
What do I see here? I see a bunch of highly active people who are making judgement calls for people they don’t even know. Here are the basic equations that lead into this discussion. 1) Airlines have made a decision to make airline seats in “Economy” class some of the smallest seats in public transportation. Are you telling me that 18 inches across is comoftable even when you are not sitting next to an obese person? The answer is no, its not. 2) I see a lot of Skinny vs Fat hatred boiling over here and acqusations that “The fat people want something for nothing”… Fact is that some people are mad because “their space” is being invaded. Well, yes, it is. But what else are you saying? Poor fat people have to stay on the ground? 3) Everyone seems to think that being fat is what these folks desire. Nobody is giving one nod to the various diseases, injuries and dare I say industries that speed people to becoming obese. 4) And then there are those who acknowledge that “not all fat people can help themselves from being fat”… Excuse me, but just what are you saying? That you justify giving everyone who is fat a bad name because only some of them have no way to stop themselves? And I have to ask myself when any of you went on a 900 calorie diet with 10+ hours a day every day of intense physical excercise for 2 or more months straight just so you could “be normal”? I knew a guy who did exactly that because he had no other way to control it. When he got to his targeted weight, he still maintained the 900 calorie diet, but he went back to work… guess what happened to him. Oh, he tried to keep up at least 1-2 hours a day excercise, but he gained weight… his metabolism was that shot. Last I knew, he was nearly 500 pounds with bad knees and was highly depressed about his situation. Can’t say as I blame him. And to make matters worse, when he went to try to fly to his daughter’s wedding last year, they told him he’d have to buy 2 seats going out there… Then the plane he was supposed to go on didn’t have moving arm rests. The airline didn’t try to reboard him or help him in any way. It was a kind ticket agent who managed to refund his money, against the regulations of this particular airline. I truly felt sorry for the guy. Should they have to by 2 seats? My answer is no. They shouldn’t have to. But then I say nobody should have to sit in such a small seat. It is all airline greed that brought us this size down from 24″ because somebody decided they could squeeze an extra XX number of passengers in.
If you take up two seats, you should be charged for two seats. It’s nobody’s fault but your own if you are too big to fit into a normal seat. People who are in wheelchairs didn’t cause their disability, if you lay around and eat until you are too big to squeeze your ass into a chair then that is your own fault. Stop bitching and lose weight and you wouldn’t have that problem. “Political correctness” does NOTHING to fix ANY of society’s problems.
The bottom line is this. Buying a seat on an airplane is like renting an apartment. You are purchasing space for a finite period of time. Now saying someone can have a ‘3-bedroom’ for the same price as a ’studio’ apartment is simply unfair, and against the laws of free-market economy.
Let’s take people who are obese out of the story for a second, and focus on the airlines. My major in college was travel/tourism, and one of my favorite concepts that I learned is the fact that airlines sell a perishable item. A ticket for seat 3-C for the flight that leaves at 5pm tonite has a shelf life. After that flight takes off, if that seat hasn’t sold, they lose that money forever. Really, there’s no way to make that revenue back. They can sell seat 3-C for the 5pm flight tomorrow, but they can never recoup what they didn’t sell for today. I don’t know how often someone who is obese takes up 2 seats while only paying for one, but it’s been an issue as long as I can remember…
That said, I understand the airline’s point, that they will lose aLOT of money if they have to give away seats. I also understand how it’s embarassing for someone to have to purchase 2 tickets. But the airlines stand to lose alot more money than each individual person.
NO! If the airlines would stop cramming as many passengers in as possible “Sardine Class” and put in more comfortable seats, there wouldn’t need to be this discussion.
There should be a standard charge for the use of one 18-inch seat (or whatever the width is). If your rear is more than 18 inches wide when you are seated, then you should pay for (and receive) the extra inches your require.
You see, people who pay for 18 inches should not have a part of those 18 inches taken away by someone else. Not by that person’s rear or by that person’s head or by that person’s elbows. If I could, I would put up walls instead of armrests between seats so everyone could be sure where the boudaries are while having someplace to lean their head and take a nap.
Children, even infants, should be charged for the use of an 18-inch seat, as well. Even babies take up space and can easily intrude into the 18 inches the passenger beside them has paid for. Everyone would be more comforable if that toddler had his own space to sit and play without dropping stuff on his neighbor.
For each person, a standard rate and standard seat. If you need more, fine: pay for it.
The airlines already have weight limits on luggage and make the travelers pay extra per pound over the weight limit. I think they should do this with people as well. I agree with the blogger in that average wieghted individuals should not have to pay more for their tickets to cover the additional expense (fuel) for transporting the obese passenger. We are already paying billions of dollars per year in Medicare and Medicaid costs (doubling since 1998) to cover healthcare costs for the obese, we should not have to pay extra for our travel expenses as well. Every lifestyle choice has its costs, and people should take FULL responsibility for their lifestyle choices.
I am an obese person and I can say that I fly regularly back to Indiana from California. I have always bought two plane seats. I will continue to buy two tickets even when I have lost enough weight for one because I like the extra space for my arm and my books/purse/water. I can honestly say that in all my flights (and I am working on my third free round trip ticket on Southwest so it is quite a lot) I have not seen anyone else with two tickets. Southwest preboards you if you have to buy a second ticket to make sure you get the second seat you paid for and that is an added bonus.
I wish that planes would have a heavy section
The airlines have caused some of the problem by reducing the size of their seats to get more passengers on each flight and then overbooking each flight.
The answer may be to treat people as freight and weigh every one with their luggage and assess a standard price per pound by distance flown and number of takeoffs and landings and the timing of when the ticket was purchased. When purchased on-line (or by phone) the price for flight will be an estimate and then verified or adjusted at the gate. The people without luggage or that are less obese (or children) will be charged only their pro rate share of the cost and have a less expensive ticket. Of course the airlines will have to reconfigure the airplanes and create pricing tables to accommodate the variables. This will also solve the add on costs charged for luggage and fuel surcharges that upset so many air travelers.
Kindness to strangers Stacy. Manners my dear! Obese individuals are just as uncomfortable as the person stuffed next to them. Its not a blame the victim issue. I would love to see this come to the US Congress for review. You go Canada!
If obese people are charged extra, then so should wheelchair bound people on all modes of public transportation. Their wheelchairs take up 3 seats. While some may respond that the obese are responsible for their disability, many people are in wheelchairs due to accidents they cause – driving drunk, disobeying traffic law, self-imposed medical conditions. Thus, why reward a wheelchair bound person for vehicular homicide and discriminate against an obese person who is really only hurting himself? Also, I believe that people who bring crying children on airlines should pay extra for the inconvenience of other passengers.
I agree with you and feel that this should go 2 ways: if obese people are given 1 seat free, then children should not pay full fare. Yes, do you know that on most airlines (at least on european and international traffic), children from age 2 pay FULL fare? ……. and they take up only half of the seat. And under the age of 2, the child must sit on the adult’s knees. I have traveled with my daughter on my knees and, honestly, I should have gotten a lower price for the inconvenience caused.
I also feel for obese people, but I cannot help thinking that their “condition” is abusively used as an excuse in more and more cases. So, yes, I say they should buy 2 seats if the price conditions for normal weighted people and children stay as they are today.