Charging Overweight Passengers by the Pound Essay

In the world today, obesity is becoming a serious problem that affects one’s life in different situations. One of these situations is flying in the airplane. David Landsel in his article â€Å"Some Airlines Make Obese Passengers Buy Two seats† pointed out that different airlines are taking some policies concerning this issue. However, united airlines are not taking any policies. Southwest and Midwest airlines claimed that overweight passengers should buy an extra seat. If the airplane is not full, and more seats are available, a refund will be returned to the passenger. American airlines put limitations on the services that the airline provides, but passenger is not forced to purchase an extra seat. Air France travelers that suffered from obesity will have the opportunity to buy the extra seat with a 25 percent discount. With these different deals about the fat passengers, there is surely a disagreement about accepting these policies or rejecting them. Obese passengers should buy two airline seats. This is because of several reasons that may be benefit for the obese passengers and the normal weight passengers. So this will help make everyone more comfortable. Some critics claim that obliging obese passengers to buy an extra seat is a ridiculous statement. They should not be penalized for something that they may not be able to deal with. They might have a disease that makes them that way. They argued that this is discrimination to obese people and should not be practiced. But this is not true. Discrimination against someone for something is based on an opinion without objective truth. In this case, it is completely obvious that the passenger is taking up more space than the accommodated seat space. So the argument of the opposing side fails to take into account. Other critics argued that airline tickets are sold per individual not per pound, and people should not be penalized because of their weight. This is a non convincing argument since airlines sell tickets by seat not per person. If someone takes up to two seats, he should have to buy two seats. That is how it is and should be. Obese people sitting in a single seat can become a serious issue. Passenger will seriously squeeze the passengers beside him, leading discomfort and cause a struggle to get out of the seat to the toilet. No one would accept an obese person sitting next to him squishing and taking more than his space for the whole entire flight. It is not fair to the people sitting next to fat travelers who are crushed and uncomfortable for the whole flight. Skinny people will be crowded out by overweight people. Second, airplane seats and seat belts are designed to hold an average weight of 170 pounds, so seat belts fail to restrain heavy passengers. This poses a safety risk for them on the aircraft. Another airline obesity issue is that obese passengers can affect the balance of the airplane by adding more weight. This excess weight requires more work for the plane to move a heavier object which makes the airplane sometimes in a dangerous position. One third argument that supports the statement that obese travelers should buy two airlines seats is that everyone is entitled to hundred percent of the seat for which he paid. Severely, obese people spill over to the next seat that is occupied by the person that purchased the ticket to that seat. Sometimes, fat passengers took up one third to one half of the other passenger seat space. So if any person takes up more than one seat space, he must purchase the additional space he requires. Urging passengers with high body mass to purchase an extra seat is a fair policy that needs to be done by the airlines in order to keep all their flights safe and comfortable for all the passengers. So, obese people must know that airlines are taking these policies to protect them. Delta’s Suzan Elliott states that the airline has no plans to implement any policy that discriminates against any of our passengers. This is how all the airlines think about this issue, but the difference is the way they practice these policies and deal with them with regard to the refund and the cost of the extra seat.