Get out your wallet, fatty!

[Toro]

Not so much a news story as a interesting (gross) picture of the kind of guy who always seems to sit next to me on planes. It brings up the debate over charging obese passengers extra. Personally I think this dude should be put in the cargo hold, but that's just me.

Should obese fliers pay more?

MSNBC video on the subject

[OverTQ]

That is a safety hazard. When he walks to the back laboratory, the aircraft will surely be out of CG.

[Ice Cream]

I have noticed that when they get to their seats, they are quick to move the arm rests up so that they can pour over into my own seat. Aside from that, how the hell is the drink cart suppose to get down the aisle?

[Steve Davies]

That is a safety hazard. When he walks to the back laboratory, the aircraft will surely be out of CG.

True. That lab equipment already weighs enough as it is!

Reminds me of one of my all-time favourite films. Can't find a screen grab of the aeroplane sleeping scene, so this will have to do:

[aquajam77]

well it would provide an incentive for many people to loose weight...

[HeloDude]

First off, the guy in Toro's post is only just obese--he's a big boy in terms of height and bone structure.

I don't see a problem at all with charging extra for a person above X amount of pounds. Most airlines now charge an extra fee for bags and their reasoning was due to the added weight coupled with higher fuel costs. So why should I have to pay an extra $30 or whatever for a 40 lb bag when I only weigh 155 lbs? What I think they should do is either charge a surcharge per X amount of lbs after 200 lbs or say that everyone gets to board with 250 lbs (yourself including your bags) and anything more is an additional surcharge.

I'm not all about the airlines nickel and diming everyone but I am about people paying their fair share--and also not having to sit between two, let's just say 'huge' individuals, that would be nice too. By the way, how come I never get to sit next to the hot chick that I see waiting in line to board?

[Dead Last]

First off, the guy in Toro's post is only just obese--he's a big boy in terms of height and bone structure.

I don't see a problem at all with charging extra for a person above X amount of pounds. Most airlines now charge an extra fee for bags and their reasoning was due to the added weight coupled with higher fuel costs. So why should I have to pay an extra $30 or whatever for a 40 lb bag when I only weigh 155 lbs? What I think they should do is either charge a surcharge per X amount of lbs after 200 lbs or say that everyone gets to board with 250 lbs (yourself including your bags) and anything more is an additional surcharge.

I'm not all about the airlines nickel and diming everyone but I am about people paying their fair share--and also not having to sit between two, let's just say 'huge' individuals, that would be nice too. By the way, how come I never get to sit next to the hot chick that I see waiting in line to board?

200 lbs and then you pay extra?!?! WTF? I'm 6'3" 215 and would look ridiculous if I weighed 155 it would be impossible to keep up with. I know many other guys that are of the same profile.

But 200? Seriously? Granted I do feel that there should be some line to differentiate between your average human and the fatty but whether that should be at the discretion of the Airline who knows. Maybe they should have a sample space like they have for carry-on bags, if you can't fit in the seat then you pay extra.

f'it

cheers

[HeloDude]

200 lbs and then you pay extra?!?! WTF? I'm 6'3" 215 and would look ridiculous if I weighed 155 it would be impossible to keep up with. I know many other guys that are of the same profile.

But 200? Seriously?

The reason I came up with 200 lbs is because that's what we use for the 'standard' weight of a crewmember/pax on our aircraft--just an easy number for me to remember. In all honesty, I don't care what the number is as long as it's reasonable.

But to play devil's advocate here--the airline spends more money flying you somewhere than they do flying me (disregarding our bags) to that same location. And just to the stir the pot even more, according the BMI scale, you're considered 'overweight'. Now for all I know you can run a 5K in 18 min and bench 350 lbs in which case I would say you're in awesome shape, but I don't know if that's true or not.

So if it makes you feel better, we can say the max weight without paying a surcharge can be 225 lbs--always willing to help a brotha out (oh, and just in case you're getting upset, I'm just messing with you bud).

[brabus]

We've also had instances where passengers had gotten in heated exchanges over fat people wanting the arm rests up, and the person next to them refused to have their fat asses spilling over into their 3 cubic feet of space.

Does anything happen past you (or another pilot) walking back there and telling the fatass to STFU and the other guy can have his arm rest down if he wants? Only once have I had some fatass try to lift the arm rest and I told him no way. He was visibly pissed about it, but he didn't start an argument or complain. I can't believe some fat d-bag would actually think they have a leg to stand on.

[Beaver]

That is a safety hazard. When he walks to the back laboratory, the aircraft will surely be out of CG.

Laboratory? Seriously?

[brabus]

they'll just deny boarding to non-revs/standbys so lardo can have two seats.

Wow, now that's some real bullshit. I hate fat people.

[OverTQ]

Alright, how about lavatory. Spell check works great spelling a word right. Just maybe not the word you thought. I have never had anybody try to lift up an arm rest on me. Maybe they could charge by the pound. Have you get on the scale after your luggage goes through. My fear was that I would end up next to a jumbo on one of those flights that sat on the ramp for eight hours. At least that won't happen now.

Edited December 23, 2009 by OverTQ

[OverTQ]

Just got this. Another "back in my day" rants, but funny all the same.

The Age of the DC-8

Those were the good ole days. Pilots back then were men that didn't want to be women or girly men. Pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots drank coffee, whiskey, smoked cigars and didn't wear digital watches.

They carried their own suitcases and brain bags like the real men that they were. Pilots didn't bend over into the crash position multiple times each day in front of the passengers at security so that some Govt agent could probe for tweezers or fingernail clippers or too much toothpaste.

Pilots did not go through the terminal impersonating a caddy pulling a bunch of golf clubs, computers, guitars, and feed bags full of tofu and granola on a sissy-trailer with no hat and granny glasses hanging on a pink string around their pencil neck while talking to their personal trainer on the cell phone!!!

Being an Airline Captain was as good as being the King in a Mel Brooks movie. All the Stewardesses (aka. Flight Attendants) were young, attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up and suck it in to get through the cockpit door. They would blush and say thank you when told that they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harassment claim. Junior Stewardesses shared a room and talked about men.... with no thoughts of substitution.

Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could speak AND understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or listen to loud gangster rap on their IPods. They bathed and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage in a jogging suit and flip-flops. Children didn't travel alone, commuting between trailer parks. There were no Mongol hordes asking for a seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice cocktail with a twist.

If the Captain wanted to throw some offensive, ranting jerk off the airplane, it was done without any worries of a lawsuit or getting fired. Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and left an impressive black smoke trail like a locomotive burning soft coal. Jet fuel was cheap and once the throttles were pushed up they were left there, after all it was the jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a lizard on a hardwood floor). Economy cruise was something in the performance book, but no one knew why or where it was. When the clacker went off no one got all tight and scared because Douglas built it out of iron, nothing was going to fall off and that sound had the same effect on real pilots then as Viagra does now for those new age guys.

There was very little plastic and no composites on the airplanes or the Stewardesses' pectoral regions. Airplanes and women had eye pleasing symmetrical curves, not a bunch of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins, wing lets, flow diverters, tattoos, rings in their nose, tongues and eyebrows. Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith, Bob Six and Juan Tripp who had built their companies virtually from scratch, knew most of their employees by name and were lifetime airline employees themselves...not pseudo financiers and bean counters who flit from one occupation to another for a few bucks, a better parachute or a fancier title, while fervently believing that they are a class of beings unto themselves.

And so it was back then....and never will be again!

[Guest CharlieFoxtrot]

Just got this. Another "back in my day" rants, but funny all the same.

That just made my day.

[discus]

Just got this. Another "back in my day" rants, but funny all the same.

I'm glad someone liked Billy's rant...Too bad they changed it to Douglas.

Edited December 23, 2009 by discus

[OverTQ]

Funny how things make the rounds on the net. I never read the "drunken post" but received it on an email. Billy, you have gone viral.

[outbreak]

By the way, how come I never get to sit next to the hot chick that I see waiting in line to board?

If you kept your loadmasters happy, you would. They always send the hot chicks up to sit next to me.

There's been a few occasions where our pushback from the gate was delayed because the FAs needed more seat belt extenders than we had on board. Those things should be surcharged at $100 ea.

I've heard rumors from credible sources that in the 11-2C-5V3, there's something prohibiting loadmasters from securing obese pax with 5,000lb tie down straps.

[HeloDude]

If you kept your loadmasters happy, you would. They always send the hot chicks up to sit next to me.

I've heard rumors from credible sources that in the 11-2C-5V3, there's something prohibiting loadmasters from securing obese pax with 5,000lb tie down straps.

Being that I'm a rotor wing guy with drgagging knuckles and a tail...I have the upmost respect for backenders. They've saved my ass definitely more than a few times.

Having said that, sorry Outbreak, this thread thus far had nothing to do with mil aviation. It's all about the fatties that take up more than their one seat when flying commercially.

[capt4fans]

If you kept your loadmasters happy, you would. They always send the hot chicks up to sit next to me.

I've heard rumors from credible sources that in the 11-2C-5V3, there's something prohibiting loadmasters from securing obese pax with 5,000lb tie down straps.

Not there.

[Guest WNFRED]

SW already does this. I think United might have started charging fatties as well.

[The Kayla]

My mom was a fat ass, and flying with her (even when I was a kid) was always "fun."

I think airlines should charge extra. Obviously, within reason to a person's height and weight, and if they fit into their seat or not.

[Techsan]

Maybe you should have to enter your height & weight, and if your BMI is over a certain amount, you have to pay an additional fee (if you are overweight), or have to purchase another ticket (if you are like a Biggest Loser contestant).

[FourFans]

Maybe you should have to enter your height & weight, and if your BMI is over a certain amount, you have to pay an additional fee (if you are overweight), or have to purchase another ticket (if you are like a Biggest Loser contestant).

Anyone with a knowledge of health analysis will tell you that BMI is useless. It's a nice neat chart that makes no allowance for actual body composition. The answer for the airlines is much simpler. Just like they have a 'your bag must fit in this wire frame' container sitting at the check-in, they should have one that mirrors the standard allotted seat space. If you don't fit, you pay extra.

FF

[OverTQ]

Remember those boxes you have to put your carry on in to check the size? They could have a chair like that. If you can fit in it, one seat, if not you have to buy two.

[DFRESH]

snip...The answer for the airlines is much simpler. Just like they have a 'your bag must fit in this wire frame' container sitting at the check-in, they should have one that mirrors the standard allotted seat space. If you don't fit, you pay extra.

FF

Remember those boxes you have to put your carry on in to check the size? They could have a chair like that. If you can fit in it, one seat, if not you have to buy two.

ECHO...ECHo...ECho...Echo...echo.