Fatties bite back

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

[kitkat]

"If one can fit in one seat, pay for one seat. Fit in two, pay for two. That's
simple."

Does that mean that if Hillary Clinton ever gets around to buying a ticket instead of sponging off other people, and parks her ample a** on a commercial flight, she'd have to pay for three seats?

[arm958]

for people like me who take care of a family member who is a quadriplegic in a wheelchair it becomes a big deal when all the damn disabled parking spaces are taken up

Now that just ticks me off. I lived in Vancouver, Washington until a few years ago. I recall that the local authorities were experimenting with allowing those who possessed valid disabled parking permits to "ticket" those who are erroneously parked in handicapped spaces. I thought it was a great idea. Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the problem of those lazy, self-absorbed people who "finess" the system and get handicapped permits because they are fat and lazy.

[Paul Atreides]

But last week there was no time to worry about a distinct lack of pace as she attempted a headlong dash across an airport in southern California.

Was it a dash or more of a controlled fall?

Miss Solovay was late for her Southwest Airlines flight home to Oakland, near San Francisco. The Ivy-League educated lawyer, who had just addressed a civil rights conference, needed to get to her office for an important meeting with a client later that day.

That speaks volumes.

[Mamzelle]

re:Life is very cruel to the overweight

That's an idiotic statement. "Life" presents you with options. If you choose to stuff your face and drive around the parking lot for 10 minutes so you can be 10 feet closer to the entrance, then that is your problem. )))

Life can be very cruel to flawed people, like those who overeat, or those ill-natured enough to make a comment like you just did.

[Bogey78O]

I do find it odd that the one bit of excersize many of them get they shirk. I've known people like that too who were perfectly healthy till they got morbidly obese then they stopped excercizing and let it themselves go to hell.

[F.J. Mitchell]

They came for the smokers and I said nothing because I do not smoke, they came for the fat people and I said nothing because I am slim, They came for the etc.,etc.,etc., and I said nothing because i am not etc........

[Bill Davis FR]

ok, time to sell tickets by the pound...

[Windsong]

LOL..man oh man oh man. And I thought *I* had it bad on flights..

[arm958]

Life can be very cruel to flawed people, like those who overeat, or those ill-natured enough to make a comment like you just did.

I'm supposing you didn't get my point. People who overeat are copping out if they are claiming that "life is cruel" to them. Take personal responsibility! The same goes for ill-natured people like me.

[pepsi_junkie]

Okay, then by your logic if you get on a flight from New York to Chicago it would be okay if everyone was strapped to pallets and slid into racks three levls high since it is much shorter flight, only a couple of hours. Or do you somehow conclude that since it was a long trip slavers felt compassion for their cargo and gave them a little extra room? I suspect, rather, that over the decades the slavers determined that many of their people died or came out of the trip ill or injured and based on that figured out the best arrangement to minimize space per person without killing them. I do not think I want modern airlines to be using the same standards on us.

[strela]

I had to sit next to a very full-figured ... woman on a 9 hour flight once, who ... vomited the entire 9-hours ... in a plastic grocery sack

Ummmmm, Chunky Soup. And warm too.

Thanks heaps for the visual ;)

[ChasingFletch]

I thought this headline was about Oprah moaning at her critics!

[arm958]

I do not think I want modern airlines to be using the same standards on us.

It's not the same standard, but it's the same concept. In the era of slave trading, if 90% of the "passengers" arrived alive, then it was a successful, profitable voyage.

Fast forward to 2002. If 100,000,000 passenger miles can be flown with only one lawsuit related to cramped seating, then the legroom is just about right.

[altura]

You shouldn't have tried walking all that way on one leg.

[Fausto]

"When she reached the airline's ticket desk she was out of breath, on time and rather proud of the achievement."

She was PROUD of the *achievement* of getting ot the airport on time? You are supposed to be to the airport on time! That's nothin' to be proud about. Hey, maybe if you would drop a little weight you wouldn't be huffing and puffing and could even make it a little early. If that were to happen this lady would probably want some sort of award. It's all about everyone else and the standards they place on her, not about the standards she should place on herself.

[oline]

I love that "I am so smart" bit -- I use to have it on my old computer....god, that's funny.

[sarasmom]

I flew several times with my daughter when she was a baby.After the first round leg, where I held her on my lap,(airline approved policy) I always bought two seats, primarily for her safety, but also out of respect for fellow passengers.The first flight taught me it was impossible to avoid crowding out another passenger. I was very embarrassed, and apologised to my seatmates.

I dont see how an overweight flyer can not KNOW they require extra seating space, after a first flight.IMHO they are as rude as I stupidly was on my first flight with baby.It just makes sense,and a little decency, to pay for the space you need on an airline.

[pepsi_junkie]

If airlines were financially secure I might agree with you that the airlines had stumbled onto the correct policies for effectively transporting people in a cost effective manner. However, the fact that they have lost and continue to lose billions tells me something is wrong with their business model. And since they keep coming hat in hand to the taxpayers begging for cash to keep them running I feel I have every right to criticize their mangement policies.

[eaglewatch]

They seem to be handing out the parking permits like popcorn. I have seen many people with valid disabled parking permits get out of a car and "briskly" walk to the store. Have no idea how they got the permit but we will soon need "wheelchair" only permits if this keeps up.

Of course that wouldn't be PC so I am not holding my breath on this one.