United Airlines to charge obese passengers for extra seat

You have to pay for overweight luggage why not people?? Maybe they should charge by the pound

I completely agree with this policy. Obviously people should be allowed to live their lives without fear of prejudice. If your wieght has become so out of control that you may no longer fit in a normal seat which is ample enough to carry a substantial person already, then perhaps its time to admit that your weight has become a problem. This might force overly obese travellers to finally shed some weight. Anyone and everyone can lose weight but it is extremely hard to do it. If you want to travel and only purchase one ticket then you must be in control of your weight within reason. A 400 or 500 pound traveller should not inconvience me while he/she attempts to "squeeze" into the seat next to me for a 16 hour trip. They should be forced to purchase an additional ticket. Its only fair. Im not one to tell anyone how they should live their lives but if the way you have chosen to live your life signifigantly impacts the enjoyment level of my own travel experience then we have a problem.

Last time I paid $300.00 for a tickets and had to sit beside a supersized man, I decided tthe best place for the obese would be the cargo compartment of the plane..along with the crying babies and the seat kicking kids that always seem to get behind me. At the very least, the gross;y overweight should all be put in the same roll, shoulder to shoulder (stomach to stomach?). At least they would have something in common to talk about.

I totally agree with the policy. I would not want to be the person who sits beside a person who is obese and requires 2 seats to travel comfortably. I pay good money for one seat and expect to also be comfortable while travelling. I am not discriminating because I know just to well how being fat feels. I was once over 200 lbs and now maintain my weight at 150 lbs. If you need to seat, you should pay for 2 seats. By only purchasing 1 but requiring 2, the carrier could easily overbook a flight and someone would need to be bumped to a later flight. Why should someone like me be penalized, be bumped to the next flight, be inconvenience? Obesity is not a disease unless cause by a disease such as a thyroid problem or other. Over eating, not exercising, being lazy is not a disease but a choice, a life style.

I am not sure what sickens me more....the United policy to charge overweight passengers extra or the comments posted by other readers before me. It is truly sad to see how petty and self serving some people can be when they really put their minds to it. I hope none of these people ever have to endure the ridicule that comes from having what society views as a physical flaw. This is still discrimination, whether it is labelled an official company policy or not. And who determines what "overweight" is anyway? Maybe today 400 lbs means a person pays for an extra ticket....next year its 300 lbs and so on and so on. After a policy like this becomes accepted by the general population it's easy to gradually make changes to it a little bit at a time. Perhaps the next move will be to have all people that are deemed overweight to move to the back of the bus as well....or maybe they'll start charging elderly people more for tickets because they somehow annoy other passangers like the ones that have commented here.

I am not obese. I am 6 foot 3 inches tall. My problem is that I have to sit ramrod straight in order to leave my legs in a comfortable position. I will put my knees right up against the seat in front of me so that the passenger in front cannot put their seat back. Many give up shortly. others will look back, even others will complain to the attendants, who will then come to check it out.

One hour flight is okay, but not accross North America.

The simple fact is that the seats are not ergonomically designed for comfort for a significant number of people, say 30%.

Born a certain heigth is not a choice, it is a fact of genetics as are several other types of human body shapes.

I don't mind either policy, either charge them for an extra seat or force the airlines to give it to them for free (i.e. make the rest of the passengers pay). Just make sure they have an extra seat. Because, whether their weight is their "fault" is a non issue (certainly it is indeterminable by the airlines), the fact is that they need more room, for thier comfort and the comfort of those next to them. A good idea might me to put a test sit-to-fit chair in a private location so the obese may try it out and see if they need to purchase/request an extra seat before they board.

Instead of forcing the purchase of an extra seat, why not offer a first class/business class seat at a slightly reduced fare for the obese people. There is so much more room up there and it would save the people in economy class from being squeezed. I don't think that most obese people make a conscious choice to be fat. Once you have been overweight for too long your bones actually grow larger to adjust to the extra weight and even dropping a few pounds will not reduce your size - not unless you manage to maintain the weight loss for years. Even then a previously obese person's bone structure will never be the same. So instead of alienating obese people (a pretty big percentage of North Americans), offer a solution (like the option of first class seats) that gives them some dignity and allows the airline to keep its profits in the black.

I think obese people should know that they need the extra room, and take the responsibility to ask for it. This would save them the humiliation of the "weigh-in" in public.

I fly on a regular basis and remember a flight, many years ago, where my seat was next to a man no less than 400 pounds. He was spilling into the seat next to me and looked terrified of my reaction when I arrived at my seat. I smiled at him and made small talk while I put my items in the overhead bin and when I sat down I put my body slightly sideways (otherwise our bodies would have been on top of each other for about 25% of my seat width!). After a few words, "Andrew" asked me if he could put his arm rest up and I told him it was no problem. We talked foe most of the flight (two hours) and he seemed to relax about his size as I spoke to him and sat with my body partially in the aisle, watching out for anyone who might pass through. The flight attendant told me the flight was sold out and asked if I was "ok" which I replied, "yes" (what was she going to do anyways, the flight had already taken off?). I wasn't angry about having to show this man compassion but I can't tell you how pleased I was that we weren't on a sixteen hour flight! I am just disappointed that the airline left it to me to deal with the situation since it certainly would have been my right to demand the full space of the seat that "I" purchased. I don't think anyone would appreciate a stranger helping themselves to something that they paid for and it's not my place to be the "fat police". I personally don't care how big someone is and am more interested in how they treat others but would like the airlines to ensure that ALL their customers are comfortable. I mean, would any of you (yes, I'm talking to everyone who is extra sized too) appreciate someone walking up to you in the food court and taking a bite of your sandwich or taking a drink from your soda? What if they were hungry or thirsty..what kind of person are you to withold them from helping themselves? Who cares if you paid for the food, why don't you just buy some more? This is the horrible attitude I see from many who fall into the category where they might be asked to purchase the second seat instead of making the other passenger donate 25% of their seat to them.

So, that being said I do show consideration for very large people but vote on the side of the people who pay for the seat who have the right to use it, all of it. Bottom line is that I don't ever want to be put in a position where I am forced to demand that I be moved because I have someone who is HUNDREDS of pounds larger then what the seat is built for.

Laura - very well put. I was in the middle of composing a comment that pretty much echoed your comments, took a pause to check new comments, and voila, you said it for me. Have a good day!

so by definition, obese people are now considered to be medically handicapped ??? how in the world does this make any sense ? people gain weight due to their mental instability and their need to feed it. now where does this leave alchoholics and drug addicts ? should we now allow people to smoke dope and or cigarettes on airplanes ? just because they too have an addiction ? i do have sympathy being a canadian, but this is ridiculas. why should everyone else suffer because a very small percentage of the population can't control their problems ? now does this mean that if an overweight person sits next to me and intrudes into my space do i now recieve a discount ? i don't think so. also i do smoke cigs when i drink, now does this mean that i am now allowed to smoke on the plane because i see these other people with " disabilities " bitching and complaining to get theirs ? I DON'T THINK SO !

I think size discrimination is intolerable! Like another commenter stating she is too tall for the seats there are others that are too small for the seats (little people) that need consideration as well but aren't being charged for extra seats or humiliated.
I am a person that has struggled with my weight for most of my life. My struggle has been hardest the last few years however I have lost nearly 100lbs. I no longer blame myself for what my doctors have clearly told me is a "disease" that isn't clearly understood. It always goes beyond just over eating. There is a chemical response in the brain when someone eats foods. If there wasn't there wouldn't be "comfort foods". I was told the reason that there's an "obesity epidemic" is simply because we've evolved so fast into what's called the fast food era that our genes haven't caught up. Our hypothalamus (organ in the brain that regulates auto responses in the brain like breathing, metabolism and hunger) has been genetically evolved to survive famines. Well we no longer go through Winters of starvation like our ancestors in the past. Food is too readily available so some have auto responders in the brain telling them eat .. eat.. we must survive the next famine. A famine that never comes. That's why diets don't work. Our Will Power can control our hypothalamus and auto responses to eat for approximately 4-6 weeks. Then the cravings become stronger and we often fail because of that. There are also a lot of other reasons.. often psychological.
I guess I'd relate this disease to similar diseases involving over consumption of substances such as alcoholism. Of course there's all sorts of free rehab clinics for those that over indulge in alcohol or other substances that have a similar effect on the brain as food does (similar chemical response). We of course would never discriminate against someone with those kinds of addiction diseases and wouldn't publicly humiliate them nor ask them to pay more to travel. I do sympathize to those that may have to be squeezed beside and left uncomfortable during a flight with a person of size. However I think Canada has taken the best approach. It's up to the airlines to be sympathetic to all of their customers and not just pick and choose. The obese are still the only people left that can be openly discriminated against or joked about without any legal consequences or shame. The airlines are just taking advantage, once again of anyone they can. Where-ever they can make a buck. As long as we accept it and don't put up a fight, they win again. Everyone accepted paying more for their "over-sized" luggage. Why not take advantage of those that are ill and often looking for help and discriminate them in yet another way inbstead.

I am obese, and have been fighting it for 60 years, and do try to fly in business, since I take long flights, when there is a sale and I am able to budget it.
I object to people drinking alcohol beside me, the smell is overwhelming for 22 hours-don't say a word
Many smoke before they get on the flight, and the smell lingers for hours-not a pip
The body odour, the babies yelping, the laptop addicts, all contribute to the flight environment and discomforts.
Most of all, and most dangerous, are the constant coughers and sneezers who cause me and others to be ill, sometimes seriously for weeks. Do I pull the cord and ask the plane to make an emergency stop so the individual(s) may be taken to hospital.
The airlines are irresponsible, and this is just another money grab, which will backfire.

@tim - You aren't relating diseases properly. If you wanted to compare yourself to others that have food addictions to say your smoking and drinking addiction. A simlar discrimination would be if the airlines said... if your lungs are "this" black you cannot fly without paying a surcharge. Or if your liver is this damaged.. you must pay the surcharge. Obsese people can definitely go without eating on most flights. They often avoid it in most public situations. So you can control for a short time how long you go without a smoke or a drink just like a person with a food addiction can hold off eating for several hours during a flight. The only difference is the affects of their addiction are outward and not inward. So in order to fairly compare yourself with a person of size you'd have to compare the affects of the disease. Not your ability to hold off your addiction during a flight.

This is a really tough call. One does not want to discriminate against people with a weight problem or other disability but let's face it, the seats in economy class are fairly narrow and are that way to maximize the number of passengers that the airline can get on the aircraft. I noticed the seats, at least on long haul flights, are larger in first class, so perhaps the passengers with a weight problem could be moved to first class. it would cost them extra but not as much as paying for two seats in economy class and they would be more comfortable. I shudder to think what a very large person would have to go through to fit into a seat on a smaller commuter aircraft such as the type that flys out of our small city. I have a hard time even though I am only slightly overweight. The leg room is minimal and the seats are too narrow for anyone who is not very thin. I have flown a small private plane and there is more room there.

this isn't about disease. this is about seat size. and if you can't fit into the seat then pay for the extra seat so the extra part of you fits. or pay for first class where the bigger seats are. or shop at a different airline.

This has nothing to do with discrimination. You are buying a seat- if you need more then one, you should buy more then one. Why should a large person get to pay for 1 seat, and get 1 and a half? Its unfair for the regular person who purchased 1 seat and only gets to use half of it.

I have been in the situation on a flight. I was wedged under an enormous thigh, and unable to buckle up my seatbelt for take off because the lady next to me was sitting on it. While I sympathise with those with health problems, we are all paying for a service, and should get what we purchased- nothing more or less.

I use to be able to fly very comfortably, a few years ago I suffered from depression took some anti depressants and gained a ton of weight. I have tried to lose the weight and it is not coming off. I am laughed and snickered at almost everywhere I go, I am ignored most of the time when I go shopping and need customer service. I use to be a frequent flyer, and now I do not wish to fly unless I could perhaps get a business class seat. I am not 300 lbs but I know sitting in an economy seat (which has gotten smaller over the years) is not going to be a comfortable experience. My husband is over 6ft tall, slim but often tells me he is not at all comfortable flying in economy class. If my girth would spill onto someone else in a seat I would feel awful and understand that the person sitting next to me has the right to be comfortable in their seats. I am not at that state yet but I refuse to fly economy. I wish the airlines would make a few seats in economy that would comfortably sit people who are either taller or larger and stop ignoring the fact that their seats are not up to par for certain people. And to the other poster Tim, really you did not know weight was a medical condition? People who are anorexic and to weak to walk is also a medical handicap.

Would it not be reasonable to consider having an area within Economy class where they can have larger seating, where people that need these larger seats can purchase them at a rate equivilent.
It is certainly unfair for a person who purchases a seat only to obtain 1/2 a seat.
If the airlines would design an area where they have 2 seats in a 3 seat area, then people could purchase these seats at 1.5 times the fare. This would solve a lot of the issues and should still be cheaper than first or business class.