United Airlines
United Airlines to charge overweight passengers for two seats
Passengers carrying extra baggage on their bodies will have to pay for an extra seat - if they want to fly the friendly skies.
United Airlines on Wednesday began barring overweight fliers flying out of Chicago who:
- Can't fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin.
- Can't buckle their seatbelt - even using the seatbelt extender.
- Can't put the armrests down when seated.
Those deemed too fat to fly "must either purchase a ticket for an additional seat, or purchase an upgrade to a cabin with seats that address the above-listed scenarios," United Airlines wrote on its Web site.
If no other seats are available on that flight, the hefty flier is grounded until two conjoined seats can be found on the next plane out.
"This will apply after all other solutions are exhausted," United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski Janikowski said. "Should the flight be full, which is rare in today's economy ... we will offer the second seat on another flight at the same fare that was originally paid."
United received more than 700 complaints last year from travelers who "did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat," she said.
Urbanski Janikowski said eight other U.S. airlines have similar seating policies requiring plus-sized passengers to "purchase a second seat" if they can't fit into one.
United did not explain who at the airline makes the call. Chicago-based WBBM Newsradio said the airline "instructed its customer service representatives at O'Hare International Airport ticket counters and gates to be extra vigilant."
Comments
That's right...blame everyone else for discrimination instead of taking responsibility for your own problem. Sue the airlines for pain and suffering...it's free money, right? Ever wonder where that money comes from? You pay for one seat...standard sized seat...and if you need more you need to pay more. I am also concerned about the weight this adds to the plane...and I am sick and tired of people thinking they have a right to infringe on my space.
I have sat next to more than one fatty in my time. First thing they do is push up the arm rest and flood over into your space. Way past time to ban this. The "right" to take my seat is no more than the "right" to blow smoke in may face, drink and drive, or toss trash along road side. All are anitsocial.
The posting from Char states that using 2 seats uses twice the fuel. It sounds good even if its not actually true. The space you take does not impact on fuel, the weight does. Does that mean that a weight lifter who has more muscle mass and weighs more (for his/her size) should also pay more?
It is, I believe, just a way for the airlines to get more money from us.
That being said, I do remember reading something from one of the airlines, American I seem to remember, that had a requirement in it rules. It said something to the effect that if you could not fit into the seat, you would have to purchase a second seat and that if the flight was not full, you would be only be charged a childs fare on the second seat. There were some requirements about the seat having to be a window seat or some thing like that.
I don't know if American ever enforced the rule but the concept is not new. Its just getting more attention because of all the excess fees being added.
The airlines requirement was if you could not fit in the seat without hanging over the arm rest and it sounded like a fair rule. I hope that United comes up with a realist means of determining who is fat and who is not.
As for myself, I choose to fly business class when I can afford it because I am a big fellow myself and like to be comfortable. I am not fat according to the airlines seat requirements and I do fit in the small seats. When I have to fly economy, I certainly don't like being sandwiched between overly large people. I like my personal space and when I rent an airline seat, I want the entire seat I paid for. I should not have to subsidize obese people's travel.
Large people are that way mostly by their own choice and actions. Too little activity and too much eating. Sure, there are a few with medical reasons but not many. It sounds better to say you are fat because of a medical reason than to say you are lazy and a pig.
Should a car dealer be forced to sell me a Suburban for the price of a sub compact because I can not fit into the small one? I don't think so. The airlines should not be forced to give me a free extra seat because I don't fit in one. I have to pay for my seat, so should obese people.
Pay by the pound or the inch? I don't know what the answer is, I just hope they don't use the AMA's defination of obese which would apply to the good majority of healthy Americans. According to my doctor, at 5' 11", I should weight 140 pounds instead of my 190 pounds.
If some one would start a regular boat service between the USA and Europe, I would never fly and it wouldn't matter.
If the large people rise up, I think the smokers should also. They are addicted to food and I'm addicted to smoking. I want my rights too. Some people on the plane might get sick from a few hours of smoke but some people get nauseated from being squeezed also. I think they should put in a smoking room. I'd pay extra for it if it is my problem.
RIGHT ON UNITED! You should post it up front though, they know ahead when the are too big.
If you book ahead and choose the seat you want or need due to a disability you should not be force out of it by a fat person. I travel often and have suffered extreme claustrophobia due to fat people hanging into my seat on AA. I saw a small (not small enough for a 1/3 of a seat) elderly women forced out of the third seat due a fat couple occupying 2 2/3 seats. She had to stand or was allowed to sit on the crew stools on an overnight flight. Luckily a middle age women traded places with her half way home.
The ADA says disabled people like myself should be serviced if possible but it does not say you cannot charge for this. If you need two seats buy two seats, your using twice the fuel.
There is an element of social responsibility here.
All United are saying is that if you can't fit in a seat then you need to purchase an extra one, not that you can't fly. They are also notifiying them in advanced so they are not supprised.
The person sitting next to the oversized person has just as much right to have a comfortable flight.
It is selfish of people that expect other people to suffer just because they have a "right".
I am a believer that people should have the right to do what they want as long as it does not impact other people.
That is discrimination and another attempt by the airlines to make money. The airline seats are too small period. Tall people, fat people, skinny people...they are all uncomfortable on a flight. The airlines in their attempt once again to make money squeezed in as many seats as possible at the expense of the passengers comfort. Now people cry..."I don't want to sit next to a fat person" as a ploy to get bumped into first class for free(you know, the same people that complain in a restaurant in hopes of getting a free dinner)and the airlines who made the seats to small in the first place to make more money are now penalizing the customer for not being able to fit comfortably in the too small seat. Give me a break! Hey I don't like sitting next to ugly people, or people with screaming kids, or people with a cold hacking all over....make them fly on another flight, next thing you know the airlines will be segregated, one plane for ugly people, one for fat people, one for children, one for handicaped travelers etc.
I do not know how United will fare against the Disabilities Act, but as a flight attendant and a passanger I applaud their effort. No one should have to share half of their seat with another person's fat. The fat person does not share the discomfort of the person they are displacing. BTW there are few, very few, people that are CORPULENT because of a disability; they simply ate their way to that condition.
No sympathy
Now would be a good time for all large sized passengers and their allies to barrage the DOT with every conceivable complaint possible about United Airlines. This act of aggression by United justifies a total and overwhelming criticism of their company.
Now is the best time to use the courts to fight United, like the Canadians did.
http://www.canada.com/Health/story.html?id=977633
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