The Obese Should Have to Pay More For Airline Tickets

This is not an issue of ethics or "human rights" as some posters are suggesting. It's a matter of simple economics. If you cannot fit into one seat, you should have to buy two. If I pay full price for my airline ticket, I expect to be able to have the comfort of using my entire seat without someone else encroaching upon my space. It has nothing to do with disrespecting anyone or making judgments, it's just simple economics people.

I feel like for some people this may be the case~ but also we need to consider people and their feelings saying its not cool, that not a very compassionate comment if you were born with some of these genetics try fitting in with that is hard enough with the demands of whats beautiful and what people consider beautiful~ I was always a skinny person however my daughter took afer her daddys side these r big people average 5'10 and some built like line backers we need them for sports and pay them to b large extra large! I just feel people should b more compassionate~ are we going to start next with the movie theaters!????

Obesity is not a legitimate medical condition. The medical profession has created a monopoly over medicine and has the power to decide what is considered as a disease. Therefore, defining obesity as a disease allows the doctors to expand their turf, pharmaceutical companies to sell you medications and fat people to feel not so badly about themselves. Personally, I believe that people should have to payfor two seats if they take up two seats. I don't usually side with corporations, but it makes sense. Why should they lose money on an obese person taking up two seats when they could get twice as much money from regular customers.
Furthermore, simply because an increasing number of people are becoming obese does not mean that this is normal. The bigger question is, why is this happening now? Governments need to look at the broader social and environmental causes of obesity ie. poverty, increasingly processed foods, sedentary lifestyle etcetc.

is this sebastian gay a new economist from the university of chicago to do freakonomics style of analysis? the study on sex offenders is actually the most interesting one. thanks samzell for pointing that out.

philkemp3453: it is not that hard to get a ruler on each armrest and make people pay for it. Have you heard they will make us pay for using the bathroom?
i understand the problem is difficult to tackle as it is sensitive subject between passergers. i wish they would also do it on the train and on the bus. i would be happy to stand up for some money.

I saw that multiple people talked about Sebastian Gay's blog. I do not agree with him entirely. It might be difficult to implement the system he builds for compensation between passengers. But credit to him to be the first to try to talk about such a sensitive subject. I hate it when people get the entire armrest and feel entitled to it!

I checkeh the blog that samzell recommended. I really liked the article but i think the best one (related to the problem of obesity) is the one where the professor gay talks about the irrational eating. we should talk more about that. This is a problem that we need to talk about.

I am truely appalled by the comments people are making in here and how cruel some of you are. I am 32 and 5'ft6" I weigh 195 and i do need to loose some weight but i am healthy happy and fit into airline seats . I get my body style from my grandmas side ofthe family.Us women have curves that means big breasts and hips and a bootie.Most of the men i have dated and the one i am married to likes me the way i am because i am not a barbie doll type of woman . God made me the way i am and everyone else in his image . So you people who like to put people down to make themselves feel better is total IGNORANCE> my Grandma was big boned adn was considered obese but it wasn't because she ate the wrong things because her doctor was a all natural doctor. She had several medical complications that made her the way she was. Her thyroid didn't work nor her kidney and her hormones were messed up this all dating back to when she was born so she was naturally heavy or a larger/bigger person but she would have never judged any one else the way some of you are judging heavier or OBESE people. So to all you bigger women and men out there dont forget who made you and not everyone is looking for an annorexic bimbo that they might break in half when touched to be with. Be proud of who you are no matter what people say. I think we should charge skinny women for there comments and cruelty.

the address is blog.sebastiengay.com

Your article is interesting but I saw this great article from a professor at the university of chicago that gives a new light on how to price airplane tickets. He makes a very good point that we should get money out of it!

Also, yes, I have been in a seat that was kicked incessantly by a toddler. When I asked the mother to knock it off (I asked nicely) she actually told me to move up my seat. What?! Are you kidding me? I HATE to have kids anywhere near me on the plane. It is the worst experience next to sitting next to an oozing large person. I think large people and those with kids should be placed all together in a "special needs" section. I would happily contribute $20.00 to their fare if they were seated somewhere else/anywhere else. Give the rest of us a break. We travel too much to put up with that stuff.

I fly quite a bit, and I can tell you that sitting next to a very large person is not fun. Their fat oozes into my seat around the armrest. So, not only can I forget about using the armrest, I have to move all the way to the other side of my seat if I don't want them to touch me. I am paying the same fare that they are. Why is that fair? It is not. I feel badly about their situation - whatever it is - but I should not be inconvenienced by it. They should ABSOLUTELY pay for two seats.

what about people who are just large, not overweight. Should they be punished for inheriting genes that make them 6'5"? Who gets to determine what overweight is? Where do you draw the line. While I agree that if you can't fit into the seat, you should have to pay for 2 seats, but let's be realistic. The airlines have made the seats so tiny and with no leg room that even the average person is jammed in the seat. I am 5'3" tall and flew a continental flight where my knees were hitting the seat in front of me. In no way is 5'3" average height in the USA so how about the airlines doing the right thing and spacing their seats and rows with people in mind, not sardines.

@ freezing...
If the obese should have to pay more...and I'm not saying they shouldn't...then where should we stop? Should parents have to pay more because their children cause problems when they fly. I'd rather sit next to your vision of the obese than listen to a baby cry or have some eight-year-old kick my seat for three hours. No one wants to be fat but people surely want to have children. Should parents pay more since they outright chose to allow others to suffer? Obviously not every child causes problems and obviously not every obese person hogs the armrest and eats "20 pounds of food at one meal." Maybe we should tax people when THEY'RE (sic) grammar is poor...

Oops--GENETICS not gentics.

I have battled my weight since having kids and definitely gained after I started a desk job. Recently I lost over 30 pounds and went from a size 16 to a size 10. What was the secret? Stop lying to myself. I gained weight because I ate too much and I didn't exercise enough. Period. And this is true for the vast majority of people with weight issues. Genetics does play a part--even when I weighed 118 lbs at 5 foot 4", had a tiny waist, and appeared thin, I had an out of proportion bootie. Some things you can't help. There is a big difference between carrying 10 to even 30 extra pounds and 100-200 extra pounds. Those are lifestyle issues not gentics.

I recently went to Greece and noticed one thing: Even though the people there are smaller, the airplane seats are quite a bit bigger than that of american airlines. Even for people who are at a healthy weight, those seats are still uncomfortable. I am a bit overweight, but am very thoughtful to not encroach on anothers space when on a plane. In fact, that is my biggest worry when I fly, I do not want to offend anyone.

I have a medical condition that makes it very hard to loose weight (PCOS) because it messes with my hormone levels. I try to be understanding to others, I would hope for the same.