Weight hitting bottom lines

Fly the flabby skies. (typos and punctuation from the original)

"IN 2000 it was estimated by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine that the increasing 'weight of passengers was costing the US airline industry $275 million for the additional 300 million gallons of fuel required to lift the extra pounds'.

Seven years on, with fuel up 145 per cent, that cost has ballooned to $673 million, but so has the weight of passengers - and not just in the US."

This is apparently one big-butt issue.

"What was once a minor economic and political problem is developing rapidly into a major headache, with significant ramifications for PR departments and airline bottom lines as well as aircraft manufacturers.

Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans jumped by 10lb (4.5kg), according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 1990 to 2002, the number of overweight or obese adults jumped from 56 per cent to 65per cent of the population, prompting the Federal Aviation Authority on August 12, 2005 to increase the weighting of passengers. The FAA lifted the male passenger with carry-on weighting from 185lb to 200lb (84kg to 90.7kg) for summer and 190lb to 205lb (86.2kg to 93kg) for winter. The averages for women - who are also weighing in heavier - increased from 145lb to 179lb (65.8kg to 81.2kg) in summer and 150lb to 184lb (68kg to 83.5kg) inwinter."

I wrote about this a way long time ago.

"Those weight and height gains prompted the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and European Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) to commission a review of seat size and spacing in 1999.

The report conducted by ICE Ergonomics Ltd found that cramped seating could trap and trip passengers during emergency evacuations and found that more space was needed for today's overweight passengers.

The study was safety-focused and did not comment on the comfort of passengers, but found that 'economy-class passengers are so tightly packed together that they cannot assume a correct brace position for emergency landing'. The study concluded that the minimum dimensions needed to be expanded by 'at least three inches' (7.62cm) in terms of seat pitch - something all passengers would agree with.

The report also said that 'the current widths of typical economy class seats, and in particular the distances between the two armrests, are totally inadequate to accommodate larger-bodied passengers.'"

Get that these cows are safety hazards to the rest of us and putting us at risk, in addition to increasing costs.

"While Southwest is trailblazing the problem - just as it has led the low-cost carrier revolution - by asking larger passengers to pay for two seats, other airlines are quietly selling space in more subtle ways, such as selling the more spacious exit-row seats for a small premium.

More and more airlines are pricing tickets at a base price and passengers pay for additional options. Now some analysts are suggesting some type of weight penalty be introduced.

One analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Australian: 'It's unfair that we charge passengers for excess baggage but not excess weight. What about the poor passenger who weighs just 150lb (68kg) but has 90lb (40kg) of baggage and gets slugged hundreds of dollars for excess baggage, but the guy who weighs in at 220lb (100kg) with a 30lb (13.6kg) bag is fine?'

In 2002, Virgin Atlantic paid pound stg. 13,000 ($30,000) to an English passenger who allegedly suffered a blood clot in her chest, torn leg muscles and acute sciatica after sitting next to a grossly overweight passenger from London to Los Angeles.

Southwest Airlines is the only airline that has a clear policy on its website regarding passengers who are overweight.

That policy has been in place since 1980, but only in the past few years has it been enforced after nine-out-of-10 complaint letters were about passengers being seated next to a 'customer of size'."

Fly Southwestern.

"Southwest's policy is simple. If you do not fit the seat - defined by the two armrests - you have to buy two, but if there is one spare seat on your flight you will get a refund, which means most get a refund. Interestingly, the Oakland based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance on its website, encourages its members to get around that problem by raising the armrest on boarding.

It states: 'When you get to your seat during pre-boarding, raise the armrest between seats. This may give you the few centimetres of extra space you need. The chances are that the passenger who will be seated next to you won't say anything. If he does, smile pleasantly and say that you'll both be more comfortable if the armrest is up.'"

Keep the armrests down.

And send the NAAFA pigs to hell.