Fatties bite back

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

[arm958]

It just makes sense,and a little decency, to pay for the space you need on an airline.

As I recall, flight attendants used to make disparaging remarks about "lap babies". I remember traveling with my dughter, who was two or three at the time. I paid full fair for her seat, but when the meal was served, the flight attendant didn't want to give my daughter a meal, claiming she was a "lap baby". I had to produce two boarding passes before she gave my daughter a meal.

[Bella_Bru]

The airline is called Jet Blue.

[BlackVeil]

I am very sorry to hear about your brother, and it is awful to consider what he must have felt when pestered by barabarians. Praying for the repose of his soul.

[joonbug]

One has to pay extra for heavier baggage on an airplane, so what's the difference if the baggage is a suitcase or your body??

[Tony in Hawaii]

Here's a thought. I weigh about 300. If I married a little 90-pound pixie, and we flew together, would Southwest still want to charge me double?

[flyervet]

Of course you've heard of Big Blue. That's the nickname for IBM, which has absolutely nothing to do with airlines or passenger jet components.

I think Glenn may be referring to a company called Jet Blue, a discount start-up airline that flies to limited destinations. Of course, Glenn may also be referring to the nearly defunct Midwest Express, which was all first-class, but which had barely gotten off the ground before September 11th and was on life-support immediately afterwards.

[Malacoda]

I solved the "seat encroachment" problem neatly, and completely inadvertantly.

I had the misfortune of flying from Springfield, MO to Philadelphia while I was around five months pregnant. I had full, twenty-four-hour-a-day morning sickness; EVERYTHING made me hurl. I actually LOST weight for the first few months I was pregnant.

I was seated in the middle, next to a gigantic person -- this guy must have weighed 300 pounds -- who obviously had been drinking a great deal before the flight, and ignoring basic personal hygiene. Of course, his BO set off the "hurl o meter," and I had to barf. Problem was, between my pregnant belly, and his girth, I couldn't climb over or around him fast enough.

So I yarked on him. ALL OVER his shirtfront.

He threw a level-four hissy fit and damn near assaulted me. I was helpless with nausea, and couldn't do a damn thing.

The flight attendants moved him to another seat, and let me lie down across three seats. No one held me responsible at all -- in fact, everyone on the damn plane was supportive. In fact, one of the other passengers told the guy he was so fat and so smelly that he would have barfed on him, too. If he had bought two seats, I wouldn't have been crowded as badly, or had such an up-close-and-personal whiff of his stench.

Here's thought -- pregnant women take up a LOT of extra room on planes. Will they charge them extra, too? After all, technically, there are TWO people flying....

[Chad Fairbanks]

LOL... ;0)

[glorygirl]

When I first read about Southwest's new policy this week, I was extremely angry.

As a former fat kid, it is impossible to explain to others the impact of the cruelty and rudeness of those who see obesity merely as a character flaw.

The emotional and physical toll of "fatness" will never be understood by anyone who isn't, or hasn't been, overweight. That impact lasts, even when someone has achieved a healthy body.

The main point I want to make though, is that most overweight people are embarrassed by their appearance and by any inconvenience they pose to others.

I am aware of fat people who refuse to fly because of this, or make every effort to see they are NOT seated next to others they might make uncomfortable.

As one newspaper pointed out, theaters,and other venues don't have this problem, because they make seats wide enough, and have enough seats available, so that people don't HAVE to be crowded.

The airline industry, and Southwest Airlines in particular, have brought these problems about themselves. They should be held responsible for September 11, and for any other mishaps that occur on their flights.

There IS a way to resolve these problems without cruelty, and without treating ANY of their passengers unfairly.

[Ditter]

That little part of the story made me doubt the story as well. Southwest does NOT have assigned seats, it is first come first served. This woman was trying to get on stand-by on a later flight, 2 seats together should not have been difficult. Rarely do you see a flight when most of the stand-bys don't get on.

[ZOOKER]

Just a comment on some misconceptions on airline seating....width of seats is determined by fuselage diameter, which has been constant for the last 30 years.

Seats are attached to the floor by "seat tracks", which are long strips stretching the length of the cabin, with fastener holes for the seats every inch or so.

With this arrangement it's possible to increase passenger comfort by dropping a row of seats and increasing the LENGTH between rows (legroom). JetBlue has done this in their aircraft.

However, WIDTH does not change---if you couldn't get your butt in the seat before, you still can't.

There's only so much space between the walls of the cabin---six seats and one minimal aisle on a 737 is all that will fit.

If you want more hiproom, you have to eliminate one seat in each row. This is complicated, since the wider seats won't line up with the seat tracks any more. The aircraft must be taken out of service to modify and relocate the seat tracks on the floor.

Perhaps we should match the opening in the terminal metal detector to the same width as the aircraft seat? If you won't fit through, you must fly "first class" which only has 4 seats per row instead of 6. Not being "calorically challenged", I wouldn't know, but making an obese person stand on the scale might be humiliating enough to spark even more lawsuits...

[Itzlzha]

I'm happy that the Atkins low carb diet works for you and your particular metabolism. You do know that it doesn't work for everyone.

I am surprised that an Atkins succes story like yourself would actually suggest that someone merely has to push themselves away from the table to lose weight, after all, that didn't work for you. If it had you wouldn't need Atkins...

Well, if you read my other comment I meant that they should push away from sweets, refined sugars, Carbohydrates (hence my BK comment), ect. Just go to ANY fast food joint at lunchtime, and count the morbidly obese in line...then look at their orders!

Atkins might not work for all, but it should work for even the MOST resistent metabolism if you follow the plan's 100%-no-carb-diet. It isn't a 100% fix, but it's a damn sight better than the ADM sponsored Food Pyramid. I bet there will be a class-action suit over it in the future, with the Fed. Gov. as a secondary target.

By all means, follow the plan and eat all the Protein you can handle...I never push away from Sashimi or Beef at ANY time.

[KC_for_Freedom]

I wouldn't know, but making an obese person stand on the scale might be humiliating enough to spark even more lawsuits...

Since this thread is about lawsuits, I believe we will move in a direction that absolutely terminates discrimination against fat people. (Although there will always be discrimination. Its part of being human.)

The airlines will have to sell inches of seating and charge by volume and weight. There will be adjustable seats or seating in different sections to accomodate the difference in prices that will be charged. A problem on unfilled flights will necessitate a single price per person on those flights. SW is within their right because they have open seating. If they had various size seats, thin people would take the larger seats for the additional comfort. I say let the lawsuits begin.

[ZOOKER]

Note that first class has 4 seats per row, coach has six.

Here's your solution, Sondra: fly first class. A lawyer should be able to afford it.

[Tony in Hawaii]

And don't forget the water.

I've found that my appetite seems to decrease when I stick to strict low-carb. There's more to satiety than simply filling one's stomach.

[Ditter]

Yeah, & we get A/C too, don't forget about the blessed A/C.

[philetus]

They already have it, it's called air freight.

[Let's Roll]

"However, the fact that they have lost and continue to lose billions tells me something is wrong with their business model."

Yes, instead of these lengthy threads of insults directed at the overweight etc., the real story IMO is that many customers were already looking for a reason not to fly. I don't think the airlines really want to go there right now. Bad business decision - didn't Kelleher retire?

[tinacart]

"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."

As a formerly fat person, I agree 100% with the charging extra money for the seats. However, this doesn't come down to an issue on fatness, it's about greed, the airlines' greed! There was a time when the seats were larger, but to make room for more passengers and make more money the seat size was decreased. Same thing with parking stalls in those parking garages. I have a smaller car and car barely get into some of them. It's all about making a buck. As everything else is being "supersized" to make more money, the airline seats are being made smaller to make more money.

[Bogey78O]

It's been almost 70 years since the USPS stopped allowing that.