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Obese Have Right To Two Airline Seats 74

Posted by samzenpus from the big-bottoms dept.
The Supreme Court of Canada decided to not hear an appeal from Canadian airlines on Thursday, effectively ruling obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one. The Canadian Transportation Agency had made a decision earlier that people who are "functionally disabled by obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare. The appeal had been launched by Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet. Now they just have to work on more leg room for tall, fat people and complimentary pie.

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Obese Have Right To Two Airline Seats More

Obese Have Right To Two Airline Seats

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  • Economy class arm-rests (Score:3, Funny)

    by ettlz ( 639203 ) on Friday November 21, 2008 @02:53PM (#25849705) Journal
    You know, on some flights these don't flip up. So if you get on a aeroplane, and the arm-rest is a bit warm and musty...
    • Actually, almost all of them do, you need to press a button at the bottom back near the hinge to raise it. Its also a great way to lie down and sleep if the seats next to you aren't taken! It's like 1st class in coach.

  • Fuck that (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheLostSamurai ( 1051736 ) on Friday November 21, 2008 @03:39PM (#25850391)
    You know, I never thought I would comment on an idle story but this just pisses me off. I'm 6'5", does this mean that I'm entitled to always sit in the emergency exit row where there is more leg room, or 2 seats so I can stretch out? Does this mean I'm functionally disabled by my height? Not only that, I was born with this 'affliction', and as much as people may say the are pre-disposed to obesity, If you ass is too big to fit in a single seat it is your own damned fault. I would guarantee my metabolism is slower than most (I can easily put on 10lbs of real weight in a week), which is why I eat healthy and exercise 3-4 times a week.

    Don't give me this functionally disabled by obesity bullshit. Put down the god damned jelly doughnut and the cheetos and go for a walk for fucks sake.

    /flame

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Nabeel_co ( 1045054 )
      Actually, in the interest of fairness, some people actually can't do anything about their weight... but the other 95% can...

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by VeNoM0619 ( 1058216 )
        I have yet to see someone who can't do anything about their weight.
        I see people who eat 5 meals a day complain how hard it is.
        Or 3 meals, but require 3 full plate-loads in a meal

        But ANYONE 'CAN' get surgery/liposuction. So.. I disagree about being "helpless", and I agree with the GP. They get an extra luxury because of a "disability". How many other people do you see get an extra seat for claustrophobia? Zip, zilch, nada.

        Defining obesity as a disability nowadays is really sickening. Seeing people not h

        • Defining obesity as a disability nowadays is really sickening.

          I understand the sentiment and to large extend agree with it but then a thought crossed my mind. Supposing someone maimed themselves i.e. cut off a limb deliberately. Wouldn't we regard them as disabled even though the wound was self-inflicted? Arguably this might be because they are clearly mentally disturbed...but couldn't the same be said of someone who is so obese they cannot function properly (I mean we are not talking slightly overweight here).

        • The so called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" that you refer to is a set of symptoms associated with known causes, that being most commonly Myoencephalitis and is often accompanied with extreme pain (Fibromyalgia).

          Most suffers have become afflicted by as a result of depressed immune system due to overwork.

          Put another way, most sufferers get that way due to being workaholics.

          It happened to a close friend of mine, and it nearly killed him, he was bed ridden for nearly a whole year. The guy is anything but la

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by VeNoM0619 ( 1058216 )

            Get a clue you ignorant git!
            Most suffers have become
            Put another way, most sufferers
            It happened to a close friend of mine

            I actually have a family member who "has" it (although I love them, I hate the fact they take advantage of something like this, and try telling me to get a job/work - which I did get), and I am still biased towards it. They won't talk about it, unless its used as an excuse NOT to do something. It's is hard to diagnose (taken from the link) meaning it can be abused.

            Regardless of "most", or your relations with someone who has it, it is still being abused like the occasional obese person who abuses their 'di

            • I think most people know someone who abuses "the system" whatever that may be (social security, stock market, taxation, etc, etc).

              Any system created by mankind will be abused by some members of society, but only the fundamentalist libertarians (ie the no government at all crowd) would argue that the system in question should be dismantled completely.

              Sure it's frustrating when you know someone personally who does it, but that does _not_ mean that everyone else is also on the take.

              Hell, you've only got

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Idiomatick ( 976696 )

        Where were the 5% of obese people 10years ago? Obesity figures have doubled in the last 20years in the US. Japan has 10% the obesity figures that the US has. I'm sure 100years ago in countries like japan/korea obesity figures were well under .5% (though no studies were done at the time obviously). America is fat because they eat garbage and don't exercise same as in any other country. This ruling is total BS.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by ockegheim ( 808089 )

          I don't imagine all that high-fructose corn syrup is helping either.

          Though we eat cane sugar in Australia and have an 'obesity epidemic' all our own.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by snaz555 ( 903274 )

        100% have the physical ability to consume their fat. Calories out minus calories in - the balance will come from somewhere. Claiming anything else is to claim that the human body is a perpetual motion machine. What they can't is seem to accomplish is to develop an objective sense of what they need; I know one fat person who tells me he needs some ridiculous amount of protein every day or he's going to wither away. He thinks he needs 3000 kcal per day or he's going to starve - then tells me he's fat beca

        • Yeah.....I was born with a genetic disorder where my fat cells will starve the rest of my body of nutrients to preserve themselves.

          I ate rice and a few eggs and peanuts for one month when I was completely totally flat broke. I always breakdance. My weight never seemed to fluctuate before, but I also used to have a chin. I flattened out somewhere around "lean" and have become slightly more typical for me since getting back to the states. It seems like weight isn't all that influenced by diet to a point,

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by phorm ( 591458 )

        What does "functionally disabled" mean? If it means an actual medical condition, then GREAT, because in that case all you should need is a doctor's note indicating that your morbid obesity is due to a medical condition. For those that are just fat lazy SOB's who can't bother to exercise or eat healthy, lose some pounds or pay the piper.

        The only *good* I can see from this is that if they're divvying out two actual seats to some 300lb tub-of-lard, it's saving some poor smuck from being saddled with the seat b

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by chrb ( 1083577 )

        It depends what you mean by "can't". If they were incarcerated in some prison in one of the less nice parts of the world, they would lose weight - I don't recall seeing any obese people leaving the Nazi concentration camps. So clearly it is physically possible for them to lose weight. You can argue over whether they are mentally capable of changing their own lifestyles, or even whether they have an "addiction" to food, but the reality is that fat deposits are just a function of energy_in and energy_out.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Roger W Moore ( 538166 )
      I'm the same height and completely agree with you. We should be always entitled to sit in the emergency exit row!
      • No, not the exit row. First class. Exit row requires the person is capable of acting effectively in an emergency. Tall people have longer extremities which can be ineffective in the constrained spaces between rows.

        Besides, the seats in first class are far more comfortable. And with our long legs we can reach the exit door in first class faster with fewer people to compete for the exit.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Nemyst ( 1383049 )
          I also am 6'5'' and quite wide of shoulders and I have to say this news completely revolts me. I'm sickened not to have heard about it while it was still in process (this shows how nice news channels are...) and I believe if obese people are now considered as "disabled", then tall people should also have some compensation!

          What's the thing with those people? "Oh, my fat is dangling off my pants, I'm too tired to exercise and I can't pay for a liposuction!" Pew, pew. Sad thing. THEY have all the possibiliti

    • "You know, I never thought I would comment on an idle story but this just pisses me off. I'm 6'5", does this mean that I'm entitled to always sit in the emergency exit row where there is more leg room, or 2 seats so I can stretch out?"

      No, but feel free to wish your were obese and short if that seems more fair to you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gropo ( 445879 )
      I'm 6'2" with a 36" inseam; cyclist who gets inanely violent leg cramps in constricted seating positions. And I'd probably get the shaft for being under the clause height.

      Makes me want to bathe with human liposuction soap.

  • What a load of crap (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SpuriousLogic ( 1183411 ) on Friday November 21, 2008 @04:18PM (#25851069)
    I'm sorry, but lifting a 400 pound fatass into the sky takes twice as much fuel as lifting a 200 pound fatass into the sky. Just like freight shipping is based on weight. That 400 pound tub of lard is not only getting their healthcare subsidized by people who are healthy, but they are also getting their airfare subsidized. Maybe they should just be banned from airlines altogether - they could use the exercise walking to their destination.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by sexybomber ( 740588 )

      You see, all of that makes perfect sense, which is why it will never be implemented.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EdIII ( 1114411 ) *

      Possibly might work.... for half the population.

      Men could be enticed to get on a scale on pay based on how much they weigh.

      Women would NEVER get on the scale. EVER. Not a single one, regardless of what they looked like.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zymergy ( 803632 ) *
      Just charge them the extra rates for extra luggage up to the amount of weight in excess of the average weight for a man/woman.
      Every piece of luggage has a weight limit and this rate can be applied to the larger person and any excess can be considered as additional bags.
      Perhaps anorexic passengers can sell their underused wright limit pounds as 'roll-over' pounds creating a new market or in case they have pound overages the next time they fly...
      Frequent-flier pounds?

      Would this now mean that conjoin

  • So who pays (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Krakadoom ( 1407635 )
    So not only will be have to deal with the 'spill over' into our seat space from our obese friends - we also effectively have to pay extra because they're on the flight? There's only one place the airline will recoup the loss of the extra seat, and that's on everyones fare price. I wonder if this will hit american airlines harder than others *giggle* One might even say it's a heavy burden...

  • American Airlines (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Speaking as a large man, I say fuck you all, seriously, fuck you. I consume no more calories per day than many of you do (under 2k on most days), but I do not loose weight.

    That having been said. I have very little problem with the way Southwest Airlines does this, and has been doing it for quite a while. If I book a flight, I tell them I need 2 seats due to size. If I neglect to tell them, someone at the terminal will pull me aside and discreetly "remind" me that I need to buy a second seat if I have not al

    • Nope, this is not unfair nor intolerance. If the plane carries more weight, it has to burn more fuel. While airlines can't (for the moment) weigh passengers checking in, if a person needs two seats to travel then it is a pretty safe bet that they are making a bit more than the average contribution to the plane's weight, and they should pay accordingly.

      • Having a large ass is not necessary an indicator of weight. For example, I know a couple women who could easily overflow two airline seats; yet they are quite short and I would guess they weigh well under 200 pounds. Conversely, I know guys who can easily fit in an airline seat with room to spare, yet who weigh at least 200 pounds.

        Or to put it another way:
        1. Some people have a large ass out of all proportion to their body.
        2. By volume, muscle weighs a lot more than fat.

  • Dont say the word 'FAT!'
    Just the thought of all you hippos crawling out of your polyester tarpolins is enough to make my oatmean hit the wall. <Beginning of rant> They need to make the doors on airplanes much smaller so that FAT people have to ride in the cargo bin, or better yet, load them in with the sissors jack they use for the food, and shove them in their own creche...right next to the food, so they dont have to get up to eat, or go to the bathroom. How do FAT people go to the can on a airplane,

  • Airlines book to maximum capacity. Sometimes, they even overbook slightly because a statistically small number of travelers do not show up. This normally works well, but occasionally 1 or 2 passengers get bumped to another flight. The bumped passengers are generally the ones with the cheapest economy ticket with direct domestic flights with no connections. Alternative flights may also play into this (but I'm not sure). Anyhow, the airline will not know which passenger is morbidly obese enough to require 2 s

  • ... this shit happens. i'm not the slimest guy in the world but i certainly fit in a normal airline seat, and fuck me if the day came that i couldn't i'd be getting OFF that plane and getting on a tread mill ASAP, not filing a lawsuit.
    • I agree. Although, I think they should have to get two seats; I just think they should have to pay for them both. It really sucks being stuck next to some fat guy whose thick layer of blubber can't be contained by his armrest and it starts pouring into your lap. And then you get to listen to them struggle to breath for two hours. And why are fat people so sweaty even when they're sitting down?

  • Truth is (Score:2, Insightful)

    by noundi ( 1044080 )
    Well it's not a surprise that people react to this. Simple maths will tell you that because of people being obese, YOU have to pay for that extra seat with higher ticket prices. Airline business is very competative and as a side note, to those of you complaining for more space, you fly cheap, you sit cheap, simple as that. Now to my point. Truth is: given that obesity is now considered a handicap it is however not irreversable. Thus through whatever actions (walking, running, operation, what the fuck ever)
  • Rail Freight

  • people who are "functionally disabled by obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare.

    Do people who are functionally disabled by alcoholism deserve two drinks for the price of one?

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