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Monday, April 20, 2009
News Airlines may start charging fat fliers more
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 2:54 PM
This isn't new news, and coming from an industry that seems to charge extra for everything these days, it's not a surprise.
US Airways Group Inc. says it tries to put obese passengers on later flights that might be able to accommodate them. But in some cases, the carrier may charge those passengers for another seat.“Our policy is that safety and comfort are the main priority for all our passengers,” says Valerie Wunder, spokeswoman for the carrier. “We try to accommodate passengers at no charge, first by offering seat-belt extenders or, if there are seats available, offering them an additional seat.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article here.
The Council in Size and Weight Discrimination, in a 2002 press release, reminds the airline industry, that people and packages are different and claims airline seats are stuck in the 1950s and "probably the smallest quarter of the population actually fit comfortably in airplane seating."
The American Heart Association's 2008 obesity fact sheet points out that while minorities are more likely to be overweight, they also state that approximately one-third of the entire U.S. population is obese.
As a fat person, here's my take: Being obese is a problem on numerous levels. If we can call for power companies to charge more to grab the attention of electricity-hungry consumers, why can't we accept this type of action from the airline industry as the same kind of wake-up call?
If your ass requires two seats, you should pay for two seats. Don't like it? Don't fly or, better — for you (and you know it) — lose weight.
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