Starting today, United Airlines will size up its passengers and decide whether or not they need to pay a fat fee. The obesity seating policy requires passengers that cannot fit into one seat either pay for a second seat or stay behind. Gate and ticket agents will be asked to evaluate passengers and decide if they are "seatmates of size."
But how can an agent decipher before a passenger boards a plane if a passenger cannot fit into a single seat, buckle his or her seat-belt (even with an extender), or put the seat's armrest down? Does this mean taking measurements before boarding? Or waiting until the passenger boards and then asking him or her to step off the aircraft? Oy vey.
The policy applies to tickets purchased on or after March 4, 2009 for travel on or after April 15. United defends its position claiming that it's simply a response to hundreds of customer complaints about larger passengers. Also, the heavy weight added to the plane from obese passengers increases fuel costs.
Do you think the United Airlines policy is fair? Why or why not?
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Comments 29
This should be a no-brainer.
If your ass is taking up TWO seats, then you should have to PAY for two seats.
Yay!!!
I think its perfectly fair. If my ticket one buys me one seat, so should theirs
If a person can not fit into one seat, they should have to pay for the second.
America's obesity problem is at all time highs. People need to get a handle on it and some self control.
As to how the ticket taker or seller will know? They will have a seat from an aircraft for people who look to be on the line to take a seat in. If they fall over the edges, or can not buckle their belt, they will be required to pay for the extra seat.
I think that people should have to pay more for taking up more than one seat. I think the idea of having a seat at the ticket counter is a good idea, but maybe off to the side behind a curtain. While I think it's unfair someone is taking up part of my seat, I also don't think they need to be humiliated in public when they cannot fit into the test seat.
As an overweight woman, I find this slightly offensive. As a smart budgeter, I find this perfectly reasonable. I'm not so big I need to worry about needing the extender or anything of that nature, but I'm no skinny-minny. If you're big enough to take up 2 seats, you should have to pay for the 2 seats.
I hope the logistics can get worked out so things are done minimally offensively. Of course, SOMEONE is gonna be offended and get pissed no matter what, so I wish them luck.
It is so unhealthy to be so fat that you take up extra space on a plane. that's really scary. If the airlines wants to charge extra,I agree. Obesity is a big problem now. When I am at the Mall, walking fast...I try to do that often when the weather is too bad to walk outside....the number of HUGE people is amazing and depressing. Once there was a very obese man sitting next to me on a flight from North Carolina and his leg was squished next to mine .He was sweating excessively which made my jeans damp on that one leg.. I was offended but what can you do? Nothing.
ok ok ok i a gree it perfictly fair it the big people may not think so!the only other thing i think of is that the plane desiners need to make seets a bit bigger for the bigger people or have there own section of big seats like first class maby in the middle of the plain so it evins out the whait of the plain come on with our tecnoligy they can change some things for them!!!with our econimy how can some one aford 2 pay for 2 seats when they have already payed for the ticket and what if the plain is full r they gana loose out on there trip because of being big i gess its a up and down thing good and bad fair and not!! if i was big and i had a trip planed i would be pissed if they left me behind oohhh maby when perchasing the tickets if online thye have a how much lbs r u? a choice thats how i pay for my tickets or a scale at the begining of the air port!!!oohh this is kinda messed up now that i rilly think about it no i dont agree
k@
I am ambivalent about this. I started Weight Watchers nearly 4 years ago with 160 lbs to lose--half of myself. I can't say I'm a WW success story, because, while I did lose 95 lbs from it, I have been hit with a barrage of medical diagnoses that I now know have a lot to do with my weight gain. Over 30 lbs came back on, and in just over a year and a half, I learned I had: 1) hypothyroid; 2) profoundly low vitamin D; 3) Celiac Disease; and 4) Candida (yeast overgrowth in the intestine). I now know that the yeast is largely to blame for the other problems (exacerbating if not causing them), and I am starting a very strict diet to kill the yeast and finally get healthy.
I feel for these people who are caught in a spiral and feel there are no answers to their weight issues, but I am proof that persistence pays off. We don't know who is serious about getting healthy and who isn't when we see people trying to cram into a single seat on a plane, so I implore everyone to withhold judgment. If you have never been there, you can't possibly know how hard it is. However, if this is an issue for you, please don't give up. There is a reason you can't get the weight off, and it isn't necessarily because you are an out-of-control eater who doesn't care. Keep up the fight...and good luck to you!
LIZARD :)