I generally enjoy the give and take on FreeRepublic but for some reason overweight people bring out really mean spirited and hateful comments from posters.
The airline industry has for years been making seating spaces smaller at the same time the general populations have been getting larger. Rather than adjust for their customers the way furniture makers and automakers have they ridicule them. For you that do not know (except for small planes) weight is seldom an issue (other than in a possible savings of fuel). Their goal is to cram as many bodies as they can into a fixed space.
Compared to the average American of the 1900 we are all larger. It has only been in recent history that “skinny” was considered healthy. Getting big (and fat) was and is nature’s way of preparing for times of shortages.
I can guarantee most of the posters are with the mean spirited comments are young. Hey I got news for you, as you get older you are going to gain weight. One of these days you will be forced to be public humiliated so the airlines can earn an extra buck. Just remember when it happens you were all for it at the time.
Karma is a bit*h. I hope you remember how intolerant you were when a skinny kid taunts you for being old and fat.
I agree and I am not over weight. I also think there are a lot of mean spirited and hateful comments being directed at posters regarding a lot of other topics. Debating the issues and or offering comments relative to cause and effect is occurring less often, while personal attacks and "jokes" are on the rise.
People aren’t fat because they are old; they are fat because they eat too much and move too little. I’m AARP age and work to stay fit. If they don’t want to be disciplined, don’t think that we need to be nice about rejecting their efforts to socialize the cost of their failure to manage their weight.
Are you also fat?
Let’s not confuse middle-aged spread with morbidly obese. Or do you routinely request seat changes so you can save someone else from having to scrunch against the bulkhead or the aisle armrest?
If the person in question routinely buys two tickets, he should have anticipated this problem and discussed it with the gate agent when requesting standby status. Yeah, perhaps SWA could have been more tactful but we weren’t there to judge.
the BOTTOM line is just too big.
“Hey I got news for you, as you get older you are going to gain weight.”
You’re full of crap!
I weigh 180 and my wife 110 and we are the same weight that we graduated from high school 55 years ago.
I went to my 50th high school reunion a few years ago and of the over 250 poeople there there wasn’t one that was obese and only a few that were 200#.
You’r being fat is your choice!
That's true. There are times I read the comments on FR and think that the conservative movement is in a lot of trouble, if this is what 'we' are.
Given that...yes, the airline industry has been making seats narrower, and legroom shorter, to fit more seats on planes. It's because they've discovered in the tradeoff between space and price, price will win. It's a business decision.
I will say that many times, weight IS an issue. There are a lot of variables that go into the calculation of safe takeoff weight, including altitude, temperature, etc.
As far as "earning an extra buck," collectively all the airlines ever in existence have had a net loss. So nobody's getting rich...frankly, many airlines aren't even currently making a profit.
They could remove a couple of rows of seats, to make legroom better...they could also remove an aisle of seats, so that wider seats would fit.
Of course, in order to make the economics work, they'd have to charge more per ticket.
Oh, wait...they already do that...it's called FIRST CLASS.
I can understand why you would want to socialize the cost of your transportation. But as a person who makes the narrower, cramped, less expensive seating work for me, I don't know why that would be a good idea from my point of view. Could you explain that?