Should airlines charge more for overweight passengers?

[DHTiling]

A few airlines are thinking of charging extra for overweight passengers..

Do you think they are within their rights to do so in certain cases..?

If today's society can dictate where smokers can or can't smoke, then is this also going to far.

If you fall in this category would you pay more..?


Air France are right to charge overweight passengers more, say 76 per cent of travellers | Mail Online

Some Airlines Make Obese Passengers Buy Two Seats - SmarterTravel.com


Debate: Should airlines charge more for overweight passengers? - Air Travel & Airlines - Helium

just a few links where this is discussed etc..

 

[Gazzer]

And why not ? If you get charged for extra baggage then why not overweight people....surely its the same thing ?

 

[Spud]

I dont think because in a 300 seat aircraft the mean average weight per seat wont go up or down by even a fraction of a percentage point so all they are doing is being greedy in my opinion

 

[user123]

oh for god's sake, that whole issue is a joke - do you think a plane would struggle to take off because someone carries a few extra pounds??? Or fly slightly slanting to one side if Mr or Mrs Curvy or Mrs and Mrs Bodybuilder sit on one side??? FFS...

 

[Aston]

And why not ? If you get charged for extra baggage then why not overweight people....surely its the same thing ?

i dont think its the same thing.....some people are over weight for reasons they cant help. if a suit case is over weight, then you simply remove an item but there are so many variables to people being overweight, so it could be an unfair way of punishing people with weight/ medical or food addictions

as the uk's obesity rises, then it will affect the majority..if you upset the masses, then you have an issue lol

lets be honest, an aeroplane is designed to carry x amount of weight, anything over would restrict its legal ability to fly. using tactics like 'over weight' as extra income is a difficult one to call.......

oh, by the way, will they give reductions on flight fares to people who are under weight?? no i dont think so either lol

 

[Mouldy]

Absolutly they should. CofG on any aircraft is critical so it must cause them a headache to seat these passengers, (depending on how many overweight passengers there are to a flight and how many seats are free, or not!)

Also space for any given passenger is small enough without having a seventeen stone sweating mass of flesh sat next to you. So charge them twice and leave the neighbouring seat free.

 

[DHTiling]

I think it is more to do with the situation if a passenger needs more than 1 seat allocation.. that's the way i read it..

 

[Aston]

then if its a case of a person requires 2 seats, then thats a different matter. if you take up 2 seats, then its only fair you pay for 2 seats.

 

[user123]

Then the answer, surely, Moldy, is to reduce the number of seats and make them bigger, more comfort for all, less weight. But no, it's about money isn't it? It's not about weight at all....

 

[mikethetile]

I read it like Dave, the seats are not that big, lasty year there was a very wide couple who had to squeeze down the aisle once they got to an empty four seats they occupied three and and there wasnt enough room for someone to occupy the fourth seat. so 2 people had no seats

we had to sit and wait while it was sorted out. it was sorted when they were asked to buckle up and couldnt, the plane couldnt take off without them buckled in and two passengers who had booked seats would have to get off

so yes it is a problem and probably happens quite a lot on budget airlines as the seats are squeezed in