I have a trip planned for Dubai end of May and I was very close to getting a flight on United Airlines. Emirates made more sense because it flies non-stop from San Francisco to Dubai and United doesn’t. Not that I am obese or anything, I was still surprised when I read few news headlines like United to begin charging very obese for second seat on Google News. I was surprised because it is a news story when it should be a norm.
United Airlines has decided that overweight passengers have to pay for two seats. According to United Airlines:
“- are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin;
- are unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender; and/or
- are unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated”
United says that it will only enforce this policy if there are no empty seats on the plane and every other measure has been exhausted. Once again, this calls for public embarrassment because all these decisions will be made on board the flight. That’s where I have the problem with this whole thing.
About 34 percent of Americans are obese, double the rate from 30 years ago, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You are talking about a lot of obese people here, imagine yourself flying in between one of them to a 15-hour flight to Asia.
Let’s talk about the other side of the story. There are people who travel a lot and may end up sitting with an obese person. One such person said on MarketWatch:
“Most of you obviously have never had the “privilege” of setting next to an obese person in coach….if you had, you would keep your off the wall thoughts to yourself. I travelled extensively for 30 years and during that time I was subjected to this uncomfortable situation many many times. When an obese person sits next to you, the first thing they want/need to do is raise the arm rest between you otherwise they can’t fit their fat a$$ into the seat at all, then because they can’t get their fat legs together, they sprawl sideways below the seat as well, taking up leg room you have paid for. I think it’s about time the airlines started accommodating the non-obese people by not subjecting them to loss of seat space that they have also paid for and cannot use.
It’s unfortunate for obese people to be the subject of this debate, but when your a$$ takes up two seats, you need to pay for them.”
This person makes sense too, if you are causing the person sitting next to you problems, you should accept the fact that you are overweight and pay for two seats. I am okay with what he is saying but obese people shouldn’t be subjected to humiliation, they should be asked in a polite manner when booking their flight online, in person or by phone if they think they might be comfortable on two seats instead of one.
How about saying something like “Sir/Ma’am do you believe you might have a difficulty sitting with the armrest down, or using the seat belt?” If the answer to the question is yes, then propose a solution and explain the reason. Don’t let it be an issue on board the flight.
Yes, if you don’t fit in a seat, you should pay for two seats and airlines should make sure that they try their best to accommodate you. I just have a problem with the embarrassment part, besides that I think this policy going in affect is not really a news story.
