In the wake of the Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Airlines “Too Fat to Fly” incident, much has been made about what airlines should or should not do with passengers who are too big for their assigned seat. The truth is, this problem is getting a lot worse as Americans keep getting bigger, airline seats keep getting smaller, and planes are flying more and more full.
Most airlines don’t like to talk about what their policies are with respect to “people of size”. Even those airlines that do have formal policies only selectively enforce them. And several airlines have acknowledged that complaints are on the rise from passengers seated next to someone who takes up more than the 17 or 18 inches that an economy seat usually provides.
We can argue all day about about whether it’s fair to make large passenger purchase two seats or whether every individual, regardless of their size, has an inherent right to fly for the same low fare. But the truth is, there is only so much that the airlines can do technologically right now.
Let’s say you wanted to purchase a second seat for yourself. How would you even go about it? Most web sites (ours included) don’t give that option. We can’t, at least not easily, because the airline systems that we interface with weren’t designed to support two seats for one passenger.
There are workarounds. You can pretend you’re booking a reservation for two passengers. But what should you put for the second person’s name? Airlines won’t accept a reservation where the same name is used twice. And since exact seats are sometimes not able to be guaranteed, what happens if your second seat is located 6 rows behind your first one? Won’t be much help, obviously. And can you earn frequent flyer miles on your extra seat? Alaska, Continental, United, and Delta say yes, but good luck trying to enter the same number for both “passengers” — you’ll get an error message.
One way or another, all of these issues can be worked out. But it’s not easy. Technology upgrades would help but cash-strapped airlines don’t seem to really have this on their radar. So, for the time being, something close to the status quo will have to suffice. Is that OK? Is this really an issue, or are we only talking about it because it affected a Hollywood director?
I’d love to hear your views.
March 3, 2010
I see no reason that a person who paid for a seat should accept another person coming over the arm rest with their body or letting a person sitting next to them raise the arm rest to come into their personal space. Yes, if 2 seats are necessary then two seats shold be required to be bought. And I agree that each seat should go on separate reward card numbers. That is only fair to the other people who use their rewards ticket numbers. Lets keep it fair to all.
You make your own choices, therefore you pay for your own choices what ever they are.
Mary Hermance
March 4, 2010
The easiest and most expeditious solution for this matter would be for the major airlines to offer a few “larger seats”. In a 200 seat aircraft, why couldn’t, say, 20 seats (10%) be installed that are wider than a “standard”seat? How much wider you ask? I have no idea – I’m not fat. But this could be easily determined by a formula that considers a persons weight vs height across a large number of passenger flights to determine just how large is the “average” fat person. Height and weight information is usually included on most forms of ID (driver’s licenses, etc.) so this data could be collected and used confidentially to assign these larger seats to passengers who are over the “normal” line for size. Adding 3 to 4 inches to the width of these seats could be done without impacting other passengers, and they can be located in various appropriate locations around the aircraft. I would think that the effort to do this would go far in enhancing the “user friendly” image of the airline. It could even be a marketing point. To recoup costs, airlines could add on an extra charge to the ticket price – say 20 dollars – for the larger seats; much less than buying a 2nd seat. If they can charge extra for luggage, they can certainly charge a reasonable additional fee for a larger seat. Is having 20% of these larger seats enough? Should it be 25% or maybe 30%? The airlines would have to settle on some number that makes sense based on available passenger data they can collect. No solution is perfect, but at least the airlines would be credited with trying to address the problem and making reasonable accommodations for their larger passengers. Note that grossly obese persons who would not comfortably fit into any seat may wish to choose an alternate form of travel.
March 5, 2010
Statistics show that Americans are getting fatter and larger. ” Over the past two decades, the number of teens who are classified as obese has tripled. Two of every three Americans are now considered overweight or obese. The statistics tell the story in numbers, but there are other indicators that Americans are larger than they have been in the past.” Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader 30.7 (March 2004)
“… According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s most authoritative source of statistics, an estimated 27% of American adults are obese, while an additional 34% are overweight. O’Sullivan, Brian P. “Government’s standard lumps athletes together with truly obese.” Pediatrics 111.2 (2003): A30. Popular Magazines. Web. 5 Mar. 2010.
Becoming obese and just being larger is not simply due to overeating it is due to fertilizers and such that are being added to the foods. But that’s another story. Regardless of the cause, it’s time that airlines, the garment industry and other companies recognize and address this fact. “Twiggy” is gone and everyone can’t be Twiggy.
In addition, the seats on the planes are too small and uncomfortable anyway. There is no leg room. If someone reclines the person behind can hardly breathe. We are not cattle! My husband and I were on a 5 hour flight a couple of years ago. We are not obese. The people in front of us decided to recline and during the entire flight we felt as though we were being suffocated.
Could it be called discrimination if the airlines expect the larger individual to pay for an additional seat or find another mode of transportation? Think about it…
March 5, 2010
I agree wholeheartedly with Dean. The airlines were quick to give us the option of more leg room IF YOU CARE TO PAY FOR IT. Why not give the option of larger seats and make people pay for it. That way if a skinny person ,or anyone else for that matter, wants a lot of space, they can have the option to purchase the larger seats as well. The only problem with this option is that skinny people might purchase all the larger seats and then the larger person has to take a regular seat. The solution? Do what they do with emergency exit rows. If you do not fall into the weight/height category to qualify for the larger seat upon purchase, you will have the option to upgrade later once all the large people had been assigned a seat.
May 17, 2011
Larger passengers…I realize that flying gets you there quicker, but Amtrack is more than accommodating. Acela travel is awesome for big and tall passengers! With fewer and fewer non stop flights out there you get there in about the same time as Amtrak anyways.
Trust me, you will find this travel to be much less stressful and far more enjoyable!