Comments on: Canada prohibits airlines from charging overweight passengers for an extra seat

By: Shawn the skinny

Shawn the skinny — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:01:02 +0000

Ouch ouch ouch!! Some of you really sound judgmental.

To begin with, I am a somewhat skinny guy married to an overweight person flirting with obesity. One thing I have come to realize, even if it is certainly not true for myself, is that losing weight is hard for some people. This is hard for me to understand sometimes, but it is true.

I also realize, though, that some people make excessive excuses for obesity, as if it just happened. If you exercise, and eat normally, it is practically impossible to get obese unless you have some sort of thyroid problem etc. In 90% of cases, there are practices which, if started young, will lead to a healthy life. This is not a moral issue. It is a public health one.

To the problem at hand. To me, it makes sense not to charge obese people extra. This really is a minor problem — how many obese persons have you sat next to? More importantly, as an airline passenger, you should want to NOT sit crammed into a seat next to an obese person who can’t fit in one seat! You should want to encourage a practice that is in the self-interest of other passengers.

That being said, bumping someone up to First/ Business class to get a bigger seat is unfair to the rest of us, I like the suggestion, above, that someone sitting next to an overweight person might get the upgrade.

As for the idea of charging passengers by the pound — humans aren’t cattle, and should not be treated that way. We don’t charge by the pound (of the eater) in restaurants. Buses don’t charge person by their weight. Health insurance premiums don’t depend on your size. Why should airlines be different?

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:27:46 +0000

Like one person said, there are medical conditions that contribute to obesity. Thyroid conditions, having to take steroids for medical conditions, even severe depression can contribute to obesity. I know of people who drank and drove and put themselves in the wheelchair due to their own drunk driving accident. Would you deny them a disability label for travel? I don’t think so, we wouldn’t dare ask how someone winds up in a wheelchair and judge them over it. If a doctor has identified someone obese as having a disability then they have a disability, plain and simple and should be treated fairly as a person with a disability.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:30:04 +0000

I have no issue with pay by the pound. I get pulled aside by “Betty by the books” at the ticket desk for my checked baggage being over by 1lb. Why do I have to pay $20-50per bag when people are the major contributor to the weight of the plane. If you are overweight you should pay a surcharge per pound for every pound over the national average. If you make another person uncomfortable by encroaching on their space, you should be forced to move or pay a second seat. It is only fair. It isnt descrimination when a person has to be a certain weight or height to ride a carnival ride, it’s safety. If you use the safety plug anything is legal.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:45:25 +0000

Simple: charging for two seats (especially when your second seat can actually STILL BE SOLD) is discrimination regardless of how you look at it. You can look at it two ways:

One: people have different body shapes and, as the science tells us, it’s not their fault they are fat.. therefore you are charging people double for how they were born- for something that’s not a choice and not in their control. For the people who are among the super obese due to eating disorders or mental/emotional problems then you’re discriminating against people who are ill- which is still unacceptable. This option is what the science tells us: that fatties can exercise and eat well and still not be thin- and still be “spilling over” even.

Two: weight is completely within a person’s control and those fatties should lose weight if they want to pay the same- which means that being fat automatically means that you have to work and struggle and be deprived and put excessive energy every single day of your life into looking like the thinner person just to be treated the same as they get to be treated with little or no effort. Requiring one group of people do entirely change their lifestyle just to be treated equally is discrimination. Why can a thin person sit on the couch and eat pizza every day and not be discriminated against but when a fat person does it they’re allowed to be more degraded even when the lifestyle is EXACTLY THE SAME?

By: TheBigKahuna

TheBigKahuna — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:59:12 +0000

I am the fat person who sits next to you and spills over onto your seat. As I sit down and make myself comfortable for the loooong journey ahead of us, I notice for a moment that my thigh is grazing yours. I do my best impression of making it look like I’m trying to squish over onto my seat, but that is really just for show; I know full well I haven’t budged. I then ask myself the same question I do at this stage of every journey I make by air, “where is that girl with the drink cart? And when do we get to eat?”

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:49:12 +0000

You people are the reason why the world is the way it is. My sister has a sever thyroid deficency that makes her gain weight no matter what she does. That isnt a medical condition? And to John who thinks he knows so much about people and how they got to their size….you should do some research and see that thigns arent always black and white. You have way too much to say about poeple and calling someone a fatty is racisit. Are you out there calling other groups that you dont think are right names? You all make me sick and its no wonder why so many children are bulimic and anorexic no adays.

By: Stew

Stew — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:15:35 +0000

All the comments have merit, but how about how about people with gene or genetic problems and are overweight not of their own doing? I’m in Canada, and agree that if it’s your own doing then fine you pay more, and don’t ever whine that you need to be upgraded if I’m standing behind you.
Do we all not pay extra for overweight baggage, then the same should be implemented for gross obesity if it’s not caused by a medical condition. I as well was at the Chicago airport, and a 400+ lb. guy wanted an extra seat free so he’d be comfortable. The young lady stated their policy was that he had to pay for another seat. She did then state that this plane was full except for first class and she’d be happy to sell him an upgrade if he wished, to applause from other customers in line.

By: Upgrades and Downgrades — Obese Canadian passengers, guns & ammo, elite time-savers, and more | Upgrade: Travel Better

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:47:02 +0000

[...] seat. The court reaffirmed the Department of Transport’s “one person, one seat” directive. Air Canada and WestJet, Canada’s top airlines, in turn decided that passengers would need a [...]

By: John

John — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:41:31 +0000

Seriously obese people aren’t handicapped. They got that way one bite at a time. I see so many fat people, mostly women, these days with walking canes to help with shot knees. One did not see this 20 years ago when fewer people allowed themselves to get so overweight. I saw a special group of cruise passengers who were “handicapped” riding around on their electric people movers. They weren’t handicapped… just too lazy to get up and walk like the rest of us. Make the fatties pay for an extra seat. They already pay 3 times what the rest of us pay to eat anyway. If they don’t like it, they can stay home on their couch and become more potato like:)

By: pink

pink — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:22:41 +0000

I think that a overweight person should have to pay for an extra seat if they dont want to be stuffed in their seat. How is it fair to everyone else that has to sit next to them when they are taking up all this room. If i want to be more comforable i have to pay extra for first class .. so whyy would it be different for them they want to be comforable they should pay for it to. Most people are just lazy and eat mcdonalds and junk and dont exercise i dont feel sorry for them at all that is their chose to live and be unhealthy so i feeL that they should pay for 2 seats.
they may say its like a disability … but thats honestly the funniest thing ill ever heard just because you choose to eat and your fat are we suppose to feel sorry for you.
Airlines will be losing money if they have say even 3 obese people on the plane thats 6 seats thats 3 extra seats they could have someone pay for… everyone has their own option but i dont think its fair that they get special treatment because they are obese. People in wheel chairs or other issues cant change the way they are but obese people can and most choose not to.