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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

384 replies

Poppet48 · 25/03/2013 08:22

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.

OP posts:
lainiekazan · 25/03/2013 13:27

Well, I would qualify for a Smug Seat, but then I could be charged extra for needing help to reach the overhead locker Grin

thezebrawearspurple · 25/03/2013 13:34

They should just have seats for larger people and seats which provide extra leg room. I was on a recent flight and there was a man who must have been nearly 7 (!)feet tall, his long legs wouldn't allow him to fit into his seat because there was nowhere to put them, he was sent to the emergency exit row.

I don't think people be financially discriminated for things that are outside their control, whether it's their height or an illness (including mental) or disability that makes them too wide. The world is cruel enough for the different.

spottyparrot · 25/03/2013 13:42

I think it's unfair to pay on weight. All of us in my family are very tall and built like brick shithouses! We are all heavier than the standard weights they are using to calculate the total weight of passengers but due to our heights, none of us are anywhere near obese. In facts the airlines need to be giving us the emergency exit seats with extra legroom for free IMO - should be a medical requirement for people over 6 foot 6.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 25/03/2013 13:42

Legroom is to do with the distance between seats, not the size of the seats themselves. If you think a seat is tiny then your issue is with the size of the seat relative to the bits of you that go in it (which doesn't usually include your legs). If the seats were tiny most people wouldn't fit in them. Since most people do fit in them, they clearly aren't tiny.

I could say the seats are HUGE because the distance between them and the overhead lockers is so great that I can't reach to put my bag in. But, I'd be wrong. Just like the people saying the seats are tiny because there isn't enough space between one row and the next.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 25/03/2013 13:45

spotty - you are right that taller people should get extra legroom as standard. Short people like me should be prevented from sitting in the extra legroom seats (I don't sit in them if I can possibly help it). Taller people often have issues related to their height, like back problems, that can be exacerbated by sitting with bad posture, all scrunched up. There are also possible issues with DVT which might be triggered by being all uncomfortably scrunched up.

SirChenjin · 25/03/2013 14:20

Chandon - if I were travelling with my 13 year old daughter she would prefer to sit beside me rather than with a complete stranger. Given that she's about a foot taller than me that wouldn't happen. Her preference as to whether or not she sits with me is as relevant as your preference.

Anyway, it's a moot point - the issue in question is whether or not someone who is so obese that they take up two spaces should pay for that extra seat. My opinion is that they should.

Sallyingforth · 25/03/2013 14:20

I think it's unfair to pay on weight.

Do you pay more in a restaurant for having an extra dish?
Do you pay more for posting a heavier parcel?
Do you pay more for a 3 bed house than a 2 bed one?
Do you pay more to fuel up a big car than a small one?

Then you should pay more to use more fuel in a plane, or to occupy a bigger space in it.

nancy75 · 25/03/2013 14:32

For those of you that are so in favor of charging us fatties more, you do realize they won't be charging skinny people less? Your ticket won't be cheaper just because mine is more expensive. it is a way for airlines to make more money, they won't pass on their profits to the customer, no matter what they weigh.

Frogman · 25/03/2013 14:35

Nancy - So! At least you fatties will have 2 or more seats (depending on your fattiness) to yourselves and not impose into our seating areas.

SirChenjin · 25/03/2013 14:39

Yep, but that's fine Nancy - it just means that I will be guaranteed a seat to myself without having to share it with someone else's overhang.

Sallyingforth · 25/03/2013 14:41

As Frogman says - So?
All we are asking for is fairness.
Getting a millionaire to pay more tax won't reduce my tax bill, but I still think it should happen.

MoreBeta · 25/03/2013 14:43

Perhaps airlines should allow more leg room and bigger seats like in Premium economy and charge more - then this problem would disappear?

Honestly, it has all been caused by airlines in a race to the bottom on price by making service, leg room and the entire experience worse and worse year after year. It isnt actually cheaper. Its just worse service for a lower price.

I remember, for example, the days not so long ago when BA really was the Worlds Favourite Airline - those were the days. We had food, something to drink, a baggage allowance that actually included a normal suitcase and a decent amount of leg room without enormous queues to check in. I barely go on a plane now the experience is so awful.

Pitting one passenger against another like this is what airlines now do so well because important people like VIPs, and politicians of course fly in private jets and wizz through airports in special security areas.

ComposHat · 25/03/2013 14:43

I like the total weight allowances idea - 15 stone per passenger, how you make up that is up to you.

Over that, pay more.

Although the thought of sitting next to sweaty fat knacker only wearing his kecks in order to save money reminds me of the time I took a London to York on a blazing hot day.

A huge woman (thankfully clothed!) sat next to me, took up three quarters of my seat as well as hers, leaving me pinned up the window like a Garfield cat you got on car windows in the 80s. The sweat was pouring off her and being wedged between her moist bulk and the window made for a hellish journey. She looked unperturbed and spent the journey swigging from a 2ltr bottle of Coke.

An experience I wouldn't like to repeat on a plane.

mirry2 · 25/03/2013 14:46

What about charging people for reclining their seats into the space of the passenger sitting behind so that said passenger can't fully open their tray and the TV is within 6 inches of their nose.

ByTheWay1 · 25/03/2013 14:48

I am overweight, but have no problem at all fitting into airline seats (well, on Virgin, BA and Flybe) and have never had an encounter with anyone overspilling on to me in around 200 flights (UK, Europe and to US)

Would be interesting to know where exactly all these superfat folks are flying? Or is it another MN myth that translates as maybe one or 2 per plane in Real Life.......

Frogman · 25/03/2013 14:48

Very true MoreBeta. If companies like BA were smart they would see that their service needs to be improved and customers would flock back to them. They are turning into just another airline these days (although they still look good next to Emirates with their scarey Eastern European air hostesses)

SirChenjin · 25/03/2013 14:49

MoreBeta - it hasn't all been caused by airlines reducing leg room. A substantial part of the problem is that there are far, far more obese people now than there were even 20 years ago. Combine that with more people flying and an increase in the demand for cheaper flights, and this is one result.

Frogman · 25/03/2013 14:50

Mirry2 - that's the design of the seats. If the passenger behind can't open their tray they must be too fat (kind of on topic then)

MoreBeta · 25/03/2013 14:51

Once you start defining a boundary like 15 stone you get problems.

If its £1 per kg on top of say a £100 /ticket flat rate no matter how small or big you are then no one gets defined as being 'too big' or 'too fat'.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 25/03/2013 14:53

Morebeta But I don't want or need more legroom or wider seats. And I don't want to pay more. Why should I have to pay more because a very small number of people are really fat? Following your logic, I think that they should lower the ceilings of aircraft to make it more convenient for me. Sure that will be vile for everyone of normal height but hey! What should I care.

Kendodd · 25/03/2013 14:53

A friend of mine was flying back to the UK from Kuwait with a broken leg once, he had to pay for three seats so that he could fit on the plane. If he didn't like it, tough, he could stay in Kuwait. No talk of 'it's not fair', or 'disability discrimination,' he had to pay for what he used.

Very overweight people should not expect the person next to them to pay for the extra seat space they're using.

RussiansOnTheSpree · 25/03/2013 14:55

Bytheway It's happened to me 3 or 4 times on probably well over 100 flights. It's really not a common problem, but if it happens to you once, then you do tend to remember it.....:(

mirry2 · 25/03/2013 14:57

Frogman- it's nothing to do with being too fat- they are always asked to put their seat upright for meals. Are you one of those inconsiderate people who gets on a plane and immediately reclines their seat so the seat back is practically in the lap of the person behind? Or haven't you ever flown economy on a plane?

Lindyhopper29 · 25/03/2013 14:58

I don't think it's ridiculous. What makes me cross is that a person who weighs considerably more than me is allowed the same amount of luggage as I am. It should be the combined weight of passenger + luggage.

ruby1234 · 25/03/2013 14:58

A couple of years ago me and DH flew from Miami to the Bahamas in a smallish plane, maybe 40 or so passengers.
The air stewardess insisted we sat at the emergency exit seats, and she spent some time showing us how to open the emergency exit door in the event of an accident and was most insistent we got ourselves out first without worrying about anyone else. During the flight we got chatting with her, and she admittted she had sat us there as we were the only passengers on the plane slim and agile enough to get out of the exit.
Being obese and flying carries it's own risks!