Large Passenger Dilemma

What would you do if faced with an over-sized traveler in the seat beside you or in front of you on a long haul flight and you could not fully utilise the space you'd paid for or recline your seat?

United Airlines to start charging obese for two seats, or bump them from packed flights but attendants will still try to to find two adjacent seats, free of charge, for passengers who spill over. See article @Chicago Tribune
With space in its aircraft cabins tight and passengers complaining about extra-large seatmates, United Airlines says it now will bump severely overweight passengers from sold-out flights.

Passengers who are too large to fit comfortably in a single coach seat will be required to buy two tickets on the next flight or upgrade to business class, where seats are larger, if United’s flight attendants can’t find two open seats for them.Chicago-based United 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,” United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said Wednesday.

At 6-foot-2 and 350 pounds, former Chicago resident Dan DeBartolo knows he will face the added charges if he winds up on a full United flight. “I can honestly say that I understand the rule and why it is necessary,” said DeBartolo, who moved to Juneau, Alaska, in 2008. “From the standpoint of a fat flier, I am just as uncomfortable as the poor person who has to sit next to me in coach.”

United and other U.S. carriers are struggling with two conflicting trends: Aircraft cabins have never been more cramped as cash-strapped airlines try to squeeze the most revenue out of their planes, yet Americans have never been fatter.

The ranks of obese Americans have risen steadily in recent decades, now encompassing more than one-third of adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. At the same time, airlines have crammed more seats onto airplanes, reduced the space between seats and increasingly have sold-out flights.

“It wouldn’t even be an issue if aircraft weren’t as full as they are,” aviation consultant Robert Mann said.

To cope, U.S. airlines have crafted rules for dealing with obese passengers that are either followed informally or buried in a legal document called the “contract of carriage,” which establishes services and charges for flights.

United drafted its new rules, which took effect Wednesday, because of the complaints and “to provide clarity for its customers and employees,” Urbanski said.

United previously had no set policy for dealing with obese passengers, and all of its major competitors did.

Delta Air Lines, the world’s largest carrier, said it tries to place overweight passengers next to empty seats. If the plane is full “we can offer the passenger the option of purchasing an additional seat on the next flight at the lowest fare class available,” Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said.

American Airlines doesn’t “charge for an extra seat unless there are simply no other options,” spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said.

Southwest Airlines requires any passenger 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.

Although the policy has been on Southwest’s books for a quarter-century, the low-cost carrier faced widespread backlash when it reminded consumers of its standards for larger passengers in 2002 as it switched from plastic boarding cards to electronic tickets.

Southwest still receives plenty of mail on the issue, spokeswoman Brandy King said. But the upset customers are more likely to be passengers who feel they didn’t have enough room on a flight.

But as airlines adopt or toughen policies for obese passengers, some question how they can enforce such measures fairly, or without creating disastrous customer relations.

“How do you eyeball someone and decide they’re not going to fit?” said Mann, who is president of R.W. Mann & Co.

“From a knees-to-seat-back perspective, I don’t fit. I’m 6-foot-4. It’s reached the point where it’s essentially impossible to sit in coach and have the person in front of you recline,” he said.

Then there’s the very human cost to the overweight people who are forced by carriers to switch to another flight and to purchase a second seat to ensure their place on it.

Oak Forest resident Lynn Celmer, a formerly obese frequent flier, said people without weight issues can’t comprehend the humiliation of having to ask for a seat-belt extension or having neighboring passengers ask to be seated elsewhere.

“I can’t even tell you how embarrassing it is,” said Celmer, who had gastric-bypass surgery several months ago. “I almost felt like crying.”

United’s flight attendants, who will have the delicate task of enforcing the new policy, will try to find two adjacent seats for overweight passengers. “If the flight is full – and that’s not often the case these days – you’ll be bumped from the flight,” Urbanski said.

If this occurs, passengers will be forced to either find a flight with open seating or buy two seats or an upgrade to a class of service with wide seats in order to secure a spot on a fuller flight.

United said it will waive fees it would normally charge for changing travel plans.

If seating is not available and a passenger decides not to travel, the ticket will be refunded without any penalty, even if it is a non-refundable ticket.

The new policy for United affects tickets purchased on or after March 4 for travel on or after Wednesday.

DeBartolo welcomes any measure by carriers that will ease the stress he feels as a jumbo flier. He furiously researches seat maps of the aircraft he will be flying to locate seats with more room. If he can’t upgrade to first or business class, DeBartolo selects window seats, where he can “spill over” into the gap between his seat and the plane’s wall.

“If United can find a way to discreetly allow larger passengers to have or buy two seats, then it will make life easier for all parties involved,” he said.

Consider . . .
How does the airline know the height or weight of the passenger?
When/where does discrimination come in to the issue?
What do consumer rights people say about this?
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