I have been seeing a lot about this on the news, and I wanted to check and see what you guys think...thought it might be interesting.


Airlines under fire for making large passengers buy two tickets
06/19/2002

Associated Press


DALLAS - Southwest Airlines is under fire from overweight passengers, who are charged for two tickets if they spill over into their neighbor's seat.

The airline says it is trying to provide a comfortable flight for travelers seated next to large passengers.

"We sell seats, and if you consume more than one seat, you have to buy more than one seat," said Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman.

Advocates for the obese are outraged.

"It's just discriminatory and it's mean-spirited," said Morgan Downey, executive director of the American Obesity Association. "This is singling out a group that's been very heavily stigmatized rather than making some accommodations in their cabins."



Downey and other advocates for the obese say Southwest and other carriers should make wider seats because Americans are getting larger; the Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than one-fourth of Americans are obese.
Southwest, whose seats are 183/4 inches wide, does not weigh or measure passengers. Ticket agents can "make a judgment call" and ask an obese person whether he or she usually takes up more than one seat, Harbin said. If the answer is yes, the person is asked to buy two seats, although the passenger can get a refund later if the flight is not sold out, the airline spokeswoman said.

Southwest said there is nothing new in its handling of obese passengers. Harbin said the carrier has followed the same policy since 1980, although employees were reminded of the policy as the carrier began switching this week to a new automated boarding pass instead of its old, familiar plastic passes.

Several other carriers have similar policies, including United and Continental. Northwest Airlines allows the passenger to buy the second seat at the same price paid for the first seat rather than a more expensive last-minute rate.

"That's a compromise, and we're coming quite a ways with that. It's a very difficult issue," said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch.

Delta does not require obese passengers to buy a second ticket and tries to handle complaints by moving passengers to empty seats or other flights, a spokeswoman said. American Airlines did not immediately return calls for comment.

Walter Lindstrom, a San Diego attorney whose firm specializes in representing obese clients with complaints against health carriers and employers, said the airlines policy could be legal but is wrong.

"You're buying passage from point A to point B, and they have a duty to accommodate you regardless whether it's one seat or two," Lindstrom said.

Lindstrom said the double-charge is part of a pattern that includes flight attendants who ridicule obese passengers. He said one flight attendant made a public display of dangling a seat belt extender in front of a large woman who needed one.

"People of size hate to travel," he said.

Southwest said its double-ticket policy on obese passengers was prompted by complaints from other travelers. Harbin, the airline spokeswoman, said nine out of 10 letters to customer service come from passengers who were crowded by large neighbors.

The airlines said they don't know how many times an obese passenger is required to buy two tickets, but they consider it rare. Downey, the leader of the obesity association, said he had not received complaints from members.

Downey said his group was considering legal action or asking Congress to prohibit the two-ticket policy. He said the airlines, and many Americans, think obese people could lose weight by eating less or exercising more "when scientifically, it's much more complicated."

Researchers cite genetics, bad eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle among the causes of obesity.

"Obesity is a multifaceted issue. There are physical factors like hormones, but there are also environmental factors because the rate of obesity has grown dramatically in the last 20 years," said Corinne Borel, a spokeswoman for the North American Association for the Study of Obesity.

The group, which represents researchers, is pushing for more federal funding for research into obesity, which it calls the second leading preventable cause of death among Americans, after smoking.

Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews....516c2065.html

I think it's terrible...cabs don't do this, buses don't do this...no one else does this. Why should people be punished? What a load of crap.

Deb