Should Overweight Consumers Pay Extra for Services From Southwest Airlines & Other Businesses?

Following the recent decision by Southwest Airlines to begin enforcing their 22-year-old policy requiring overweight passengers to purchase two airline seats, a number of other companies and consumer groups have demanded that customers of size begin coughing up premium rates for their products and services.

Southwest Airlines led the charge with their policy to penalize large customers, dating back to the 1980's. According to the policy, any passenger whose derriere spills over onto the adjacent seat is required to purchase two airline tickets at the price of the original seat. Roxanne Haberstrohm, spokesperson for Southwest says, "Ninety percent of the complaints we receive from our passengers stem from being subjected to the overflow of obese passengers sitting next to them." And the problem isn't based solely on comfort, either.

Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the American population's weight has been creeping up since the 1990's. More than thirty percent of American adults over the age of 20 are obese. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that the average weight of American adults has ballooned by 10 pounds. The extra weight of these chubby vagabonds has translated into an additional $275 million dollar expenditure to burn more than 350 million additional gallons of jet fuel resulting in 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide released into the air.

In an effort to contain the prices of airline tickets, carriers have initiated creative measures to compensate for the additional weight of their plump passengers such as pitching out phones, carpeting on cabin floors, pillows, drop-down trays, flight attendants, light fixtures, stereo headsets, co-pilots, blankets, air conditioners, communication equipment, emergency oxygen masks, heavy metal eating utensils, restrooms, thick magazines and even life vests and air sickness bags. Other ideas under consideration are dispensing with unnecessary Plexiglas windows and seat cushions in favor of wooden bench seats.

For years, airline passengers have had their carry-on baggage restricted to maximum dimensions. So, why not the passengers? One concept that is rapidly gaining in popularity is to install people sizers at all check-in counters: templates that all passengers would be required to fit through in order to qualify for a standard ticket. Can't fit through the people sizer? Buy two seats.

Still, other ideas that are being tossed around are charging passengers by the pound and restricting flights by sex. "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has revised its weight distribution calculations to add an additional 8 percent to the weight of male passengers and 18 percent for female passengers," says Haberstrohm. "Officials at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport are also trying a new approach for managing the heft of their customers: they're weighing passengers at check-in and announcing their weight over the loudspeaker system." To help cut down on the cost of air travel, the FAA is also considering male only and female only flights. Female only flights would have fewer seats on-board to compensate for the higher percentage of fat. "There's just no sense in penalizing the male travelers for that extra 10 percent of female flab," says Haberstrohm.

Automobile makers have also been challenged to come up with more comfortable and durable models for their corpulent customers. "The first towing package became available in 1959," says Basil Chritton, Chief Design Engineer for General Motors. "Towing packages were originally installed on diesel trucks for the purposes of hauling fifth-wheel campers, boats and trailers. The equipment included beefed up suspension, heavy-duty transmissions and cooling systems" says Chritton. "But with the increased mass of our average consumer, we're now adding high-capacity air cleaners, auxiliary external transmission oil coolers and heavy-duty automatic locking rear differentials as standard equipment on all entry-level models of our economy cars such as the Chevrolet Aveo, Pontiac Vibe and Buick Rendezvous."

Not to be outdone by their competition, a number of foreign-made automobiles have begun arriving in the United States with the Nantucket option that includes bucket seats that are 20% wider, smaller diameter steering wheels to accommodate growing belly rolls and interiors that seat four passengers instead of the usual six. Even Hummer has gotten into the game. "Automatic-inflating tires have long been one of the hallmarks of our military vehicles," says Albert Dalrymple, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.) now the Marketing Director for Hummer of USA. "We depended on it in the Gulf War conflict. Now, we're bringing the same technology to the consumer. When an overweight passenger slithers into the new 2007 H2, the tires immediately sense the increased load and automatically inflate to 65 PSI."

Wider girth has also impacted the retail clothing industry. Since 2002, the Eddie Bauer and Lands End catalogues have begun advertising their clothing in average, tall and plus sizes. "Due to the increased cost of raw materials, we've had to add Cetacean sizing to all of our lines," says Lakisha Lark, Director of Catalogue Products for Eddie Bauer. "Cetacean sizing adds a skosh more room and a 15% price increase to all of our products. And to help keep the cost of the material down, we're making all of the Cetacean products from recycled Army tents and commercial tarpaulins. Look for the seal of the American Obesity Association to be sure that you're getting the real thing!"

Another business that's been directly affected by America's problem with obesity is therapeutic massage. Once considered a luxury reserved for the rich and famous, therapeutic massage is now a widely accepted approach for correcting many structural, orthopedic and stress-related disorders. But the consumer's increase in mass has many in the business concerned. "Most of our therapists received their training using clients of normal body mass," says Jeanetta Greenweig, spokesperson for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). "But within 18 months of entering the field, 75% of newly licensed massage therapists drop out due to carpal tunnel syndrome, circulation problems and extreme fatigue. They're just not prepared to handle the additional stress of massaging all of that blubber."

To help massage therapists deal with the increasing girth of their clients, the NCBTMB has developed a special Blowhole training designation, designed to teach massage therapists how to apply their techniques to larger clients. "Blowhole designated therapists are trained how to reduce the pace and force of massage to help reduce occupational injury and fatigue," says Greenweig. "We also advise therapists working on the obese to limit their sessions to 15 minutes instead of the usual 45. And, like many other industries, we charge a premium rate for Blowhole designated therapists."

Other businesses affected by the increasing American mass are ski resorts, subways, shoe retailers, public swimming pools and restaurants; the list goes on indefinitely. For the moment, most industry analysts see no end in sight. "If we've gained all of this weight within the past 16 years, what's going to happen to things like the earth's orbit in the next 20 years?" says Vincenzo Iacobucci, Director of the United States Geological Survey. "Are Charleston, West Virginia and San Antonio, Texas (where obesity rates are the highest in the country) going to start slowly sinking to the earth's core? We just don't know!"