Posted on 04/15/2009 7:33:49 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
United Air to charge obese double on full flights
Wed Apr 15, 5:29 pm ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp, will require obese passengers bumped from full flights to purchase two seats on a subsequent flight, matching the policy of some other carriers.
The change brings the Chicago-based in line with eight other airlines including Continental, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said on Wednesday.
"Last year we had 700 complaints from passengers who had to share their seats," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Will they charge kids or anorexics less?
United will soon be history anyway, while Southwest, which doesn’t hassle their passengers, is growing. Surprising, huh?
I suppose they would if you put them in an overhead compartment.:-)
Sounds like a reasonable definition. Very unlike the CDC definition which even includes people who you wouldn't normally think of as particularly fat.
Ever had someone sit next to you so big that they took up part of YOUR seat, too? If you are going to take up two seats, then pay for two seats unless the plane isn't full.
Maybe they could have a long bench down the side of plane, and arm rests that move such that people can be charged by how many inches of bench they take up.
If they take up more than one seat, yes.
The only complaints I have received about my size have been about my shoulders being too big for the seat back. But, I would pay more for more leg room.
What about the guy whose legs are SO LONG that they flop over on my side or into the isle???
What about that?
Hunh??
Hunh??
(ok...my husband is one of these guys..so, I had to bring it up!)
The FAA has a definition for average passenger weight. It is 170 lbs. If you arew double this benchmark, you need to buy two seats.
Aircraft structure is designed around this weight. Seats, seat belts, and floor structure are designed with this load as the normal. Exceed it, and the parts will fail.
Whenever I get between people on a plane seat, I have to hunch my shoulders forward so arms don't violate the other person's space. Nothing to do with my tummy or having extra pounds, some of us just have shoulders that are too broad for comfort in those narrow seats.
If I get a aisle seat I'm good, so I always request them.
I assume so if their blubber spills over into the 1.5 cubic feet afforded to you for your $850 flight from Tuscon to Wichita.
Barely abstract mathematics includes the difference between ordinal and cardinal.
What's wrong Big Guy, America not yielding you the "freedom" to be a nuisance?
Hope they aren't applying this to football teams...or on planes heading to a sumo wrestler convention.
Uh...doesn’t it say above that Southwest already does this?
Wht about guys with a big hump on their backs that take up the space of the guy right behind them? =)
That’s their business. Whoever doesn’t like it can fly on another airline. I, for one, HATE sitting next to someone who’s disgusting blubber is rolling over onto my seat. Why is that fair to me? I’ve paid the same amount...
Southwest does not do it!
Southwest doesn’t give their passengers any grief at all; that’s why they’re the only airline that is growing.
Well then, at 250 I may be posing a danger. If I trimmed down some more, I might get to 220, which is probably my ideal weight--and I would still be dangerously big.
A few years ago, I’m pretty sure a college football team was travelling on my flight. I was seated between two fellows who were surely offensive linemen—huge men. They tried to make it as comfortable as possible and were pleasant company. But it was a very long flight—there just wasn’t room for the three of us in the three seats.
That said, I once sat behind a Rotuman (Samoan) man on an Air Pacific flight from Nadi Fiji to LAX. This guy's shoulders were so wide he extended about half way into each surrounding seat. Think Michael Phelps shoulders on a guy about 5'6", but who looks like a power lifter. What do you do with a man who is twice as wide as a normal man at the shoulders, but does not need a seat belt extension and can get the arm rests down?
Needless to say, the guy was just miserable. They should have put him in an aisle seat with a small person beside him.
Airplanes are not like cars or trucks, they aren’t overbuilt beyond what is needed to meet certification.
You can get away with grossly overloading an american built pickup or sedan, but don’t expect an airliner to perform properly if treated to such abuse, the margin just isn’t there.
Load a plane up with a bunch of lard-butts, and it will be in need of premature overhaul if it hits its design load limit due to a hard landing or turbulence.
It can be fixed, but it will be costly.
Tha part that will fail first is the seat back. If enough “G” load is induced, the seat pan will fail next followed by the seat track, then the floor supports.
I get an aisle seat whenever possible. Or I get a window, and lean more against the plane as not to rub shoulders with others. Otherwise, its an uncomfortable flight, and I have a lot of neck and back tension by the end of the flight.
Someone said the seats are designed for someone 170#. Yeah, 170#, 6'-2" with a 30" inseam, and a 36 chest.
Coach is definetly NOT designed for a 46 or 48 inch chest.
I flew home from Montana one time. I had an aisle seat. I was about 220# (6 foot) at the time, the woman next to me had about another 100# on me, and 4-5" shorter. Her husband next to her had at least another 100# on her, and he was about 6'-3,4".
I spent the 2+ hour flight leaning into the aisle. Most miserable flight I've ever had.
Why on earth would they do that?
"kids or anorexics" are not a problem.
Fat, 350+ lb'ers are - excessively fat for airplane seats.
I about went to blows with one fat f**k on a recent flight - 5' 8" in height and 5' 6" in width....."get your sh!t out of my seat space!"....you should have been shipped as cargo, beotch.....
That wide load needed two seats......
Just sick........and I don't put up with it. And I'm big myself, 6' 6" and a svelt 250 lbs! My stuff fits "within" my seat.
I just returned from Paris, and sat next to a guy who was easily 300 pounds. He wasn’t able to put the armrest down. He was at least a couple inches into my seat. I am not a small guy. (6-6 and 225), but I easily fit between the two armrests. I wanted to move but the flight was full. 8 1/2 hours I spent leaning forward, because of this jerk who spent the entire flight eating. Please explain why you think it is good that this guy wasn’t charged for an additional seat.
I had to fly from Philly to L.A with a woman who requested two extension belts and lifted the intervening arm so she could basically occupy half of my seat. I was traveling with my husband, so had to occupy part of his seat as she basically shoved me over!
The flight attendant could do nothing about moving her because it was a full flight.
It was the most miserable flight - my back was basically up against the intervening arm between my seat and my husband’s.
This was a United flight and I was on a US Airways ticket.
I think this is a fair policy. I paid for a seat and only got to access half of it!
When Yo-yo Ma, the cellist, travels he buys 2 seats - 1 for him and 1 for his cello. So by that logic the morbidly obese should buy 1 seat for themselves and 1 for the extra person they carry around with them.
I had a similar experience on a flight and the guy was totally apologetic the entire time. The thing I bitched about was that they had open seats in 1st class but the stewardess dude would not move him because they “didn’t do that”. I screamed bloody murder at the gate agent after we landed because this poor guy was jammed in a middle seat and kept going to the restroom so he could stretch out.
He wasn’t an obese person by any stretch, he was just a very large man who requested an exit row or bulkhead seat and got jammed.
Well then the extra charge should go to the inconvenienced passenger, and not the airline. The reason I was asking was because the justification, at least in some cases, was extra fuel use (which kids and anorexics incur even less of than normal adults, such as myself).
You're obviously not an engineer!
Airliners last 40 years or more, without requiring significant chasis repair. The reason that they do is that they have an adequate safety factor in their design. Nobody would buy them if they didn't; the investment is just too large.
Then why on earth didn’t you give him your end seat????
The woman next to me was rude and acted oblivious to the entire situation. After planting herself firmly into half of my seat she covered herself with a blanket and went to sleep. This made things worse as she slumped and sagged even more onto me and my space.
She was use to it and not apologetic.
Some airlines talked about extra fuel use that obese people cause to be burned on a flight. If that were the justification (as opposed to passenger convenience) then those who weighed much less than average should get a partial refund. That’s why.
What’s good is that an airline is able to operate profitably. The ones that do don’t pick fights with their patrons. There is usually a work-around to any problem; some seek it some don’t.
I have always thought that people should be charged by the pound to fly.
I have to pay more to drive the type of vehicles I want. So why shouldn’t heavy people have to pay more when they take public forms of transportation?
And yes I have had to share a seat with a large person because I made the error to pay for a coach ticket. After that I now fly first class. It is always worth the extra cost.
So do they get two inflight meals?
We actually offered but since I had a window seat and the guy was about 6ft 8 and 300 lbs he couldn’t fit. He couldn’t take the aisle seat because the armrest on the aisle side wouldn’t lift so he couldn’t get his leg in.
My point is that the idiot steward didn’t want to move him into 1st class, where they had the space and instead ruined the flight for three of us.
Understood.
Crash diet before the Aug trip to Hawaii........
Gave to remember, United is employee (read “union(s)” owned. They’ll get a UAW bailout at our expense.
My longest flight, in pain although not in length, was next to a woman so fat that when she needed the restroom, the stewardess had to pull on her arms to get her out of her seat. When she returned, she took about 5 minutes to work her butt back into the seat.
About an hour later, the guy in the window seat needed to potty. After a whispered exchange with me, he stood up in his seat, stepped on the armrest and jumped for the aisle. Made it, too! To get back in, he stood on the aisle arm rest and jumped back.
Me? I didn’t drink ANYTHING for the 5 hour flight...
My longest flight, in pain although not in length, was next to a woman so fat that when she needed the restroom, the stewardess had to pull on her arms to get her out of her seat. When she returned, she took about 5 minutes to work her butt back into the seat.
About an hour later, the guy in the window seat needed to potty. After a whispered exchange with me, he stood up in his seat, stepped on the armrest and jumped for the aisle. Made it, too! To get back in, he stood on the aisle arm rest and jumped back.
Me? I didn’t drink ANYTHING for the 5 hour flight...
“Ever had someone sit next to you so big that they took up part of YOUR seat, too? If you are going to take up two seats, then pay for two seats unless the plane isn’t full.”
I used to travel 5 days per week, basically 3 - 5 flights per week, sometimes as many as 7. I’ve been seated next to a person whose arm fat droops over into my seat area many times. Usually these people also sweat copiously and don’t smell good. I agree and support the idea of making them buy two seats so they don’t make another person miserable. Otherwise, reserve one row, all normal size seats, for the obese people and let them work it out - they might understand and stop eating so damn much. And don’t give me the garbage about “it’s all glandular.”
“Maybe they could have a long bench down the side of plane, and arm rests that move such that people can be charged by how many inches of bench they take up.”
That’s a good idea but there should be a base ticket price for people of “average” size and weight, with a surcharge for every x, 2x, 3x pounds over that average. Nobody wants to pay extra and probably couldn’t write off the overage on an expense report - people would begin to lose weight if they were frequent travelers.
Got it! :)
Lardasses want to go somewhere, they need to take a cattle haulin truck or buy both seats they encroach on.
Really? It was meant as a joke.
Actually I am an engineer (Though I think you meant wrench wasn't one, and I'm not sure you meant software).
And no, I'm not convinced that being 250 pounds makes it dangerous for me to fly...but my shoulder width does make it uncomfortable when I'm between people.
http://images.google.com/images?q=naafa
Seriously, it makes more sense than charging for checked baggage, then whining about how long it takes to turn a flight around.
It really is depressingly hilarious when you think about the indignity we will endure on an airline flight that we would never put up with anywhere else!
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