Posted on 06/13/2021 9:41:34 PM PDT by Signalman
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is demanding U.S. airlines submit plans with updated weight averages they will use for passengers and baggage moving forward by Saturday.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Airlines officials say the weight estimates used for passengers and baggage are going up between 5 percent and 10 percent.”
“That will affect some flights, possibly requiring that more passengers get bumped or more baggage left behind,” the Journal reported.
Airline officials say the weight requirements used for passengers and baggage are going up about 10% or more. That will affect some flights, possibly requiring that more passengers get bumped or more baggage left behind.
While the novel coronavirus — a virus exacerbated by excessive weight where 78 percent of those hospitalized with infection were overweight or obese — should have served as a wake-up call to the decades-long obesity crisis, Americans instead packed on the pounds with apparently little concern.
According to a global Ipsos poll in January, two in five Americans reported gaining weight throughout the lockdowns still in place at the time. Those surveyed said they put on an average of more than 14 pounds, putting the U.S. seventh out of 30 countries in terms of pandemic weight gain.
Most Americans appeared relatively unbothered by the weight. Less than half said they believed there was a link between obesity and complications from COVID-19 which data determined early on was a major risk contributor.
“Since the pandemic began,” Science Magazine reported in September, “dozens of studies have reported that many of the sickest COVID-19 patients have been people with obesity.”
Overweight patients in one study published in August cited by the flagship journal were 113 percent more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to patients of an otherwise healthy weight. Obese patients were found 74 percent more likely to end up in intensive care units (ICU) and 48 percent more likely to die. Pre-pandemic, more than 70 percent of adults 20 years old and older were already overweight with 42 percent categorically “obese” according to the CDC.
The proliferation of aggressive fat-acceptance has thrown a cultural roadblock into efforts to ignite a nationwide reckoning on weight despite the visible consequences of obesity’s toll illustrated by the coronavirus pandemic which claimed nearly 600,000 American lives.
As the pandemic in the U.S. subsides, vaccine incentives such as Krispy Kreme’s free doughnut a day for the rest of the year offered to those who present vaccine cards show Americans have learned nothing from the COVID-19 pandemic other than it’s acceptable — righteous and noble even — to place one’s personal health into their neighbors’ responsibility. While it might be sweet marketing, it feeds the cultural barriers to substantive efforts to mitigate obesity as an issue Americans need to start caring about.
The consequences of excessive weight, already applying pressure on the health care system for years as the root cause of many chronic illnesses, has now stretched beyond the confines of the doctor’s office and into the air with the FAA forced to make changes likely to spur disruption while it’s also been a legitimate national security concern for years.
Krispy Kreme didn’t demand the FAA change its safety rules. Decades of poor choices did that. The company capitalizing on the pandemic’s end, which should have opened America’s eyes to its struggle with obesity, instead highlights the cultural obstacles ahead while Americans have become apathetic to the deadly issue
I resisted buying a car for years under the theory I’d have to walk a lot. It worked until I got a job offer I could not refuse that required a car
Hmmm...sounds like they’re getting ready to shrink the size of the seats again.
I abstained from getting a driver's license and purchasing an automobile for many years. But now, at 61 years of age, I'm thinking of maybe getting at least a bicycle.
Oh, and I've lost 10 lbs since the pandemic began and I was relegated to home-office.
Regards,
I have no problem with requiring morbidly obese passengers to buy first class tickets, or buy the seat adjacent to theirs. This could also apply to very large people who are not obese. That said, the airlines are going too far in cramming in passengers. Even an average sized 200ish pound guy doesn’t really fit within the confines of a coach seat. I pay for my seat, and I’m not willing to share.
Being fat causes increased fuel and food costs... ergo, being fat causes global warming... ergo, being fat is unhealthy for the world and causes 2nd hand health damages and we wouldn’t want THAT would we?
Time for all the SJWs to go outside and exercise and lose weight.
My family relations on other side of the country are polite, but a little chilly these days. In addition, I have ongoing health issues that have made air travel, hiking through an airport exhausting and not something I look forward to.
So I don’t expect to be hopping onto any planes in the next few years. All for the best if; worst case scenario, each passenger is ‘requested’ to step onto a giant Meat Scale, in full view of the public. I can just see that big black needle swooshing around from 1 lb, way, way past 200lbs.
There was an aluminum baby-grand piano on the Hindenburg,
back when customer satisfaction actually meant something.
God help the fatties at the FAA.
Great..... now they’re gonna start checking your BMI before boarding. What can possibly go wrong.
i dont mind passengers paying more due to weight
however the airlines are stacking the deck in their favor to do this by the long term trend of shrinking their seats
this is another angle of same or higher prices for smaller food item quantities in the supermarkets
they want to benefit more because they are at the same time, shrinking the seats. its hardly the case they can plead they are being neutral or concerned about fairness.
Too Fat To Fly so let’s fry!
I gained 10 pounds during the ‘Rona.
Shockingly, not all of that was muscle.
Adult tricycles are designed to offer exceptional comfort and ease of use, while also giving riders a solid workout.
Maybe they should build a big box, like the ones they test carry-on luggage with. If you can cram yourself into it, you’re good to fly.
That could work! Harry Houdini, eat your heart out!
“A staff member then came forward and started saying ‘no, you’re too big, you’re too big’.”
I’m pretty sure I’ll never fly again. I rather enjoyed it, back in the ‘80s. Drop $10 on a couple of packs of imported cigarettes, kick back with a few drinks in my own special section of the plane. I’ve since quit smoking, but the thought of a Dunhill Red and a gin and tonic sounds pretty good.
It is more of an FAA “weight & balance”/safety thing...although more seats in coach aggravates the problem:
https://airinsight.com/the-pending-new-faa-weight-balance-rules/
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_120-27F.pdf
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