Obese Canadians Are Given Two Airplane Seats for the Price of One

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that obese citizens on flights within Canada are allowed to use two seats for the price of one, much to the dismay of the Canadian Transportation Agency.

According to Reuters, the Canadian airlines are now forced to give up an extra seat to individuals who are, "functionally disabled by obesity" without receiving reimbursement from the passenger or the Canadian government.

This is a problem that transcends borders. As US Citizens' waist lines grow, so do the number of complaints from overweight citizens who are unable to fly because they cannot afford the required double fare for an extra seat in order fly with comfort. When they do fly, their neighbors are also uncomfortable in already crowded seats when someone else's thighs are spilling over into their space.

It sounds mean, but I speak from the experience of having to sit with someone else's thighs literally resting in my seat for an entire cross-country flight. An obese person doesn't want to experience the humility of having to fit into a seat that's only really comfortable for a toddler, and average-sized person shouldn't have to share his or her seat and airfare with the spillover from some random stranger.

Obviously, this is a sensitive subject having to do with equal rights, but there are rare times when rationality should trump equal rights.

For instance, there is a reason for a weight limit of 220 pounds when tandem skydiving. The reason for the weight limit has to do with the potential of accidents or death, because a 9-celled parachute can only deal with so much weight. Despite this fact, I'm sure someone, somewhere has written a strongly-worded letter to their local drop zone about their unfair practices in weight discrimination.

Similarly, more weight on an airplane equals more gas consumption. If airlines are expected to hold their own in an already tight economy, how can they possibly afford catering to obese passengers if they are only going to pay for one seat?

Each aircraft has a weight limit. The estimated weight of the passengers is added to the actual weight of the cargo to get its takeoff weight. Airlines have calculated that the average weight of each passenger is 145 pounds. If a flight is not full, they don't need to use as much gas. This is how the weight and balance is calculated for each flight.

While allowing obese people an extra seat won't change the weight and balance of a flight, people have to wonder who will foot the bill for the gas consumption for that extra seat.

Chances are there will be more than one obese person per flight now that this Canadian law is going into affect, which means the airlines will potentially have to front the bill for the poor judgment of several individuals per flight. .

While the Canadian courts are sympathizing on the side of civil rights, they are refusing to listen to an appeal by the airlines. I guarantee the airlines aren't being discriminative or elitists. They have a business to run. It's one thing for an airline to offer up free seats on their own, but to have the high court force the airlines into covering the bill for the bulging bellies of Canadian citizens is absurd.

If the obese person was overweight due to being on high doses of prednisone, had a condition like severe lymphodema, or some other medical condition where obesity was an uncontrollable condition, that would be another story. A doctor's note should be sufficient. This is where the term, "functionally disabled by obesity" should be changed to, "obese due to disability". Still, the choice to offer free seats should be up to the individual airlines.

As someone who worked in the airline industry for ten years, I can say that this is a bad ruling by the high court. While passengers will be more comfortable, the airlines will lose money thanks to overweight individuals, who more often than not, suffer only from poor life choices, and not a devastating disease that leads to obesity.

According to Reuters, the airlines turned down for an appeal were Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Canada Jazz.

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssAirlines/idUSN2039776920081120