wow, listen to all the snarky jackasses.

how many people in their posts make comments like "fat, lazy, assholes" or "fuck you". i'm 6'6", and about 380.

i destroyed my knees and back playing football, hockey, and lacrosse in highschool and college. I can't "just go for a jog", and believe you me, my eating habits have changed 100% since I was 22, but i'll probably never get down to hipster skinny ankle jeans size again (thank god, because that look is the worst thing since polyester leisure suits). Fuck those of you with shitty, uninformed, snobby, highschool politics views, and irrational hatred. Genetics are a bitch, and discrimination sucks. It is discrimination, because you are categorizing people by a trait for different treatment. look up discrimination in a dictionary. Glad you have your tiny little world of conformity to bury your head in. The rest of us (except for some shit-head airline execs) will continue to deal with minor inconveniences in stride, in consideration of other members of humanity.

I'm sorry bigmike, but most people don't believe that genetics are the leading cause of obesity. However, if you can support your claim with medical evidence, chances are good that you can take on their policy in court and hopefully they can make an exception for people in your predicament, but the airline's policy is logical.

I guess individuals feel as if they are being inconvenienced by the excesses of others. (Fat people eat too much, spilling into my seat and causing me discomfort) Soon health insurance companies will start discriminating against overweight people openly in their policies. As with smokers, they want to prove that their lifestyle is causing their health problems, and thus making it more expensive to treat them (And raising the premiums for the rest of us)

This is not a discrimination issue. It's a common sense issue.

Airlines are in the business of selling space. If you take up more than your allotted space then you should pay for it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's tired of getting squashed by fatties who spill over into my personal space. I paid for my seat for me alone, not for Mr. Fat Bastard sitting next to me.

There should also be an European surcharge. I never have problems on domestic flights but whenever on a European flight, they love to invade space.

Get some balls, Canada.

I just think the problem is not the same in Canada. There are considerably less obese people in Canada or anywhere else in the world for that matter. To this effect, its just not worth it for Canada to instill a policy that could make too much noise in the discrimination arena.

On the other hand 1/3 of Americans are fat laze assholes which makes it a policy worth fighting for. Everytime I fly to places like Texas its inevitable that I will have some fat fuck next to me. And Vegas, that place is like a fat parade...

According to this report, 1 in 4 Canadian adults are overweight or obese.

http://obesity.ulaval.ca/obesity/generalities/prevalence.php

It's about fucking time, this absolutely overdue and completely fair.

Mailing, shipping, freight, even missile payloads are based on weight. Lift/weight/fuel consumption are margin factors for the transport of any mass. Does it cost the same to mail a postcard and an anvil? You also have to put your checked luggage on the scale. Overweight bag? You pay the premium. You are basically contracting with the airline to ship your body from point A to point B. Over contract amount? pay the premium. The easy retrofit if you don't want to weigh each passenger? There are "carry on" gauges at check-in. "Your bag must fit in this box to be allowed as a carry-on". Put a plastic insert in the magnetometers, leaving the opening same width as plane seat width. Don't fit?, Hand scan and pay the premium. Kinda like the amusement park "You must be this tall to get on this ride" thing, just in reverse.

good idea, keeps most of middle america from traveling.

don't need no america's home makeover or nanny 911 clients people here.

Middle American doesn't have a monopoly on fatties. We've got plenty right here in NYC.

1. I can usually tell if the person in front of me is going to be one of those people who likes to ratchet their seat all the way back, person behind them be damned. I will usually move forward in my seat so that my knees prevent them from reclining the seat too far. Most people figure that once their chair stops, that must be as far as it goes. Some get wise and turn to check the obstruction at which point I give them the dirtiest look in the world. Fuck em. It's not like they would have checked to see if I was comfortable with having their seatback two inches from my nose.

2. I've never really encountered this to a noticeable degree.

3. I wouldn't advise confronting one of these people on the subway because who the hell knows how they will react but considering the tight security on planes and the fact that the TSA will bodyslam you for so much as sneezing on a flight attendant, I'd say a plane ride is the perfect opportunity to tell one of these knuckle-draggers what is what. Really insult them and let them stew over it for the whole flight knowing they can't do anything about it.

As a frequent traveler I have to completely disagree with you here. I never really recline my seat and used to get pissed off at the people who did.

I don't anymore because there is a solution--instead of getting pissed off, simply recline your seat. If everyone on the plane reclines their seats then you all have the exact same amount of space as if everyone didn't.

Ideally once the seatbelt light goes off the pilot would require everyone to recline at the same time, but that's not going to happen. So instead of bitching at the person in front of you just recline your seat.

That's actually the way the entire process was intended to happen. You being a dick to the person in front of you is just as selfish and inconsiderate as someone in front of you reclining their seats. After all, people buy the seats for ALL the space it provides--width, pitch, AND recline.

You must be short. Someone reclining their seat decreases your knee space, and reclining your seat doesn't help.

Plane seats just shouldn't recline. Until the day they don't, when the person in front of me tilts their seat back I will yell "ow" and kick them regularly.

I'm not short, but since I travel so much I rarely end up in a crappy economy seat because I seek out bulkheads, exit rows, etc.

That said, you do make a good point about the knee space that I hadn't thought of.

But I do have to ask--are you really saying no one in economy should EVER be able to recline their seats? What about long-haul overnight flights where people are trying to sleep and 90% of the people recline? If you are the one person kicking peoples' seats you are going to look like a jerk, and I believe flight attendants are actually empowered to do something about that. Granted it may be after the flight lands, but still....

Sorry--this was a reply to Bernie Madoff-Getz...

"i am 5'1", not overweight, and can barely fit into the seat" comment cracked me up!:):):)

now three relevant to the extra charge topic questions:

1) what to do with the idiots that recline their seats when a snack is served? can we fine them or at least hit them in their selfish face?

2) bodybuilders and extremely fit people - their asses fit in the seat just fine, and the belts buckle up just fine, but their shoulders protrude to the neighboring seats and get on my nerves. Hitting the faces is dangerous here, so they sould be charged extra i think.

3) males that pretend to be largely endowed and spread their knees wide into seats next to them, the type of idiots that bother me every day on the subway - can they just be taken outside and shot?

1. Kick them. Hard. Repeatedly.

2. Tough one -- if they're only wide enough to annoyingly brush your shoulder or monopolize the armrest, I don't think there's much to be done. If they're wide enough to actually impinge on your seat space and make it difficult to sit, I think the fatty rule has to apply -- but I've honestly not seen too many people that wide up top that aren't also wide on the bottom.

3. Ask them to move their leg. Or stab them in it. Depends on what you've got on hand.

You go ahead and tell the bodybuilders and the fit people they need to pay a step up fat fee... be my guest. I would love anyone to tell me I have to pay more because my wide, broad shoulders are too much for them to handle...

Either that or the poor smushed skinny person gets to fly for free!

I was thinking something similar. Give people the option to negotiate for elbow rights the way real estate developers trade air rights. Bill strictly by weight and a tolerant skinny person could save even more money by offering to sit next to an obese person.