"Would you mind if I lift the armrest?"
Posted on 06/19/2002 2:39:23 PM PDT by Barbie Doll
Airline To Double Fare For 'People Of Size'
SAN DIEGO, 1:37 p.m. PDT June 19, 2002 - Southwest Airlines says it will require people who cannot fit in a single airline seat to purchase two tickets beginning next week.
Airline representatives say ticket agents will ask what the company calls "people of size" to pay for a second seat if they are too large for another passenger to be seated beside them. Ticket agents already have the option of charging double for large passengers, but they rarely use it. Now, Southwest says it will enforce the policy in every case.
The airline first suggested double-charging larger passengers several years ago, but it withdrew the plan after passengers protested. Many passengers say they still oppose a pay-for-two policy.
"Who's going to decide who is going to have to pay for the extra ticket? Do we have to get on a scale?" asked Sheila Allen of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. "My weight is private medical information. It's not for anybody else's knowledge."
"It's a lot of money to pay for plane tickets and that's just real discriminatory asking people to pay extra like that," Jared Hutchins.
The airline says it will begin enforcing the policy on Wednesday.
Fatties can provide anti-hijacking airliner security while riding in the comfort of free first class upgrades, so long as they promise to sit on the bad guys. (Value carriers, shuttle flights, and other single class flights will need another plan.)
From Item #1:
While buying a ticket for a Southwest flight from Sacramento to Burbank, Calif., he was told he'd need to buy an extra ticket.From Item #2:The reason? He's what the airline calls "a person of size" - the PC term, evidently, for someone so large he may need more than one seat.
McAllister is, in fact, a big man - 6 feet 2 inches, 350 pounds. But the former college football player says he's never been accused of taking up more than a single seat on a flight.
Police in Maryland say a man who tried to rob a store died after a customer sat on him.
...
He was sat on by a six foot two man who weighed 280 pounds after he was spotted stuffing packs of cigarettes into a bag.
Originally posted on my pitiful blog.
As long as you keep your private medical information in your own seat, I don't care, Sheila. But I don't want part of you in my seat!
I was on a four hour flight once, and the fat slob in the seat beside me was too fat to allow the arm rest down. I was miserable for four hours and didn't appreciate his lap in mine. I couldn't move and was very uncomfortable.
I think the airlines owe some consideration to their other passengers. If a body hangs into the next seat, why shouldn't they pay for it?
Do you expect to mail a 100-lb package for the same price as a 10-ounce one?
Airlines costs are of lifting weight. Weigh more, pay more.
You don't like it? Drive. You'll buy more gas and your car will wear sooner. Tough.
You think lawsuits are answers? Bovine excrement.
You want to beg Big Brother to handle your whines, go away.
You think you got a better way to run an airline? Go do so.
I pay more for clothes because I need extra long, fitted ones. Am I the victim of discrimination? No. It costs more to make them and they sell less units. Doling out 2 seats to one person means less units sold, and a revenue penalty for the airline. Airlines are a business, just like clothiers. Neither has an obligation to enforce an egalitarian market at their own expense. If you want that you can move to Cuba.
"Would you mind if I lift the armrest?"
If anyone sues over this and wins, I'm suing Magic Mountain for that time they discriminated against me for being short, and not letting me on the good rides. Size is irrelevant, right?
Translation: "I'm ashamed of the number. But if I were livestock it would be way past market time."
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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