Obesity and Airlines Part 1

The end of the semester is a busy time for anyone in academia and I'm certainly no different. As a result, this post will be a little social-heavy, but last week's metabolic obesity plays another important role here. 

I am of fairly average size. I am not tall, not short. I am neither thin nor fat (I'm actually a bit of an athlete, so my BMI puts me at "overweight" but I'm in pretty decent shape). 

One nice thing about being size-average is flying is not much of a problem for you. I don't have to worry about weight-limits for any thing like skydiving, hang gliding, etc. etc. On an airplane, I don't have to worry about armrests cutting into my sides or the person next to me being bothered by my just sitting down. Neither am I expected to put up with invasions of space because I am so thin that there is plenty of space to spare. I also usually have enough leg room. 

If it's not clear, this post is about obesity and airplanes. 

Flying from place to place is a privilege, not a right, but airlines are trying to maximize profit and marginalizing, discriminating against, or simply not-serving two-thirds of the American population is no way to do that. I don't think anyone books a flight thinking if they have to spend 6 hours next to someone who needs more than one seat that they'll just stay home, but they might fly on a different airline next time. 

Basically, there are three major perspectives here:

1) The "passenger of size" who requires more than one seat 

2) The passenger who does not require space beyond their own seat to exist

3) The airline company

I'm in the second category and I cannot speak for either the first or third categories, but I can consider them in this ongoing debate.

Canada Air allows passengers of size to procure an extra seat for free if they have a note from their doctor and fill out a form, equating obesity to a disability⁽¹⁾. This is due to a legal ruling indicating charging passengers for an extra seat because of obesity is illegal discrimination⁽²⁾.

The American Federal Airlines Administration requires passengers to be able to lower both armrests and buckle their seat belt before requiring them to buy an extra seat (2), but different domestic airlines have different ways of adding to this.

Most airlines require passengers of size to foot the bill for a second although some will offer a full or partial refund for the second seat after the plane has landed. However, Delta does not require (it advises) passengers of size to purchase an extra seat even if they don't fit in one seat (however, they may be asked to move, or take a later flight with more room). Spirit Airlines has "Big Front Seats" with more space available and passengers of size are advised to choose those. 

An article this year in the Washington Times revealed 63% of Americans believe overweight/obese passengers should be required to purchase an additional seat if they can't fit in one⁽³⁾. Even if that includes the entirety of the 25% or so of Americans who aren't overweight or obese, that's still 38% of the overweight/obese who are on board with buying a second seat if you can't fit in one. 

There are two major things I'm pulling from reading about these policies:

1) There is a societal attitude that a person is responsible for the space they take, and that responsibility includes being considerate of the space of others

2) How will making obesity a disease/disability change airline policies?

I would like to mention that such policies and attitudes may effect people who would be considered passengers of size but are not overweight/obese. Since this blog is about the interaction of obesity and health, those passengers will not be considered.

So we have the overall dilemma of how to meet the space needs of passengers without punishing passengers of size. 

I think it is truly impossible to be neutral or find a perfect solution to this dilemma. Obviously, a great solution would be for airplanes to have larger seats or a greater percentage of seats that can accommodate larger passengers properly (perhaps every other row would be two wider seats instead of three current-sized seats). However, this is unrealistic as it would call for redesign of the planes and a change across all airlines with a likely loss of profit, so I think we can all accept that's not going to happen.

It would seem then that the requirement that passengers of size reserve two seats is the most realistic solution. However, while this is easy enough to put onto paper, it's a pretty short step from this to justifying it with stigma and discrimination. The question now is could such a policy even be implemented without sounding like a discriminatory policy? 

I like Canada Air's policy of offering a free second seat for those disabled by obesity (presumably described as taking up too much room on an airplane, along with any other health consequences such as difficulty breathing). I don't like how easily that policy could be abused by people who don't need it or don't need it and are jealous of those who do and get extra room. I do think people who don't fit in one seat need to have a second, adjacent seat reserved, whether or not they have to pay for it, given current plane design and policies. 

The final question that this leads up to is: 

Finally, is it discrimination to require passengers of size to purchase an extra seat on a plane (with or without a refund) and, if it is not discrimination, does that mean it won't be socially stigmatized?

Things to consider:
Any treatment that could be considered preferential or different is going to be met with social pushback.

Not everyone who requires extra room is disabled and may now qualify for disability rights

How does personal liberty to be obese interact with personal responsibility and space?

Sorry if this post was a little disjointed, did I mention it's the end of the semester? I'm actually working on a paper looking at blogs as resources for information and support for obesity-related matters. While I will eventually be posting that essay, I think that I will use some of those sources and make this airline post a two-parter so I can look into how others have responded to this question next week. Maybe I'll have a real informed opinion next week instead.

See you next Monday!

Cheers,

J. G.

1: Air Canada. Customers with Special Needs: Special Seating. Accessed 12/15/13. Retrieved from: 
http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/before/specialneeds/specialseating.html

2: CheapAir. April 29, 2013. Airline Policies for Overweight Passengers Traveling this Summer. Accessed 12/15/13. Retrieved from:  http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/airline-policies-for-overweight-passengers-traveling-this-summer/

3) Harpur, Jennifer. April 23, 2013. Fat chance? 63 percent of Americans say obese airline passengers should be required buy a second seat. Accessed 12/15/13. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2013/apr/23/fat-chance-63-percent-americans-say-obese-airline-/