Large people cost more on flight tickets
United Airlines has a new policy that would make large people buy two seats, if a flight attendant can't find two open seats together. The carrier is the latest of several airlines to adopt this policy.
The carrier, whose parent company is Chicago-based UAL Corp., said it decided to adopt the tougher policy after receiving more than 700 complaints last year from passengers "who did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat," spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said.
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As the nation copes with increasingly obese Americans, United Airlines has joined the list of air carriers making overweight passengers pay more to fly.
How to accommodate severely overweight passengers is an issue that has long rankled air travelers. Issues of weight and seat proximity have become more sensitive in recent years as airlines narrow seat widths and flights have become fuller.
But as airlines adopt or toughen policies for obese passengers, some question how they can enforce such measures fairly.
"It's reached the point where it's essentially impossible to sit in coach and have the person in front of you recline."
Southwest Airlines requires passengers who can't comfortably lower their armrests to purchase tickets for two adjacent seats. Southwest will refund the cost of the second seat if a flight isn't sold out.
The carrier, whose parent company is Chicago-based UAL Corp., said it decided to adopt the tougher policy after receiving more than 700 complaints last year from passengers "who did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat," spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said.
2
As the nation copes with increasingly obese Americans, United Airlines has joined the list of air carriers making overweight passengers pay more to fly.
How to accommodate severely overweight passengers is an issue that has long rankled air travelers. Issues of weight and seat proximity have become more sensitive in recent years as airlines narrow seat widths and flights have become fuller.
But as airlines adopt or toughen policies for obese passengers, some question how they can enforce such measures fairly.
"It's reached the point where it's essentially impossible to sit in coach and have the person in front of you recline."
Southwest Airlines requires passengers who can't comfortably lower their armrests to purchase tickets for two adjacent seats. Southwest will refund the cost of the second seat if a flight isn't sold out.
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