Obese have right to 2 airline seats: Canada court

Yahoo News (Reuters) ^ | 11/20/2008 | Rooters

[Cementjungle]

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

[Aquinasfan]

The Supreme Court of Canada

"Supreme" as in "creme." Fake, but crappy.

They look like Santa's helpers.

[Aquinasfan]

I guess obese people tend to die earlier and so cost the health system less. So maybe obesity IS valuable.

And if they kill everybody, imagine how much money they'd save! (Don't suggest it. Seriously.)

[BJClinton]

Simple solution: stop charging by seat and charge by weight. Base ticket price of, say, $200 covers a passenger + luggage of up to 300 lbs. Passenger pays $2/lb over this.

It would also cut down on chicks who feel the need to pack their entire closet for a 1 week trip.

[Mark was here]

I disagree, passengers do not know the seat widths when buying their ticket. They purchase a service, to be transported, and should be transported as they purchased a ticket, not a chair.

[Eagle Eye]

Inside 10-12 hours I’ll drive.

Add security time to actual flight time and luggage retrieval time, rental car procurment, etc, then factor in the what ifs of flying, weather at your destination or distant hub, secuirity alerts and such, THEN factor in the convenience of leaving when you want to or need to and the drive becomes more and more feasible.

[PzLdr]

Do they also have a right to a complimentary can of PAM to butter their hips for their passage down the aisle?

I thought ‘wide-body’ referred to the aircraft, not the passenger.

[Cementjungle]

I disagree, passengers do not know the seat widths when buying their ticket. They purchase a service, to be transported, and should be transported as they purchased a ticket, not a chair.

So make the airlines advertise the size of their seating and leave it up to the customers to decide if it's worth it to them. It's not fair to force the airline to offer valuable space for half the normal price based on a customer's weight. Should the airlines be forced to remove a row of seats so tall folks can have more legroom? Obese people have a choice (some may debate that I suppose) while tall people don't (ok, there's surgery for that I guess).

[Abathar]

Ask yourself this, would you rather that fat guy had two seats, or that they sold you the seat next to him?

[massgopguy]

Dressed like Santa Claus. How appropriate.

[buccaneer81]

no protections for people that make poor lifestyle choices.

Not true.

GAY, homo, poofters enjoy more protections than you and me.

[Cementjungle]

Ask yourself this, would you rather that fat guy had two seats, or that they sold you the seat next to him?

Most flights I take are booked solid (over booked often times). This means the airline must give up a seat for every obese person. This means the airline must either charge the rest of us more to compensate or lose money.

[Mark was here]

Ben Franklin figured out it was cheaper to have one price for postage, than to have different rates for how far a letter was delivered. Airlines know how much their average customer weighs and charge accordingly. If someone buys a ticket, the air line agrees to provide transportation. Maybe they could swap out chairs for benches or couches.

[Abathar]

"Nope, being obese is a choice and there are no protections for people that make poor lifestyle choices."

Guess you haven't been following the homo news lately, if they can get married because of a lifestyle choice then fatso getting two seats is nothing...

[Myrddin]

On my last flight to Germany, my ticket indicated a 747. I was thrilled as I had never flown on a 747. The flight was from Cincinnati to Frankfurt. The reality was less thrilling. I was seated in the center row of seats with a 300 lb male on each side. Both of them were charter members of the "bath a month" club. My elbows were forced in front of my stomach for the whole 9 hour flight by their flabby bodies oozing over each arm rest. That was my first and last flight on Lufthansa. Never again.

[x]

It’s the slippery slope ... If you think people are fat now, wait until you come across somebody who needs 3 airline seats to get where they’re going ... Then 4 ...

[Crolis]

Do they also appear at Christmas concerts?

[Mark was here]

How much extra should be charged for a wheelchair?

[AU72]

That was my first and last flight on Lufthansa.

Your'e lucky didn't serve Bratwurst and Sauerkraut inflight.

[Cementjungle]

How much extra should be charged for a wheelchair?

Handicapped folks are in a protected class, but overweight people are not. There is the difference. Laws like this will encourage people to be overweight, even reward them for being so. This isn't good for anyone in the long run.

[BJClinton]

Maybe they could swap out chairs for benches or couches.

No way, at least with the seats I can force the arm rest down and squish some of the lard back on to their side.