Discussing overweight passengers is like discussing politics or religion around the Thanksgiving dinner table with family: generally not a good idea.
When I saw the picture above, though, I felt compelled to address the issue. The picture you see was allegedly taken by an American Airlines flight attendant. Since bins are open and people are standing up, it appears it was taken during boarding.
I think we can all agree that allowing a passenger to protrude halfway into the aisle is clearly a safety violation. I also think it is safe to assume that the passenger was re-seated before takeoff to a row with an open middle seat.
Most U.S. airlines, including United and American, will not charge passengers of size (POS) for an extra seat as long as there are other open seats on the plane. I support this policy because I see no reason to castigate a POS further, especially when obesity is not always wholly dependent on lifestyle choice.
The problem arises when a flight is full and an airline is left with the choice of letting a POS literally occupy 1.5-2 Economy seats by allowing the arm rest to stay up and squeezing the other passengers in the row or having to VDB or even IDB a passenger to accommodate the POS. In such cases, I think an airline must give the POS the choice of stepping off the flight and waiting for the next one with an extra seat or paying for an extra ticket, perhaps at a lower cost.
Some posit that airline seats are too small and POS have no other alternatives. I disagree. United offers Economy Plus and First Class on most mainline domestic flights and Economy Plus, Business, and First Class on most international flights. Furthermore, it is not like airlines can easily (or even not so easily) install couches or rotund lazy boy recliners in their planes. To mandate that airlines compromise and dismantle a well-planned seating arrangements to accommodate a tiny sliver of the flying public is no more reasonable than arguing that an airline must make half-size seats available to compact people and only charge half-price for them.
Another analogy might be passenger baggage. Are bigger passengers allowed a higher weight allowance on checked bag? Of course not. They pay the same price as others and must abide by the same weight limits. Why should it be any different with onboard seating?
In some cases, like the picture above, any airplane seat (short of Singapore's A380 suites) would likely be too small for the passenger. In such cases, I believe a carrier should reserve the right to refuse passage on the grounds of passenger safety--both for the POS and others.
Am I missing something? How do you propose airlines deal with POS? Unfortunately, it is a growing problem in America. No pun intended.
In my opinion, obesse passengers shouldn't pay more than other people because I think that all of us are the same. Moreover, I don't understand why airlines are so discriminatory with fat people because they should create seats more huge in order to travelling more comfortable and eliminate this issues.
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, obesse passengers shouldn't pay more than other people because I think that all of us are the same. Moreover, I don't understand why airlines are so discriminatory with fat people because they should create seats more huge in order to travelling more comfortable and eliminate this issues.
ResponderEliminarObese people passages’ price is a controversial topic because it questions the value of equality. In my opinion, overweight airplane passengers shouldn’t be charged more. As it is known that everybody is different, airlines should be prepared for receiving people from all weights. I think that airlines should have a safety solution in order to offer special seats to obese people, as they have special cribs for babies in many planes.
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ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, overweight passengers should never be charged more. In the first place, we must take into account that this sort of people suffers from a pathology which isn't usually because of their lifestyle, but due to their genetics: they were born like that and, so, we mustn't put the blame on them for their obesity. It's not their fault. As a result, we must neither make them pay more for a bigger seat; indeed, all aircrafts should be equipped with one or two wide seats so that this kind of passengers could fly comfortably whenever they wanted (it would have to be compulsory). Furthermore, I also agree with the author of this text in that overweight passengers, since they pay exactly the same as "normal-sized" passengers, mustn't be allowed to load bigger luggage into the plane. To sum up, broad seats must always be available for them, but they mustn't be able to take advantage of their condition: if they want to transport more stuff, they, just as the others do, will have to pay more!!!
ResponderEliminarI believe that the obese people shouldn't pay more for the same trip than other peolpe, because the overweight is an illness and for this reason the obesity shouldn't be a cause for disciminacion. Furthermore if the airlines complain about this "problem" of the overweight passengers, they will create more confortable seats and more bigger for them.
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, people who are overweight should not cost more to travel than people without this disease. I believe that the airplane should have big seats because many people think they are too small. In conclusion, people should have to respect these people because they are like us and even better.
ResponderEliminarI would say that it is a big problem, especially in America where there is a huge number of overweight people. However, I also believe that seats on planes generally are very small, and the space is restricted. In conclusion, I think that the airlines should put in bigger seats, but these seats should be more expensive.
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