“Southwest Airlines will start charging larger passengers for two seats on its 2,800 daily flights starting June 26,” The Washington Times reports.
The airline, which operates out of 58 U.S. cities and is the largest carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, will begin charging ‘persons of size’ for two seats if they think they may not fit comfortably in one.
Persons of size?
What the hell is that?
[update: The Olsen Twins weigh in; so does Laurence Simon. So does Moira Breen. Weigh in, I mean. Phat.]
<blockquote><i>Persons of size?
What the hell is that?</i></blockquote>
ME!
Speaking as a gigantic jiggly tub of goo, I really can’t blame Southwest or United Airlines for having those policies. I realise that my enormous girth can make other people uncomfortable, especially in the terribly confined space of airline seating. So long as airlines are going to compete with each other based on price (which will be forever) seat size will continue to remain tiny. Even seats on comfort and customer friendly JetBlue are standard-sized.
Regarding the politically correct term, ‘Persons of Size’? I’d franky prefer to be called fat.
“Persons of size” is about the silliest PC nonsense I’ve heard yet!
A good policy, though. I once flew from LA to Chicago on United and was seated next to a man so large that I literally couldn’t fit into my seat. I strapped in seated on my right hip for take off and landing (the flight was full and the stews said it was against regs for me to sit in one of their jump seats) and spent the reast of the flight at the rear sitting on the floor. The embarrassed stews kept handing me free Heinikens. I asked them why the big guy wasn’t the one who had to sit on the floor, and they didn’t have an answer. Likely they were afraid of a lawsuit if they “discriminated” against him. I sympathize with people who have a weight problem, but it is about time the airlines did something that made sense. United still sucks, but SW is a pretty good carrier.
Brian-
So that was YOU?! (jk)
JG, You have inspired both Dawn and I (once again)
Glad to hear it.
I’m reading your “Tour of the Blogs” archives right now. Then I’m going to have some herring, I think.
I don’t think the two are related.
I’m getting a little behind on those suckers, that’s why we added the blogroll section. Your time will come, however.
Our experience with weighty plane neighbors is up now, if you’ve finished with the herring.
When I reported this item on Creeping Feeble, or whatever the hell I’m calling it this week, I pointed out that it might have been kinder, or at least less likely to inspire AP coverage, to levy a stiff charge for use of the seatbelt extender. The number of people who lined up behind this idea is somewhere between zero and none.
One way to avoid poor judgement calls by airline staff is to use seat-belt measurements.
Very obese people carry their own seat-belt extenders with them because the factory units aren’t long enough. Say, a rule that if you can’t buckle up without an extender, you pay extra.
If you’ve ever sat in coach next to a person who needed one, you know that the “hang-over” (for lack of a more polite term) makes it impossible to type on your laptop without gluing your elbows together.