Seems like a double standard to me......We may enjoy watching big on TV, as in sports, just don't let Big sit next to me without a Superbowl ring, an Emmy, or Oscar.

So as we, as a culture, homogenize how our bodys are to be, we fight for freedom of others around the world, yet give up the freedom of expression of the size a body can be. We fight for stem cells and their freedom, yet Judge other humans as to their size and limit their freedom.

Some posters have lost weight and then get to feel so much better than... good for you! Congratulations! I am glad your successful in adjusting the size of your body!

Also, your judgements hurt; where is the compassion?

Skinny and big have the same choice. If you are unhappy with your seat, next time buy a bigger one, to get away from big, or to comfort big.

Please do not advocate restricting freedoms. One can always make more money to make choices for a different seat. One finds it very difficult to get freedom back once it is given away.

I will not fly SWA for they offer no seat size choice.

If the airlines are worried about weight, they should also get rid of the free baggage allowance and charge everyone a set fee per pound of checked/ carry on luggage. They should also charge for all drinks/meals served on board since this costs money to transport.

Rebuttle from SPG-DL:

I have had the unfortunate of sitting next to both overweight women and men. I should have been more politically correct, please excuse me. It was no my intentions to site women over men.

If anyone has watched the A&E show "Airline" they have had so many overweight passenger issues on that show that it can be seen as an epidemic of what is happening to many of the American Travelers. I travel overseas quite a bit for both business and pleasure and it is quite easy to pick out the American travelers over the European, Asian, Latin American, and Afrikan just by the shape/weight.

You cannot deny that Americans are getting fatter and fatter each year. Just look at the overweight youth in the malls and school yards. Children learn what they live, so if the parents do not teach proper diet and exercise then the children do not learn it. Many US schools no longer offer sports for the fear of student injury and prevailing lawsuits from the parents. Thus more and more children do not exercise. Instead they sit in front of TV and computers on average of 20-30 hours per week. How much time do they visit the gym or playground to play soccer or active sports? Most children less than 10 hours per same week.

I overcame my bout the obesity and have kept my weight where it is now for several years by eating healthy, NO FAST FOOD, NO JUNK FOOD in our home. We are not vegans, we still eat meat, however it is free of chemicals and hormones. It takes will power to do it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I agree with you on this matter. I cannot stand those travelers who carry more clothing than they will ever use in their entire trip and have bags that weigh in at well above the alloted amount.

I think these travelers should also be charged an additional fee, which they are by the airlines. When you check oversized and overweight bags you are assessed additional fees. The more weight a plane has to carry the heavier the fuel burn, the heavier the fuel burn the higher cost per flight mile, the higher the cost per mile the higher the airlines must charge to be profitable.

With respect to the overweight passenger, there is also the safety issue, if you have a passenger that is 400lbs and in the event of a crash/emergency landing where the closest exit is through a window exit, they will most likely not be able to exit at this entry, thus endangering the safety of the remaining passengers.

YES SIR, YOU ARE CORRECT SIR! People can prevent from being overweight!

I am totally repulsed by the other poster who compared being obese with being of color. I have no quams with any race, creed, color, sexual orientation because these are things that one cannot change. But someone can control their weight and watch what they eat.

I recent saw the movie Supersize Me, and I was disgusted. But in a good way, it took a movie like this to start a public awareness of the US's way of supersized portions. Go to Europe and see the Large soda at a McD's, it is the SMALL of the United States. Soda is nothing more than empty calories and Americans just don't get it.

I agree with your point about the rising healthcare costs, as Americans weight rises, so does the cost of insuring them and treating the ailments of increased heart attacks, cholesteral readings well above 300, increased bone and joint injuries due to the increased body mass.

Get in shape America, before the rest of the world runs you over.

Huh?

This is crazy. When someone buys a seat, there is a reasonable expectation that they will be able to use all of the space allotted to them. Nobody should be forced to buy a bigger seat if they don't wish to have their space encroached on. You buy the space when you buy the ticket; it is yours. It is not your neighbor's overflow space if they can't fit into the area that they purchased.

[QUOTE=SPG-DL TRAVELER]I agree with you on this matter. I cannot stand those travelers who carry more clothing than they will ever use in their entire trip and have bags that weigh in at well above the alloted amount. [QUOTE]

1) Just out of curiosity, how do you know how long these people who have bags which you think are larger and heavier than you think is acceptable are travelling? Do you ask people with these bags how long they are on their trips for? And how could you possibly know the weight of the bags?

2) How do you even know what they have in their bags? Maybe they are carrying something that they don't want to check, or maybe they have had baggage horror stories from checking bags?

Not sure how you can make these assumptions. And you know what happens when you ..._u_me something...

With regard to the "excess flesh" issue, it is important to remember to be sensitive to people with this problem, because it may be something that is beyond their control. Obesity has been tied to medical and psychosocial risk factors that are either totally or to some degree beyond the individual's control (ie: psoriasis, Cushing's disease, history of sexual or other abuse, certain medications). Whenever I see an obese person, I wonder what in their life might have happened to them to make them abuse their body in that way. This said, I don't think that people should be forced to give up one inch of their already cramped, expensive seat.

I thought that Southwest and some other airlines had a policy that if the plane was full, individuals requiring more than one seat needed to purchase two tickets rather than one, or fly on the next flight with more room?

I know USAir sure doesn't have this in place... fortunately I usually get upgraded so it's not really an issue for me!

Oh, and I have seen more big Bob's than Bertha's myself also. Not sure if it's because there are fewer women than men travelling, or some other reason..

No one is forced to buy a different seat. It is your choice. You do roll the dice sitting in Y; knowing you may sit next to Mr Big. This is reasonable too. Guarantees of comfort have a higher degree of probability if you buy a larger seat. Everyone knows this. We speak about not getting our space, when we really are being cheap and whine about it when we don't get what we expect in Y, yet we all know this is a possibility in Y; clearly we have options to change our space and upgrade. It is just simpler, instead of being responsible for your own comfort to regulate and control everyone else. I would suggest your expectation is not reasonable, as you are aware each person is different and their bodies are too. Knowing this, wouldn't it be prudent to take responsibility for your comfort and create the resources to buy a larger seat for yourself?

Guilty

This is a problem that will continue to surface and won't be resolved until all of the airlines adopt a relatively uniform policy, and enforce it.

Right now none of them have the corporate will to deal with the push back that would come from enforcement.

While we talk about comfort, it should be pursued as a saftey issue. Have a std seat next to the "if your bag can't fit in this box it must be checked "display.

It has been said before. If they can establish size/weight criteria at Disneyland they should be able to at airlines.

The 5 to 10% where weight is a medical issue will probaly sue.

And I would say when I buy a seat, I am entitled to a seat. Not 3/4 or 1/2 of a seat, but an entire seat. If someone can not fit into ONE seat, they should be the ones who have to buy up. The situation of Mr Big overflowing the seat is a simple matter of someone taking more of something (in this case, space) than they are entitled to, at the expense of someone else. This has nothing to do with being cheap. This is about getting what you paid for. When you buy a Y ticket, you are paying for that 17.2 inches between the armrests. If that 17.2 inches is not enough for you, you should have to be the one to pay for more.

(Disclaimer: I am using an impersonal you in my response. I am not targetting anyone with my choice of words)

SPG-DL, your comments are slowly getting on my nerves.

I am not overflowing onto other seats but I am also not the skinniest.

You remind me of one of those newborn Christians or ex-smokers who have quit the habit. More catholic than the Pope and definitely a hypocrite or an ignorant.

Being overweight is a problem yes, but don't let yourself be mislead by the airlines complaining just because the fuel prices have risen and they are desperate to find new ways of raiding your wallet.

I have been flying for the last 40 years and the airlines have "screwed" sorry for the word, the passengers in Y ever since. The seats have shrunk in size in 40 years, no matter what they want to make you believe. Never before was one talking about "cattle class" and "sardines". People have tolerated to be put into these categories without complaining.

In 40 years the world population has on average put on almost 25 pounds and grown accordingly. In the name of profit the airlines have deliberatly ignored that fact. They did not bother to increase the size of their seats. They reduced it. As a matter of fact the industry is doing this very year its first serious survey in over 20 years about passenger size. We'll have to wait another 5-10 years before seeing any changes.

Ten years ago already, I did not trust myself to send my teenage sons on a transatlantic flight in Y. None was overweight, just healthy, sporty big boys.

I ask you to divert your hate onto the airlines and leave the overweights to their problems. Criticize the junk food producers and try to cure the minority complex of the Americans who are steadily thinking that larger is automatically more beautiful.

Instead of complaining of fuel waistage (I remember times flying on a 747 with less than 30 passengers), think of food waistage with a small thoughts at all the children dying of hunger.

As far as security risks, a panic stricken skinny old lady is as much a risk or an hindrance as an overweight person. Do you want to get rid of them also as well as babies? I am lucky to have survived such an experience.

Good, I vented my anger.

Amazing how the knee-jerk reaction of most people is to put all the focus on the individual as to where the problem is centered. What about the airline?

Lest we forget, seat width has been either static or shrinking, even as airlines and aircraft makers know full well that people are getting both taller and wider. An egregious example is the 737-800 series, where seat width was actually reduced to make a bean-counter-pleasing plane (they also tried to get away with too few lavs at first). RJs also tend to be challenged on width. I'm just speaking from personal experience, but it seems Airbus "gets it" better than Boeing.

no personal attacks will be allowed. Let's keep it cool, folks.

--richard, moderator

Well, well, well. I'm glad I've gotten on your nerves and hit a nerve with many others on this posting.

But with regards to your comment about going after the Junk Food makers, hey it's a free economy and companies are at liberty to produce whatever products they wish. I may not agree with what they make and I choose NOT to engorge myself on a BOX of Twinkies or Ding Dongs.

Most Americans who are now overweight and obese have made themselves this way. They have all had the choice to push away from the table rather than have a 2nd or 3rd helping of food, however they have chosen not to. I used to be there and I know what it is like to be obese. However when I had heart attack at age 26 because of my weight, I decided to do something about it.

I agree the airlines have decreased seat size, however it is in response from the consumer that they want the cheapest fare possible to get from point A to point B. One of the only ways that airlines can offer lower fares is by putting more seats inside each plane. I know it's a cheap method of packing more planes but the airlines are a business and they are in the business to be profitable.

Honestly the air travel has become the Greyhound Busline of the skies. It used to be that people who were traveling by plane would dress properly and not like slobs. I have also had the unfortunate travel of sitting next to a "Smelly Sam and Sarah" for 14 hours on a flight to Australia from LAX. It was absolutely disgusting, however since the flight was full, there was no place for me to move. (I did complain to FA's and the airline and had my entire ticket refunded upon my return trip).

Next opinion?