Fatties bite back

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | June 23, 2002 | David Wastell in Washington

[Freedom4US]

It's official, I guess. Nobody has any shame anymore. If I weighed 300 pounds, I would hope I would learn to shut the f$%k up, or lose the weight.

The airlines will just start weighing passengers and charge by the pound, and have an aircraft seat at check-in to see how well they fit.

[cynicom]

xsy...

"sharp and trained lawyers mind"

Could we add devious to the characterizations of lawyers?????

[Bogey78O]

A standard airline seat is only so wide. They're not penalizing overweight people. They're charging people who are over-width.

These fat bastards who are raising a ruckus are being self-centered. They don't care that they'd crowd the person next to them. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... that's okay to have half your body in the guy next to yours lap but let that guy protest and he's the jerk.

So to all the nice people who are overweight I don't mean you. But the fat people who are taken aback at being charged extra for carrying on extra go choke on a donut.

[eFudd]

If they start a class action suit, some lawyer really needs to fire back with a suit against them for infringing on the rights of normal sized people.

[Humidston]

I propose ALL lawyers should automatically be charged for two seats - due to the fact that their heads are so large and full of %&#$#.

[babylonian]

Somebody should tell this lawyer that even at UPS it costs twice as much to ship two tubs of lard than to ship one tub.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I was listening to something about this on John Carleson's show (570 KVI) the other night on the way home - the lawyer who is representing the National Association for Fat Acceptance, or whatever they call themselves was on, speaking of her own horrible experience at the airport. She was aghast that the airline would actually expect her to accomodate them... then, she went on to say that she was on stand-by for the crowded, full-to-capacity flight.

Now, the intersting part - her and her fat husband got seat where they could "sit together", with an empty seat between them (since apparently, each takes up a seat and a half. Some unlucky (or lucky*, depending on how you look at it) was bumped, and offered some form of compensation by the airline, for the convenience of that fat whiner. And she has the nerve to complain about discrimination?????

This woman (I don't remember if the woman in the article is the same one) cost the airline extra money (compensating the bumped passenger somehow), inconveniences a passenger who, will now perhaps associate that airline with bad service, etc... But, it's all about her... That woman, for some reason, really pissed me off...

*Lucky, in that they didn't have to be there, between those two, during the in-flight meal...

[Maceman]

In a spirited show of defiance, Mr McAllister inquired whether he would gain air miles for his second ticket. The answer was no.

Fair is fair. If they have to pay for two seats, they should get double the miles.

[Bogey78O]

That's what I'm saying. A caller to a local show told of how she and her husband were stand-by on a full flight and they were able to get a seat on the plane when at the last minute they were both pulled off so a single fat person who was also on standby could get on.

The whole fat acceptance people are as selfish as selfish can be.

[Chad Fairbanks]

If they don't like it, they can always go to another airline... No one is forcing them at gun point to fly on that airline...

[Pylot]

"She is now among a group of American lawyers considering a class-action lawsuit against airlines - not just Southwest - for what they believe to be unconstitutional discrimination against the overweight."

Congress shall make no law infringing on the right of the people to be fat.

I neve knew that was in the Constitution!

This is discrimination, plain and simple. And there is not a single thing wrong with it. You can not argue with physics.

[Glenn]

These fat bastards who are raising a ruckus are being self-centered.

Who the hell are you to call anyone a "bastard"? Kiss my ass promptly, please.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

They arent even charging the person for being over width. They are charging for seat occupancy. Airlines make money on revenue seat miles. you occupy a seat, you pay for it. It has to do with costs, weight, fuel, etc. It isn't as though someone is being charged extra for taking up the entire seat on a Carnival Ride.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

They're the same type of people who eat at McDonald's 4 days a week and complain about their weight problems.

[comebacknewt]

The airline should be free to charge whatever price they want to whomever they want. There is NO Constitutional right to be treated "fairly" by private individuals, only to be treated equal under the law.

Conceptually, I agree with you. However, what is going to kill Southwest at this point is their lack of a uniform standard.

In discrimination lawsuits, the plaintiff is required to prove that they did not discriminate. When a member of a "protected class" (i.e. a minority) is charged double and sues, the fact that Southwest does not have a consistent policy is going to cost them a bundle IMHO.

[ponyespresso]

well, as Homer would say,

"mmmmmmmmm, doughnuts......"