'The bigger you are the higher the cost of a plane ticket' AIBU to think that this is ridiculous?

[Poppet48]

I have just heard the debate of should a plane ticket cost more for obese people.

I think that this is ridiculous, not only is it discriminating it is highly embarrassing to have to get weighed at the airport check in, Where have the human rights gone?

AIBU to feel this way?

I would love to hear what others think of this.

Quite upset at this thread.

Being overweight isn't always a case of eating too much.

I am a size 22 on bottom, 18 on top. I eat cereal and fruit for breakfast, sandwich and salad for lunch and meat and veg for tea. I weigh 18 and a half stone. I take anti depressants daily due to severe mental health issues and have put on approximately 4 stone in two years due to their side effects. I'm not allowed off them, I'm not allowed to change them and short of cutting out meals, there's incredibly little I can do to change my weight.

In my case it's not a lifestyle choice and I take great offence at people who state that fat people smell, or are sweaty, or lazy, or consume fast food for breakfast.

Thankfully however I am utterly terrified of flying so I won't be there to bother any of you on a plane anytime in the future.

Why is it nasty? Should people just put up with other people taking up their very expensive seat without even feeling a little annoyed?

Isn't it more nasty to think you can take someone else's paid for space instead of buying your own?

Was it not Ryanair that wanted to replace all the seats by benches on short flights?
I think that would be a great idea. All on a bench, equally uncomfortable and punching each others shoulders.
No more problem

I've also been upset by some of the comments and would like to repeat this point.....The reason you have to pay extra if your bag is overweight is because heavy bags shift around in the aircraft bag bin, often causing damage to the aircraft and other people's luggage. The airline has to pay to fix both. Not to mention the injuries lifting overweight bags causes...ouch...happened to me too...

HOWEVER, I do think if a person cannot fit into the seat, they should have to pay for 2 seats. It's not comfortable for the person who cannot fit into the seat and not comfortable for the people around them.

Is there any suggestion that seats will be bigger if fat people are charged more? All you thin people will have is the satisfaction of knowing that the fat person squashing you has paid more than you have, that knowledge won't make you any less squashed

Why blame the other passengers if the airlines squish as many seats as possible in - I have flown at size 18 and did not spill in to other seats but that was over 5 years ago so I guess that this has become more of an issue if the seats have been decreased in size over the last few years as airlines cram in extra passengers.

feeldown this exactly the issue with looking at weight and shoulder size.
I agree a lot of people on here are very selfish, looking at what they are entitled and what they are missing on.
They forget that the reason they can afford to fly us because seats have been made smaller, too small even for the average person to be comfortable.
They forget that if there is an rodent if obesity, then it's likely that it's not just people being greedy. And that's wo the case of people like yourself that can't do anything about it.
They also forget that if the 'average' person fits in the seat then it is obvious some people will have some extra room and others will overspill. And if we were all a thing size, the airline would make the seats smaller to accommodate more people.
Actually thinking about it, they should thank the 'bigger size' people for having increase the average ad it means they usually have more space on their seat than the airline would be happy to give them otherwise.

I suffer with pcos so it is v hard for me to lose weight (pcos affects people in different ways and for me it is weight) and it is ridiculously easy to put it on. 4 stone over pre preg weight and limited with exercise due to hernia from my pregnancy means I am going to have a hard time losing it.

I thought Ryan Air at one point were looking at standing spaces as opposed to sitting or was that a joke!

Everyone has their own reasons for how they are and what they want, some are nervous flyers and want to sit next to their partners. With unallocated seating that isnt always possible but if that is really really important to you then book with an airline that allows pre-booking - but then again they dont really want to because they want to cheap airlines and it goes on and on...

A few years ago a flight was held up (not by long thankfully because a very firm flight attendant) by a couple who hadnt pre booked seating together, who checked in and presumably didnt realise they werent sitting together, and I guess checked in late.

When they got on the plane there was a scrambled for seats and heaven forbid - they couldnt sit next to each other! The woman burst into tears saying that she couldnt possibly NOT sit next to her DH because he helped her open her drinks etc (I joke not!). She also claimed to be a nervous flyer and refused to sit down until the crew asked others to move so that she could sit next to her partner.

A flight attendant said unless she sat down immediately he would have her removed from the plane as it was holding up the flight. I think tbh that someone would have moved eventually but that crew member was taking no nonsense.

These days I am just glad to get away on time with a seat to sit in let alone fussing who I sit next to....

I don't mind airlines squishing in as many seats as possible, I'm a normal size so a normal sized seat is very comfortable.

If bigger people are going to pay more then they need to be paying for space. I can't see anything wrong with them paying for two seats.

The difficulty will be for airlines that do nothing but take people on package holidays. The holiday company will end up losing money if they let people pay for an extra seat when that seat could be taken by someone paying for a whole holiday.

Why is it easy to accept anorexia and not eating but not the converse?

Some people will be overweight because

Medical condition
Medication side affects
Mh issues addiction
Mh issues stress anxiety
Mh issues other
Overeating
Physical disability/illness making exercise hard
Lack of exercise

And probably a load I can't think of. So this rubbishing of other peoples lives and experiences is uncalled for.

I don't care who I sit next to so long as they aren't sitting on my seat.

It is true that it's unpleasant to sit beside someone who smells is drunk etc etc.
However generally they do not cause health issues, being cramped an unable to move does. Was there not some case where a lady successfully sued an airline as she developed DVT after being beside a very large person. In that case should she just have thanked her lucky blessings that the flight left on time and she had a seat and just put the life long health issue down to being one of those things?

I think the US solution of requiring people to buy an extra seat is quite sensible. However presumably this is only advised at check in time when its a bit late. It might be helpful for the airlines to give guidance i.e. if you are in economy then we recommend a max weight of xx stones , premium economy yy stone and first class zz stone. If you cannot fit into your allocated seat then you may be required to purchase an upgrade or an additional seat or if there is not enough room. Yes weight is not an exact science but the limits should be quite large.

I do agree with maddening though that it seems strange that the airlines are reducing seat space whilst people are getting taller and bigger generally.

maddening when I was squished by a fat sweaty woman. I couldn't have given two fucks how or why she got so big (although the 2ltr of full fat coke she was demolishing gave me a clue)

All that mattered to me was that she was making my journey unbearable and was literally taking up three quarters of the seat I had paid for.

I've often wondered how airlines can cite weight as the reason for charging for a few pounds of excess baggage, yet a passenger who is twice the weight of another does not pay any more. Either weight is an issue, in which case a combined person plus baggage allowance makes sense, or else the baggage charges are pointless (assuming they are safe for baggage handlers to lift)
If it's a comfort issue then physical size needs to be measured, not weight surely?

Maddening - I can fully understand that some people have a medical condition which makes them overweight, but the vast majority of people who are overweight or obese simply don't exercise enough and consume too many calories. Regardless of how they became that way though, they should not be allowed to impose on a fellow passenger's seat allocation. If they take up more than one seat than they should pay for two. That's not fattist, that's common sense.

How about 3 sizes of seats....wider ones where the occupant pays double but also gets double the allowance as technically they weigh the same as 2 people so are entitled to 2 allowances much in the same way 2 individual people are.
Next an average seat where the occupants get the usual baggage allowance.
Finally a seat half the size for children which costs half the price and who get half the allowance. 1 wide seat + 1 half seat would = 2 normal seats so they would cancel each other out.

Weight baggage is an issue for handlers because it means more baggage to handle or more difficulty to move them.
A person who is over the average weight doesn't cause any issue for the handlers or to the plane (see honey post above).
It's just not the same thing.

I have to say, I am struggling to see how someone can take 3/4 of your seat if the arm rest is down, which it had to for safety reason....
I get it makes the journey uncomfortable. I am struggling to see how it stops someone to move during a flight and cause dvt. Surely you just need to get up?

sir I think you need to educate yourself to the reason of the mass epidemy of obesity. It goes far beyond the 'they ate just greasy' mentality. This is a view that is much too simple to explain the issue.

If it worked by everyone getting weighed and a ticket price being set based on the result, then this would be sex discrimination because on average men weigh more than women.

I don't see what difference it makes WHY someone is obese. If they are - whether through their own fault or not - surely they should accept that they can't intrude on another's seat and be prepared to pay extra?

My DS is 6'7". We always try and book seats with extra leg room when we go on holiday - and are prepared to pay for this. We don't say "it's not his fault he's so tall so why should we pay extra?". We accept that's the way things are. Unfortunately seats with extra leg room are usually already taken but I would happily pay well over the odds to get him a comfortable seat. I certainly don't take the attitude that it's not his fault so he's entitled to stick his legs out into the aisle and trip people up or jam his knees against the back of the seat in front of him and annoy the person occupying it.

Lots of people have special needs or circumstances when they travel. They could be travelling with a small baby, be in a wheelchair, be blind, need oxygen, be travelling with a guide dog, be so large they need two seats...lots of things. The airline will do everything they can to accomodate the passenger. However, when the passenger makes the booking they know they have special needs, and need to advise the airline accordingly.

I found that a lot of the really large passengers were actually disabled and in a wheelchair, barely able to walk (or not walk at all). The disability had come first, and the weight as a result of the disability. The problem was that if a severly disabled person had lost the use of their legs it was a real struggle to get them down the ailse in a ailsechair, then into a seat. You could only really get them into an ailse seat, and once in they couldn't move. As in at all. Not very nice for them, and not much fun for the person next to them. In the event of an evacuation another passenger or extra crew member would have to drag them out of their seat to get them off the plane. It would be very difficult for the person next to them to evacuate.

So once again, overweight baggage and large passengers are two different matters....

No, it's really not Tumble. We could go into the politics of the food and weight loss industry, body image issues, cooking skills, poverty/deprivation and the access to fresh food, less manual work, increase in sugar intake etc etc etc but ultimately it's not enough exercise and too many calories (and not necessarily greasy ones).

I take it you've never actually had the dubious pleasure of being squashed into half your seat by your fellow obese passenger? I have, and it's far from a simple case of lowering the arm rest (which would have been incredibly uncomfortable for my neighbour) to prevent the overspill. I'm also not quite sure why you think it's the responsibility of the non-obese person to spend the journey walking around the airplane?

I have, and it's far from a simple case of lowering the arm rest (which would have been incredibly uncomfortable for my neighbour) to prevent the overspill

I'm confused . Every flight I've ever been on the armrest has to be down during taxi-ing, take off, turbulence and landing. Why wouldn't you just leave it down? How very strange .