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"Southwest will charge large fliers extra fare" - What is your opinion? (1 Viewer)

Ross Williams

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My question is how does this solve the problem? They say they're only going to charge for the extra seat when the plane is full. How does that work? If some fat guy gets charged for 2 seats, are they going to kick off some skinny guy so the fat guy can get his 2 seats? Or are they just going to charge the 2 seat price simply so the guy can spill over into the skinny guys seat? I don't get it.
 

MickeS

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I agree, I've met overweight people who complain about their weight but say things like this, while then eating 3 candybars a day and having a Whopper and a superzie fries every day for lunch. It's EXTREMELY rare that people are overweight for genetic reasons, but many seem to use that as an excuse. If they love eating though, I have no problem, as long as they don't complain about the consequences.


/Mike
 

Neil Joseph

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Real Name
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[takes off moderator hat]
Let me just add this...
Obesity is a serious problem in the USA. The scary thing is that in today's society, the store shelves sre crammed with low fat this and diet that. In fact, it is the carbohydrates that are the problem. Everything is high in carbs.
On the one hand, you have the food industry that is cramming foods with carbs, building fast food joints on every street corner etc etc etc.... on the other hand, you have the medical/health industry that caters to treating the symptom rather than providing the cure/solution. Lets face it, there's more profit when they charge a nominal fee for a lifetimes worth of drugs than there is in a one-time fee for a cure. Both the food industry and the medical field are working very happily hand in hand making us as a culture more overweight and unhealthier and at the same time, lining their own pockets. This is a major problem.
I feel very much compassion for anyone overweight that is struggling with obesity or eating challanges. Of course curbing the eating is part of the solution but there is something much bigger at work here and we are blind to some of the tactics that go on, and what exactly is in the food we eat, for example chemicals in oreo cookies that give us the urge to eat more and more and more of them. I heard now that fried carbohydrates (chips, crisps, hash browns etc) have 50 times the recommended limit of a known carcinogen.
We need a much better regulation of the food industry, and the medical industry too while we are at it.
I realize that this thread is going sideways on a lot of tangents but as I said before, there are many underlying and important topics of discussion buried in the main topic.
[mod hat back on]
 

Julie K

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Neil,
I quite agree. I've found two things to be true in my life: (1) high carb foods are the fastest way to pack on pounds and feel horrid, and (2) saying this is the fastest way to get into violent arguments with people who are convinced the human body needs those carbs.
 

Patrick Sun

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Folks, can we get back to what the airlines are doing and not about obesity as a topic?

Someone please start an obesity thread if it's that important of an issue.
 

John Thomas

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high carb foods are the fastest way to pack on pounds and feel horrid
Very true. Sugar (and its various forms) is addictive. The effect of such quick energy is not unlike other 'highs' however it wears off as just as quickly. A diet of carbs and fat is the absolute worst, IMO. My idea is to limit the amount of sugars/carbs to around 30-40g/day and eat normal-sized meals with light to moderate exercise. That seems to be taking about 1-2lb per week off for me.
 

DennisHP

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Folks, can we get back to what the airlines are doing and not about obesity as a topic?
I thought obesity was half the reason indicated in the subject topic and therefore half the problem and discussion.

I was recently on a flight into Edmonton, Alberta via Horizon Air and Air Canada and half the planes were empty so I had a whole row to myself. Perhaps if certain airlines would not overbook and cram everyone in there would be more extra seats. Maybe it all depends on your destination.
 

Ryan Wright

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or said:
Not sure, but here's a guess: When you buy the ticket, you get charged for two seats. Assuming the flight seats 100, there are now 98 tickets left for sale. If the flight sells out, great. You get your two seats and everyone is happy, nobody is squished. If it doesn't, then you get that extra seat charge refunded back to you. Should work great.
 

Patrick Sun

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Actually, this thread has de-volved into being about "curing" fat people so they won't have to pay for 2 seats on Southwest airlines.

What this thread should to be about is the reaction of the general public: whether or not people will simply take their business elsewhere, or applaud the decision and give them their business for catering to their needs (to not have a large person infringe upon their personal space, i.e. seat on an airline, while flying on that airline).

It should be able whether it is constitutional for an airline to force large people to buy 2 seats, and if so, where do you draw the line at who has to pay for 2 seat, and who doesn't. Will there be a humiliating public "test" for all to stare and gawk at for determining who has to pay for 2 seats? Just like that carry-on baggage test box to determine if your luggage can be carried on or needs to be checked.

The thread exists because it's a given that Americans, as a population group tend to be heavier than most of the rest of the world. Going from that premise, what's fair to those who don't flow into the next person's seat on an airline vs. those who do flow into the next person's seat? Is it charging them for 2 seats, or requiring them to fly 1st class in the wider seats?

People aren't going to just shed pounds because they are getting charged double to fly on an airline. They will attack the discrimination angle, and probably go after it with the "Americans with Disability" angle after the dust settles.

The obesity angle does little to solve this problem. It's addressing whether it's legal to make such a distinction (and how to determine who is "too large for one seat") and the ramification of the economics of the impact of such a decision to inflict upon their would-be passengers for airlines.
 

DennisHP

Second Unit
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Here is a link to Foxnews where Southwest say it sells seats, (not a ride), specifies how they will handle the situation with two tickets (refund the second ticket price if the flight is not full), specifies who get to make the call if a person "overflows" into another seat and says other airlines a following suit if they do not already have a policy...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,55763,00.html
 

Philip Hamm

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I highly recommend the book "Fast Food Nation".
The fact is that here in the USA Obescity is a huge problem, it is just as dangerous to health (probably more so actually) as light smoking, but it's not thought of as especially bad. I sure could stand to lose a few lbs myself. :frowning:
 

Justin Doring

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First, I and many doctors would argue that overeating is akin to smoking and alcoholism. It's far from as simple as saying, "Stop eating so much."

Second, this thread has grown frightening, frankly speaking. What many of you are basically saying is that while you claim it's not right to discriminate based on race, gender, religion, age, sexual preference, etc. you think it's perfectly fine to discriminate based on weight. Something's rotten in the United States.
 

Patrick Sun

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Come on, this is about seats on planes, if you are large enough to flow into someone else's seat (who's sitting in that other seat), what's the fair thing to do? It's about a person's volume displacement and the limited amount of it on a plane given the seat you are sold on the plane, it's not about their race/creed/color/ethnicity/etc.

We are discriminate everyday, though not overtly, but rather covertly. This airline seating is simply overt "distinction" not necessarily discrimination.
 

Bill_D

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Yes, the topic is about seats on an airplane.
But this thread is showing why we were 1 big, happy, flag-waving,
patriotic, proud-to-be-American family for every bit of 3 months.
We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
 

Jeff Ulmer

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My feeling is that you are paying for a seat, and that if you require more than one seat for your, or someone else's comfort, then you should pay for the priviledge. If I want to send a parcel that is bigger than normal, I pay extra. That is not discriminatory.

In Canada, the government is suggesting airlines supply an extra seat to oversize passengers free of charge. Somehow, I don't think that is going to fly with the industry.
 

SteveA

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May 25, 2000
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This policy is doomed to fail because the lack of clear standards will invite charges of discrimination and lawsuits. There needs to be set, measurable standards, such as:

All passengers over 225 pounds must pay for an extra seat.

Scales or some other measuring device would need to be installed at the gate to enforce the rules. Not gonna happen.
 

Moe Maishlish

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Mar 30, 1999
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based on weight. Something's rotten in the United States.
There's that word again...
I fail to see how this is, in any way, discrimination.
A person is too large to fit in a standard seat. The same seat as everyone else has been given (unless they have purchased a larger, more expensive seat). Being to large to fit in the seat, they spill over into another seat, thereby taking room away from another passenger.
Who is discriminating here? The seat? The other passenger? The reality of the situation is that the individual is too big to fit in the seat. Just like you can't put two litres of water in a one litre jug. No discrimination there.
So the person occupies more than one seat, and in a situation where the flight is full (i.e. no seats available), they are taking room away from another paying passenger... in which case the larger passenger should be required to make concessions - in this case pay for another seat.
Sex, Race, Religion, Lifestyle choice... all of these do not modify the physics of the situation. Size does.
Moe.
 

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