Overweight Fliers
 

Here is a question that has been going around lately in the news.... Should the airlines begin charging by the pound/kilo for overweight travelers?

I think that the time has come that America as well as the rest of the overweight world get their asses in shape and loose the weight. I am so tired of sitting next to "Bertha" the Fat Lady who's girth has overflowed her seat and is imposing into mine. I am a fitness buff and believe the is no escuse for being over weight to the point of disgusting proportions.

I used to be the fat person that I discribed above, however I lost the weight nearly 100lbs and have kept it off ever since. I weight 185 and I am 6'0" tall and have about 15% body fat. I work out whenever I travel and eat healthy where ever I go to keep my weight where it is.

I do not see anything wrong with the airlines either refusing services to overweight people or demanding that if they choose to fly that they MUST purchase a second seat next to them. The airlines have the right to refuse services to whomever they choose and the ACLU should stay out of this matter.

PS: It's a Thyroid Problem, My .... (It's a food in the mouth problem).

Let's hear what the rest of the members think!

So I guess the airlines can refuse to board you if you are black, or jewish, or in a wheel chair, or smell bad. . . . . . .

As should those on the Miles Buzz forum............off it goes.


edited: I see it was cross-posted but only after I moved it....ooooops.

This has got to be the biggest troll in history. I know I shouldn't bite, but... can't... hold... back...
And I hope they choose to refuse them to self-important elitists who care more about exercising their bodies than their minds.

I'm not going to ask any airline to change its policy toward overweight persons, but I'm not going to pay full price for a seat if I'm only getting to use half of it.

How primitive can one get?

Hmm. Sort of like privately owned restaurants had a right to refuse to serve certain people because of the color of their skin?? :rolleyes:

SPG-DL, I think you have every right to feel negatively when your space is intruded by an obese person next to you, but reading your post I find that you are not only a selfish, arrogant and up-your-nose-about-it person, you are also extremely subjective and personal to the point of wanting the entire world of fat people eliminated. Fat people need to travel too, and while I agree with you that airlines should take steps and measures to curb the problem of them being in the space they didn't pay for, the issue here is that you are trying to say that fat people should just be confined within the limits of their own home just because people like you, who managed to reduce weight dramatically and now therefore think you are on top of this world, say so. Please, if you are really so magnificent, perhaps you should start your own religion and get your worshippers to carry you on their backs across the oceans and up the valleys.

There are different ways of voicing out your opinions, and what you said isn't one which will attract the stars to befall upon you.

Babelfish translation:

Bacon eats sprit

The heavier the passengers, the more expensively their transport becomes. US-American scientists, who referred the rising body weight of their compatriots to the travel costs, came on weighty sums.


AP
US-American airline: Heavy freight is expensive
San Diego - the connection is plausible: The US Americans weigh on the average each year more, which becomes airplanes more heavily, which causes again higher Spritverbrauch and thus travel costs. But the researchers of the center for disease control and -vorbeugung (CDC) in Atlanta want to up-shake their pummeligen compatriots with numbers and set up an exact calculation: However in the past ten years the average body weight of an adult in the USA increased by scarcely five kilograms. For this additional load the airlines more sprit must refuel - in the year 2000 about 1300 million litre.

About 275 million dollar had the airlines in the year 2000 to berappen, in order to pay the additional fuel, estimate the researchers around Deron Burton of the CDC, which published its results in the specialized magazine "American journal OF Preventive Medicine". But the scientists further calculated: In accordance with the study by the gewichtszunahme almost 3.8 million tons additional carbon dioxide are set free, which load the environment.

Predominance is an increasing problem in the western industrial nations. In a study appeared recently the CDC examined, how body size and weight had changed with US Americans in the past 40 years: Today they are about two centimeters larger on average. The average weight rose around approximately eleven kilograms, thus in the relationship more strongly increased.



http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/...326980,00.html

Speck frisst Sprit

Je schwerer die Passagiere, desto teurer wird ihr Transport. US-amerikanische Wissenschaftler, die das steigende Körpergewicht ihrer Landsleute auf die Flugkosten bezogen, kamen auf gewichtige Summen.

AP
San Diego - Der Zusammenhang ist einleuchtend: Die US-Amerikaner wiegen im Durchschnitt jedes Jahr mehr, die Flugzeuge werden schwerer, was wiederum höheren Spritverbrauch und damit Flugkosten verursacht. Doch die Forscher des Zentrums für Krankheitsbekämpfung und -vorbeugung (CDC) in Atlanta wollen ihre pummeligen Landsleute mit Zahlen aufrütteln und stellten eine genaue Rechnung auf: Allein in den vergangenen zehn Jahren hat das durchschnittliche Körpergewicht eines Erwachsenen in den USA um knapp fünf Kilogramm zugenommen. Für diese zusätzliche Last müssen die Fluggesellschaften mehr Sprit tanken - im Jahr 2000 etwa 1300 Millionen Liter.

Etwa 275 Millionen Dollar mussten die Fluggesellschaften im Jahr 2000 berappen, um den zusätzlichen Treibstoff zu bezahlen, schätzen die Forscher um Deron Burton vom CDC, die ihre Ergebnisse im Fachmagazin "American Journal of Preventive Medicine" veröffentlichten. Doch die Wissenschaftler rechneten weiter: Gemäß der Studie werden durch die Gewichtszunahme nahezu 3,8 Millionen Tonnen zusätzliches Kohlendioxid freigesetzt, die die Umwelt belasten.

Übergewicht ist ein zunehmendes Problem in den westlichen Industrienationen. In einer kürzlich erschienenen Studie untersuchte das CDC, wie sich Körpergröße und -gewicht bei US-Amerikanern in den vergangenen 40 Jahren geändert hatten: Heute sind sie im Schnitt etwa zwei Zentimeter größer. Dabei ist das durchschnittliche Gewicht um rund elf Kilogramm gestiegen, hat also im Verhältnis stärker zugenommen.

The movie "Supersize Me" had an interesting take on this. It's soically acceptable to ridicule, belittle and publicly confront smokers about the damage they inflict on themselves and our pocketbooks. How much longer before it's ok to go after fatties?

Good question, and I think the answer is when it impinges on the comfort and health of others.

What with all the different fare classes already in existence and the complicated structure in place I doubt they're going to add another layer of factors due to personal weight because of the sheer hassle.

Overweight fliers, just fast a couple of weeks before departure and please avoid Macdonalds at the airport. :p

Any reason your focus was on women? Or do you just prefer the large girth of men instead?

:eek:

While the tone of the OP's post seemed a little pretentious to me, I can't disagree with the main point.

To those that liken girth to race or skin color, that dog don’t hunt. The vast majority of people can do something about their weight; they can not change their race or skin color, so the comparison is ridiculous.

The supersize mentality has caught up with us American’s in a big way and is now costing us hard dollars. It impacts healthcare costs and as the AP article pointed out a real dollar affect on transportation costs.

I feel compelled to say that I often find myself sitting next to more Big Bob's than Bertha's.

Maybe the obese travelerss could all be funneled to Southwest… :D