'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.

Tester seats are a good idea-they have them at Alton Towers for some of the rides (safety issue rather than comfort in that case though)

If you're so big that you are spilling over into another passengers seat it should be your problem not theirs-why should they be uncomfortable for the duration of the flight to spare your blushes??

Airline seats are tiny. I am not far from overweight and I wouldn't describe them as roomy. Given that you are expected to sit in them for hours and hours on end, they are positively stingy. It's even worse if the person next to you reclines their seat. Economy is not designed for comfort.

And don't get me started on the leg room issue. I'm only 5'4 and I find it cramped. I have no idea how tall people cope.

the last time this subject came up, I asked DH and DS who weigh quite a bit, as they are both nearly seven foot, neither are over weight, but very large muscly due to sport, so their weight on a much shorter person would mean that person was obese,

Their comments were, they are happy for this to go ahead, but the tall people will be getting together to form a union,

There will be a charge on reaching things from high places, especially in supermarkets, there will also be a charge for shoulder rides at festivals, and no cooperation on where they sit at concerts and films, and the charge for first footing will be astronomical, a lack of tack when observing bald patches, roots showing through will also be apparent.

100% agree with Barbian.

If you are too big to fit into the seat that you need to buy another one. Airlines tickets are often bargains compared to yrs ago. RyanAir has very cheap flights providing you book well in advance.

Its selfish to buy a ticket knowing you are overweight and then try and use someone elses (mine for example!).

There is a picture around the internet of a huge chap literally bursting out of a seat on a plane. Surely this cannot be safe for anyone.....

I personally find brattish children kicking the back of my seat more annoying than a porky adult

if you need more than one seat, you should have to pay for it, regardless of the reason.

Edward what if the person is able to fit in the seat just about but is spilling over and obstructing the person next to them so that they have less space, hardly fair

So I understand the point you're making about obese pele, however if at person was travelling with a child that was under this magic weight restriction, would the two cancel themselves out?
What if that obese person was travelling with carry-on only instead of a fortnights luggage + the kitchen sink, would that then cancel it out?

It's impossible to police without upsetting someone.

That said, on a helicopter ride in Vegas we had to be weighed. There was an area of floor that you had to stand on so quite discreet and then the person behind the desk could tell where to position you for the flight so the helicopter was balanced properly. I was larger then and didn't find that at all offensive.

I think there should definitely be extra-wide seats. I once had to fly from Cyprus with an 18 month old on my knee when half of my seat was taken up by her.

I felt awful about it, though. I was uncomfortable, DS was uncomfortable, and she was clearly uncomfortable - not just because of the crush (and it was a crush) but also because DS was very wriggly and objecting to the very small space he had.

The cabin crew weren't that much use either. She had a seatbelt extension, but needed another one too as the belt still wouldn't fit. The man who was helping her was sighing and tutting, and kept catching my eye and saying "I am so, so sorry about this". I appreciated that he was clearly aware that it wasn't a brilliant situation, but it made me feel even worse for her.

Grr, deleted a bit of my first sentence. "Her" being a very obese lady.

YABU. It's a question of physics. With a plane of a given design, it takes a certain amount of fuel to get a certain amount of cargo off the ground. Heavier cargo means more fuel means the plane costs more to take off. The people who want to move that heavy cargo should pay for it. It's extremely unfair that costs are currently based on discrete units of cargo (number of people flying) instead of what it costs to get them off the ground.

Everyone complaining about 'seat-spillage' - It's nothing to do with that, the airlines don't care about your comfort, they care about their profits. All the anecdotes about uncomfortable flights have nothing to do with the proposal (Which is actually from some professor so is highly unlikely to be anything more than a way for the tabloids to sell more papers!):

A pay-what-you-weigh airline pricing scheme should be introduced because heavier people cost more in fuel to fly, a professor has claimed.

Heavier passengers would pay more for their plane tickets and lighter ones less under plans put forward by Dr Bharat P Bhatta.

Writing in this month's Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management publication, Dr Bhatta said weight and space should be taken into account when airlines price their tickets.

Dr Bhatta, of the Sogn og Fjordane University College in Norway, said: 'Charging according to weight and space is a universally accepted principle, not only in transportation, but also in other services.

'As weight and space are far more important in aviation than other modes of transport, airlines should take this into account when pricing their tickets.'

Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management editor Dr Ian Yeoman said: 'For airlines, every extra kilogram means more expensive jet fuel must be burned, which leads to CO2 emissions and financial cost.

'As the airline industry is fraught with financial difficulties, marginally profitable and has seen exponential growth in the last decade, maybe they should be looking to introduce scales at the check-in.'

They really aren't tiny. They are fine. Their dimensions become an issue only when the person sitting next to you is too big. Otherwise, they are fine. I do personally have a problem with my feet not comfortably reaching the floor but I normally curl up if there isn't one of those foot rest thingies. And then it's fine. And I realise that airline seats can't be height adjustable (although I wish they could be.)

Bristol - "It's extremely unfair that costs are currently based on discrete units of cargo (number of people flying) instead of what it costs to get them off the ground."

Yes I agree and it would also would be equally unfair to base a ticket price purely on weight. In reality, the cost is partly weight and partly a per unit cost. I guess in the days when fuel was a lot cheaper it was just easier to charge per person (unit) rather than weight but now in the days of fuel price supplements weight matters a heck of a lot more.

I once did a bit of work for a firm that flew gold (high weight but low physical volume) out of African mines on 747 freighters. They used to take off with the gold on board but obviously had huge amounts of empty space in the cargo area so they would land again on the way back to the UK to pick up a cargo of low weight but high physical volume exotic flowers before taking off again. That way they carried the maximum weight and volume.

The fact that this is human beings we are talking about rather than gold and flowers makes no difference at all to that basic physics and economics questions of running an airline.

I often want more leg room and have to pay Premium economy fare to get it as I am taking up more volume but am only 12 stone. Surely someone who is shorter and 16 stone should pay for their weight like I have to pay for volume. Seems like people do't mind tall people having the tough choice of suffering in pain for a whole flight or paying more for a seat but 'fat' people is a no go area.

I don't think it is discrimination or people having to justify their disability/weight.
It is a fact that having more weight is uncomfortable to the person sitting next to you and uses more resources that, in this case, everybody using that flight pays for.

If you are a huge 6 foot plus rugby player or are morbidly obese and go into a restaurant and eat three times as much as me I don't expect to share your food bill. I expect to pay for what I eat. It is as simple as that. It is not discrimination, it is just fair to pay for the resources you use, especially in non essential services.

We aren't talking paying more for education or health, we are talking paying for the extra space and fule needing to get you off the ground. It is a leisure industry.

Sorry if that offends those who have medical reasons for obesity, but it isn't about judging, it is about fact.

After all I can't afford to go on a plane full stop. Is that discriminatory? No I just can't afford to pay the price so I don't go.

I might also add I have issues with people that carry several bits of hand luggage on to a plane which are effectively the size of the suitcase I had to pay to check in.

You know who you are!

Yes the same might apply to sportspeople. I have been sat next to someone who seemed supermorbidly obese on a plane and my space was restricted and i felt uncomfortable, but it was a shortish flight. why should other people be uncomfortable because someone who is supermorbidly obese is impeding on their space. I dont think those who are supermorbidly obese are sports people. The airline companies should have some large seats for those who need them but with a higher price, that is fair

On top of the comfort and cost issues of a large person taking up extra seat space, what are the safety issues?

There must be some ramifications of a morbidly obese person taking up half of your seat in the event of an emergency landing or evacuation?

So how would they really put this in to practice?
We went to Australia and booked our flights about 8 months in advance, in that 8 months I could probably put on 4 stone if I tried hard.
What would they do charge 1 price at booking and then expect people to pay the rest at the airport?
How many more staff would they need to weigh everyone and then charge the extra money?
What would they do if you had paid the original price but didn't have enough to cover the fat charge?

How many more staff would they need to weigh everyone and then charge the extra money?
No more than they need to weigh our cases and charge the extra money now.

Wonder if this will cause slim/short people to become underachievers as they can get by on cheap tickets and cheap cars whereas us tall/big people have to achieve more to be able to buy more expensive seats/cars.

On the other hand we are supposedly over age/race/gender discrimination so why are we exactly creating new classifications to discriminate against - or is it just a case of financial benefits for the masses, if so then is it ok to also discriminate over age/race/sex if it benefits the masses financially.

Are we reall civilised or just pretending to be civilised?

MoreBeta,

Back in my diving days, it was quite normal for us to take flights whilst wearing most of our dive eqpt - incl weight belt! Airlines used to give free extra baggage allowance for golf clubs but not Scuba gear - very unfair.

I never ever paid extra baggage, but I reckon I had at least 20Kg over every time

Paying extra for the extra fuel you use is hardly discrimination.