Double The Cost For A Flight?

nudeyorker

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I'm watching CNN and the topic is... "If you are too heavy to fit into a single seat in coach; should you have to pay double to have two seats?" I have my feelings as a frequent flyer...just curious to hear others thoughts on the matter.
 

crossy

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I fly several times a week and think that the "porker fee" is unreasonable IF there are ajoining seats available on the flight and the "porker" doesn't have body odor. The ticket agent would know this at the time of booking.
 

jason_els

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Airlines used to charge full fare plus a half fare for the adjoining seat if you can't fit into one seat, but that was before the airlines greatly narrowed the seats to cram more victims into their flying sardine cans.

I'm not sure it's a question of what's fair so much as what the market will bear. If people don't want to pay the extra charge then they won't fly or will select a carrier that doesn't double charge. I don't think anyone these days expects an airline to be fair about anything. Arriving in one piece with your luggage is all anyone should hope to get out of flying.
 

B_Nick8

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If there's a seat available, no, but if there isn't and a paying passenger wouldn't be able to fly then yes. But in the event that the corpulent passenger wanted to ensure passage on a particular flight, they'd have to book two seats wouldn't they? So, they'd have to pay for two. It seems cruel and unfair but there it is.
 

thadjock

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i don't hate fatties but if your xtra poundage flows over into my seat, u should have to buy 2. that simple. anyway your obese ass takes more jet fuel to get the plane off the ground too.

the days of empty seats on airplanes are over & you have to pay for xtra bags, so why not for the xtra person you ate for breakfast?
 

Principessa

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Airlines used to charge full fare plus a half fare for the adjoining seat if you can't fit into one seat, but that was before the airlines greatly narrowed the seats to cram more victims into their flying sardine cans.
That seems fair charging them for another half seat. I would be okay with that. Then again I am not obese. what is not fair is expecting a thin or aveage sized person to be trapped and wedged by someone elses fat. I've been there and it's not pleasant.

[quote ]I'm not sure it's a question of what's fair so much as what the market will bear. If people don't want to pay the extra charge then they won't fly or will select a carrier that doesn't double charge. I don't think anyone these days expects an airline to be fair about anything. Arriving in one piece with your luggage is all anyone should hope to get out of flying.[/QUOTE] Even first class is not what it used to be. Flying coach today is like being in steerage on the Lusitania. :irked: If I am going to be treated like chattel they should bring back People's Express.
 

HellsKitchenmanNYC

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I'm watching CNN and the topic is... "If you are too heavy to fit into a single seat in coach; should you have to pay double to have two seats?" I have my feelings as a frequent flyer...just curious to hear others thoughts on the matter.

What are yr feelings on it? I haven't flown alot but every time I have I got stuck next to a morbidly obese person who was drenched in sweat from just getting to the seat from inside the airport. EVERY time that person wedged themselves into the seat and it took like 10 minutes before they could breathe right again. And everytime they pulled a Subway sandwich out of their bag and chowed down.
Without trying to be insulting these folks were not fat they were obese. If I had to get up to use the men's room they looked at me like they wanted to kill me because then THEY had to get up and then wedge themselves back into the seat and the do it again when I came back.
Should they pay more? maybe not but people who hang OVER a seat have other things to worry about...if they ever get to it.
 

CALAMBO

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I see this as fair....being in coach is rough enough w/o having to be squeezed by a double the size person...or more....in this case SIZE DOES MATTER....
 

Bbucko

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At what point is a person too large? Who decides? What kind of grievance process and review are available to those who feel have been unfairly singled out?

As Jason alluded to, there was a time not that long ago when a seat in coach wasn't pure torture for anyone bigger than a ten year-old. I'm not a big man at all (5'6, 160), and I still require a bottle of benzos before flying these days.

Personally, I see it as making accommodation where possible. We do not charge someone with a disability more (no, I don't think obesity is a priori a disability), even though s/he might well monopolize the attention of much of the flight crew. Personally, I'd much rather see much higher costs for traveling with a loud, crying, hyperactive or otherwise obnoxious child, but I don't see mach danger of that happening, either.

Canada ruled on this same issue about a month ago in favor of the obese passenger and against Air Canada; you knew it would trickle down south sooner or later.
 

HellsKitchenmanNYC

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People probably shouldn't pay more for being obese, they're paying already but if if I have to sit next to a 300 lb person again who's drenched in sweat and heaving........
REALLY people who bring kids on planes and cross state buses need to be slapped and slapped and slapped and be made to pay a higher fare. THOSE are the worst offenders because they look at you like YOU're insane because you don't want to hear a screaming kid for 4 states! KILL THEM! :D
 

Principessa

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At what point is a person too large? Who decides? What kind of grievance process and review are available to those who feel they have been unfairly singled out?
I think that's obvious. When your body fat cannot be contained within your seat, that is too large. If you need a seat belt extender, that is too large. I would think the person sitting next to the obese person would say something to the flight attendant, or that the flight attendant would notice during the pre-take off seat and cabin check.

Pffft, as for a grievance process most fat people know they are fat they just don't like to admit it. Very few are going to write a letter challenging the decision to make them purchase an extra seat or half seat.


As Jason alluded to, there was a time not that long ago when a seat in coach wasn't pure torture for anyone bigger than a ten year-old. I'm not a big man at all (5'6, 160), and I still require a bottle of benzos before flying these days.
That's for anxiety not obesity dear. :rolleyes:
 

Bbucko

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I think that's obvious. When your body fat cannot be contained within your seat, that is too large. If you need a seat belt extender, that is too large. I would think the person sitting next to the obese person would say something to the flight attendant, or that the flight attendant would notice during the pre-take off seat and cabin check.

Actually, that's my point. I have flown commercially for over 40 years and have never seen a mock-seat at the boarding gate for verification that someone fits or anyone ever being measured to see how fat is fat enough.

Body builders would fit that description, too.

Pffft, as for a grievance process most fat people know they are fat they just don't like to admit it. Very few are going to write a letter challenging the decision to make them purchase an extra seat or half seat.

Actually, one of my boss's clients (and mine, by extension, because i do research and write everything from grants to articles for them) is a non-profit specifically dedicated to airline passenger rights. We get an incredible volume of e-mails and help broker compromises with airlines every week over disputes.

There are very specific laws governing accessibility standards and appropriate accommodations to individuals which are entirely bi-partisan in nature. This isn't about expanding "protected groups", it's about applying universal standards of accessibility and service for everybody.

That's for anxiety not obesity dear. :rolleyes:

I have a 42" chest. When I'm seated next to two full-grown standard-issue adult males, I have no space to move or stretch and am practically on their laps. No other form of public transportation puts people into such restrictive spaces for so long a period of time. I go out of my skin :tongue: without the proper mood erasers.
 

Gillette

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At what point is a person too large? Who decides? What kind of grievance process and review are available to those who feel have been unfairly singled out?

Mayhap there will be a frame like they have to determine if your carry on baggage exceeds the size allotment.:cool:

*Edit

Crap, beaten to the punch.
 
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Trinity

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Shouldn't the airlines just have to absorb the cost? Isn't it just the cost of doing business? They know people come in different shapes and sizes...not everyone fits into those seats they've cut down.

What if a body builder weighs 225 and is so broad shouldered, that he's a bit wider than his seat but he's like 6% body fat? Clearly he's not obese. Should he have to pay for two seats?

It's as if the airlines pit the customers against one another. They actually use the fact that 700 complaints prompted them to take this action. Well, first they made the seats as small as they could. Now that passengers desire their comfort, rather than absorb the few folks that will require special accomodation they want to charge them double.
 

B_Nick8

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I would imagine that Trinity's hefty so if (s)he's had to pay double that would be its way of paying a voluntary part of a stimulus package. Or a part or the hale out. Or whatever.

I still can't see you, TT. You are blind to me, I tell you. Blind.
 
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vince

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I have broad shoulders and I know I have annoyed people at times by taking up their space. No one has ever said anything though. In fact I think a few have enjoyed it. :wink:

I hate riding in coach on the aisle and getting hit in the arm all the time. Fortunately, it's not an issue in business or first class. (btw... NJ, first is as good or better than ever, at least internationally)

I think if they are going to charge extra to fat people, they should give the money to the poor suckers stuck sitting next to them.
 

ManlyBanisters

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Personally, I'd much rather see much higher costs for traveling with a loud, crying, hyperactive or otherwise obnoxious child, but I don't see mach danger of that happening, either.

REALLY people who bring kids on planes and cross state buses need to be slapped and slapped and slapped and be made to pay a higher fare. THOSE are the worst offenders because they look at you like YOU're insane because you don't want to hear a screaming kid for 4 states! KILL THEM! :D

Hmm, yeah funny - from two of our childless contributers. Look, I know some parents don't do a good job controlling their kids but the vast majority of us do, and we do care about our fellow travellers' comfort.

Do you know what it is like to have people sigh and huff and roll their eyes just because you sit near them with a child on a plane? Do you know what kind of pressure that puts a parent under? Kids are kids, and even the best parented child in the world will sometimes 'go off on one' and Sod's Law dictates that will happen at the most inconvenient and embarassing time possible. We do our best - you fucking try it.

And as for charging us more, or denying us the opportunity of the same travel options as childless people... well fuck you. You want to travel without hearing kids? You fucking stump up for first class or get in your own damn car and drive where you're going - you have more disposable income with no kids to feed, after all, dontcha. :rolleyes: Show some fucking understanding.

Oh, and as for charging very fat people more. No. Just no. One seat, one price.
 

Sklar

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If you're going to charge someone for an extra half seat, does the person sitting next to the obese person get their fare half off?

I really hate the whinners that shout, it's not their fault they are obese. Let me be clear, YES IT IS.

If someone is too lazy to do even a modicorum of excercise, if their waist exceeds 60 inches (that's 5 feet by the way), that's their own damn fault and should be made to pay for any inconvience they cause in a closed quarter.


Here's a hypothetical for you:

8 people (all ove various sizes and weights) are stuck on an elevator for 5 hours. One farts and it's a real stinker. Who is at fault?

Sklar