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Obese entitled to 2 airline seats- Canada
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That's among the biggest of problems. Those in need of special services almost never alert the carrier of their needs. They show up at the airport on the day of expecting everything to run smoothly. Countless times I've seen people show up needing a wheelchair when there are none available; it's quite the scene. If they'd have contacted the carrier prior, one would have been available and waiting for them as they enter the building. This will be no different. Mark my words, there will be a plentiful amount of people that do not alert the airline of this and will show up expecting two seats on a full flight. I don't really have a problem with them having two seats as long as the person:
a) alerts the airline at the time of booking
b) is not infringing on the ability of anyone else to travel.
By granting two seats to someone on a flight that is full, you are denying travel abilities to other people. The question is should they hand out freebies or sell tickets? If the flight is not full, then someone gets two seats anyway.
dmr727
macrumors G4
See that's the problem I have with this. If there are seats available - no problem.
RamblinWreck
macrumors regular
Agreed. If it's a full flight, the person needing two seats should be lowest on the totem pole.
XnavxeMiyyep
macrumors 65816
cdcastillo
macrumors 68000
I call BS. You are quoting the friend of a neighbor of the uncle of a work acquaintance that told you that there was an urban legend about this.
Have you ever heard of the second LAW of thermodynamics? Google is your friend. I can only tell you that I still stand by what I said, either you eat to much, or you spend to little energy.
And the rate of obese people due to thyroid or other endocrinological disorders is less than 0.3% of obese people, still, 997 of every fat guy/girl you met on the street is so because he/she has chosen (although I concede, maybe subconsciously) to be that way. Or at least that's what they say with actions.
I am a physician, but don't believe me. Go ask your physician before you start spreading lies. Or you can read some examples of serious papers about it...
- Obesity and hypothyroidism: myth or reality? Rev Med Suisse. 2007 Apr 4;3(105):859-62.
- Subclinical hypothyroidism in obese patients: relation to resting energy expenditure, serum leptin, body composition, and lipid profile. Obes Res. 2001 Mar;9(3):196-201.
- Doctor . . . Could It Be My Thyroid? Arch Intern Med. 2008 Mar 24;168(6):568-9.
- Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in a morbidly obese population and improvement after weight loss induced by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Obes Surg. 2005 Oct;15(9):1287-91.
- Influence of obesity and surgical weight loss on thyroid hormone levels. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Nov-Dec;3(6):631-5; discussion 635-6.
And even in studies when there is no evidence to rule out a relationship between thyroid disorders and obesity, the weight difference between groups (Dysthyroid and euthyroid) are only about 1-4 Kg (about 2-9 pounds) and it's not clear which one is the cause and which one is the effect. It would seem that the obesity is the cause of dysthyroidism, because when you start losing weight, the hormone profile start going back to normal.
Maybe no, but if they know they are not able to walk the streets by themselves (as many blind people can), and still they venture there alone, they are stupid.
And please do note that I'm not calling blind people stupid, I'm calling stupid people stupid (e.g., someone that can't swim but jumps out of a ship to the ocean when no one is looking).
MarkCollette
macrumors 68000
I hate how people always bring up that thyroid excuse, even though it's only a statistically irrelevant percent of fat people who have that problem. Total deflection from the reality of the situation. One more way that fat people pretend they have an excuse to be fat.
I don't know about liability, but if a cop tells you to freeze, and you don't, for whatever reason, there's a good chance you will get shot. That's the reality of life. Hopefully they are trained to recognise the difference between someone ignoring them and someone who didn't hear them.
For the blind people, it's probably more relevant about the condition of the accident, than about their actual blindness. Also, were they trying to follow traffic rules, or just thinking everyone should stop for them? Pretty complicated question, so pretty much a waste of time bringing up here.
No. It's in little choices every single day of their lives, that they may or may not be too clueless to realise they're making. But still choices.
I'll take this a step further, why are people here saying that, if it is not their fault, that they should get it for free? That makes no sense to me. For some people, life costs more. Sucks to be them. Not up to everyone else to bail them out. Some people prefer higher fashion over jeans and a t-shirt. Costs more for them to dress. Tough luck. When I got hit by a car, and couldn't walk, it took more time and effort to do anything. Did the rest of society owe me anything? No. Tough, luck.
MentalFabric
macrumors 6502
My Lord, the rudeness of some people! I believe the statistics in the UK are that smokers make about 5 times more money for the NHS than they cost it. I think it's fair enough considering the incredibly high tax on our freedom to smoke that we should be allowed to ask for treatment should we find ourselves diseased!
Stats:
Tax from fags = 8.1 Billion (Politics.co.uk)
NHS spending on cigarette related illness = 1.7 Billion (money.msn.co.uk)
We smokers are funding the health service for you 😛
if a fat person sits down on a chair alone in a empty room but theres no one around to hear/see the chair break..
does it really break?
does it really break?
juanster
macrumors 68020
lol omg that was amazing, yeah i really can't stand the whole, i just can't loose the weight, it's genetics, to some people it is harder to loose it becaus eof the genetics yes you are right, then why don't you work a bit harder and eat a bit less? it will work, you can't gain weight. it's all in the in/out take of energy...
Gray-Wolf
macrumors 68030
Not quite true. As you get older, your metabolism slows down. As a child, I could eat 2x as much as my dad, but gain nothing from it. Now, I eat less than a normal meal and risk gaining. Got to wear the shoes to know what they feel like. 😉
The only way I can loose the weight, no I'm not obese, is to do diet caffeinated drinks, green tea extract, and chromium picolinate and little real food. I did this over a summer 1 year ago and lost 45 lbs in 4 months. But it gave me terrible headaches the whole time.
juanster
macrumors 68020
you are right, i didn't take that(ages and the fact that with age metabolism slows down) into consideration, but that still doesn't mean it's the only way to lose weight. I am a Mixed Martial Arts instructor and i hear that a lot (about 3-4 times a day) I am not sayiong you are lieing but if you worked out harder for short periods of time(this speeds up your metabolism throuout the whole day) and ate the same amount of food as you normally do you will lose weight.
I still haven't had a dsingle person at the gym that trains 4 times a week hard and doenst loose at least 5 pounds in the first month...
QuantumLo0p
macrumors 6502a
TSE
macrumors 601
cdcastillo
macrumors 68000
But I only have that once a week!! 😀
We do chose our actions, and they have consequences... and hey!, careful when you speak of obese people, I'm one of them and I could get my feelings hurt by what you say. 🙂
+1. I don't like to be obese.... Do I do what I need to do in order to lose the extra weight... no, I don't.
Exactly the conclussions of some of the papers I mentioned earlier...
Well, there you go, this could be the 0.3% of fat people due to ilness, or maybe he lies and eats when nobody sees him.
Enough of this non-sense. I officially stop posting on this thread, it leads to nowhere.
I believe that as long as the flight is not full, they can give however many seats they want to obese people. I think it is wrong for somebody else to lose their spot on a plane just because somebody who is larger than them didn't inform the airline that they had this problem. If you are going to take up an extra seat, call the airline prior to your flight, if you are genetically obese or not.
On the other hand, there have been several discriminatory posts in this thread against obese people. Yes, most of them have the option to lose their weight, but I'm sure it is incredibly hard for them. All people deserve equal respect, whether you are fat or not.
The best solution for this issue would be to have larger seats on airplanes, it will be a win for all of the customers. 😛
On the other hand, there have been several discriminatory posts in this thread against obese people. Yes, most of them have the option to lose their weight, but I'm sure it is incredibly hard for them. All people deserve equal respect, whether you are fat or not.
The best solution for this issue would be to have larger seats on airplanes, it will be a win for all of the customers. 😛
dmr727
macrumors G4
True, but unfortunately it seems that the seat size is going in the opposite direction. 🙂
Abstract
macrumors Penryn
Lets say we have an airplane that has 8 seats per row separated into 3 "columns" along the length of the airplane so that the seats are in a 2-3-2 configuration. The middle column of seats of this airplane has 3 seats. Why not make the very back row of the airplane 7 seats instead of 8? Make the 3 seats in the middle column into 2 larger seats, so that each seat is the size of 1.5 seats. Most fat people will fit in such a seat. Instead of charging him for 2 seats, or for just 1 seat, charge him for 1.5 seats. That way, it won't be much more expensive for fat people to fly, and "normal" sized people don't feel like they're getting screwed over by paying the same amount of money for a seat, and only getting a "normal sized" seat. The chances of someone who's fat for a medical reason is small enough that having only 1 or 2 of these "fat person" seats should be enough.
Then the problem is that Business Class people will complain that the "fat guy/girl" seat is larger than their business class seat, and yet they 2x or 3x more for a larger seat, not just 1.5x.
I think MacNut skipped my post. 😛
Then the problem is that Business Class people will complain that the "fat guy/girl" seat is larger than their business class seat, and yet they 2x or 3x more for a larger seat, not just 1.5x.
I think MacNut skipped my post. 😛
Don't panic
macrumors 603
i agree.
it's also the environmental sensitive thing to do,as it encourages people to pack lite and overall saves gas.
a simpler alternative would be that the ticket pays for a fixed amount of total weight (say 200 lb for domestic and 250 for international), so the airline won't lose out in general, and have passenger pay the additional amount if needed (the charge should be progressive up to a full extra ticket max)
And it should be done 'per party': a family of four traveling international will have rights to 1000 lb of 'cargo', including themselves.
Digital Fury
macrumors member
The article linked in the original post is misleading at best, the Supreme Court of Canada did not ruled that "Obese have right to 2 airline seats", only that it would not hear the case, which is something completely different.
As it is, the lower court ruling stands.
I'm wondering however why nobody is questioning the actual size of the seats on commercial airplanes in the 1st place, besides business and 1st class that is, because in all fairness they are ridiculously small to begin with. One could just as well claim that airlines are not meeting demand and that one ticket = one trip per person. Tickets don't equal or claim to be an exact floor space reservation, nor did I ever saw a hint of this in airlines terms & conditions, so why can't airlines provide seats "adequate" to their customers? Do they expect that all customers are alike? Why should it be their customers' burden to fit in their seats? Who exactly defines the size of a "typical" customer? Why airlines discriminates against tall or fat people?
For sure you can come up with a many assumptions and opinions about these questions, but apparently they don't stand up in Canada's courts of law.
As it is, the lower court ruling stands.
I'm wondering however why nobody is questioning the actual size of the seats on commercial airplanes in the 1st place, besides business and 1st class that is, because in all fairness they are ridiculously small to begin with. One could just as well claim that airlines are not meeting demand and that one ticket = one trip per person. Tickets don't equal or claim to be an exact floor space reservation, nor did I ever saw a hint of this in airlines terms & conditions, so why can't airlines provide seats "adequate" to their customers? Do they expect that all customers are alike? Why should it be their customers' burden to fit in their seats? Who exactly defines the size of a "typical" customer? Why airlines discriminates against tall or fat people?
For sure you can come up with a many assumptions and opinions about these questions, but apparently they don't stand up in Canada's courts of law.
Sigh. I always have to explain this. Because it's a business, and a business caters to its customers. Only a small percentage are willing to pay extra for first class, hence only a small percentage of seats are larger. Most people want to pay less to get where they are going, so in order to make a profit the airlines have to squeeze a lot of low cost seats together.
Lots of first class tickets = high prices = empty seats = bankruptcy
Lots of coach class tickets = low prices = lost potential income = could have made more and maybe bankruptcy
Iscariot
macrumors 68030
The percentage of obese people who have arrived at that state due to a legitimate physical condition is so low that it may in fact be statistically insignificant. A much more accurate assessment of causality would be linking obesity to a lack of proper nutritional education and psychological disorders such as depression. I don't say this because I want to "blame" overweight people for being overweight, but because I want to identify the real root causes and address them in a way that is truly beneficial and forward-moving.