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Airline Overweight Obesity Fee
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Health Concerns>>> Airline Overweight Obesity Fee
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that through
the ‘90’s, the average weight of Americans has increased by 10
pounds. Airlines in America claim that the extra weight has caused
airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of
fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of its passengers.
Due to the rising fuel prices and competition, some airlines have
decided upon certain ways to offset the costs.
The way that obese individuals are treated when flying, vary from
airline to airline. Below you will find examples of treatment, as
well as policies geared toward the handling of obese or overweight
passengers: American
Airlines/American Eagle
Delta
Flight
attendants tend to be helpful and ask if a seat belt extender is
needed. If size really matters, then you
could try using Seat Guru (www.seatguru.com).
This website outlines seating and legroom sizes on most major
airlines by specific aircraft type. The site will also tell you
which seats have that annoying inability to be put into recline or
which ones don't have stowage space above. It will also assist you
if you want to find out where other aircraft amenities are located
in relation to your seat, i.e. the galley, toilets, TV screens etc.
This way, you can do your research and try to put in a seat request
in advance. Obviously we are all aware of the fact that emergency
exit rows and bulkhead seats offer the best legroom options, however
many airlines will tell you that these cannot be pre booked or on
international flights most bulkhead seats are put aside for people
traveling with infants. Also if you have movement limitations (or
are pregnant), emergency exit seats will not be accessible to you.
There are however different seating options on each aircraft that
can maximize your legroom. In general, Airbus planes tend to have
more legroom than Boeing planes. Boeing is now recognizing changes
in passenger size and has designed its new-generation plane, the
7E7, with wider seats, aisles and toilets. Although you may be booking your
flights online, to put in a specific seating request, you may need
to phone the airline. It is also quite helpful to request written or
e-mail conformation of your seat request as strangely these
"confirmed seats" can disappear at the check-in gate. If your main priority is extra
legroom (getting your full 34 inches), American Airlines
still provides "More Room throughout Coach" on more than half of its
planes -- just make sure to avoid American's 757s and A300s.
Unfortunately American recently announced that it would be replacing
some of the seats it removed to provide this extra legroom,
especially on its flights along the east coast from New York and to
the Caribbean. JetBlue provides three inches more legroom
than the industry average in the back half of its A320s -- just
avoid the first ten rows. United's "Economy Plus" gives extra
legroom on most planes, but only to travelers on expensive full-fare
tickets or those in the highest echelons of its frequent flier
program. The magic number on all Song flights (seeing they
only use one type of aircraft) is row 17. So much for length, but in terms
of width, none of these airlines offer any wider girth in their
seats so for many, getting in and out may still be a tight squeeze.
Boeing 777 aircrafts are one of the few that offer wider seats by
design. If you're traveling to or from the Midwest, then Midwest
Airlines not only provides extra legroom with its economy
Signature Service, but at no extra cost, it also has 21-inch wide
seat cushions (compared with 17-inch industry standard). Those four
inches can make the world of difference. Other airlines may charge you a
slight premium for seats with additional legroom or width. ATA
and Spirit for example have this option and the premium
generally does not exceed $100. On the international front,
British Airways offers the extra legroom (34-inches) in economy
class on all its long haul flights (not transcontinental European
sectors). Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have
premium economy class seating which offer a 38-inch pitch between
seats, but they will charge you up to 20% extra for that luxury.
Virgin's European domestic carrier, Virgin Express will
charge you only $15 per sector for an upgraded slightly larger seat.
Malaysian Airlines has the best seat pitch (34-inches) and
width (18.5-inches) combination in its standard economy seats --
with no extra charge and discount European carrier Ryan Air
has aircrafts with a whopping 38-inches of pitch. The company that brought a lot of
size issues to the media spotlight was Southwest Airlines,
with their introduction of a two-seat purchase requirement policy if
a passenger is too large to fit into a standard economy seat (if a
flight is not full, the additional seat the larger person has to
purchase is refunded after the flight). This decision has been met
with a great deal of controversy and cries of discrimination and
potential lawsuits, with advocates and detractors falling on both
sides of the issue. Its implementation is not a common occurrence as
airline staff try to use discretion and good judgment when imposing
these restrictions. Quietly, other airlines do share
this unwritten policy to a point. Continental, American,
and Northwest Airlines will all request that a passenger
purchase a second seat if he or she cannot safely fasten a seatbelt
or if a passenger's body covers more than one seat. United
and Delta to some extent may also impose these restrictions
on an individual basis. Often the extra ticket will be provided at a
lesser price and/or refunded if the plane is not full. Some large
passengers are forced to travel with their own seatbelt extenders
because the airline belts are not big enough (available from
www.extend-it.com and
www.amplestuff.com). It is a highly sensitive issue, both
for the large passenger and for the passenger that must sit next to
him or her. I have personally seen airline
staff at check-ins in small regional airports (mainly in third-world
countries) actually weigh passengers together with their luggage to
ascertain whether an overweight charge is required and, according to
them, to keep the plane balanced. Qantas recently introduced
a voluntary passenger weigh-in (together with their carry-on
baggage) at Sydney Airport. Qantas insists that it is purely a
research study in changing weight requirements on flights, but is
this a sign of things to come? With over 60 percent of the US
population officially overweight, and airlines constantly fighting
to stay in business, let alone profitable, arguments arise that
imply that all this additional weight is impacting the bottom line
(no pun intended). According to a recent Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention report, Americans gained an average of 10 pounds per
person during the 1990s and that the extra weight required airlines
to used an additional 350 million gallons of fuel each year. At
today's prices, this translates to an additional cost of $448
million per year.
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