Obese Airline Rights: Canada Court Rules The Obese Have Rights To Two Seats

Reuters:

OTTAWA (Reuters) -- Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

The high court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian airlines of a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency that people who are "functionally disabled by obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare.

The airlines had lost an appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal in May and had sought to launch a fresh appeal at the Supreme Court. The court's decision not to hear a new appeal means the one-person-one-fare policy stands.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[Vimly]

So apparently just the knowledge that fat people might ride comfortably actually devalues the flying experience for thin people.

[sunnybunny]

here's a link so everyone can figure out who is or isn't obese and whether or not to worry about their health -
http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm

This however has nothing to do with overall size or airplane seats

[ObesityWatch]

The obese are reading this thread and commenting. Beware the obesity movement online. With tempers as large and ravenous as their boiling bellies, they are going to comment on this site. Whilst their faces usually are buried in the cotton candy, they rise up from it whenever an opportunity arises to become offended by someone suggesting that they need to contain their great volume within a single space.

[benne]

For those who condemn the fat for "choosing" to be fat, you need to ask yourself what liberty means if it doesn't mean the right to choose for yourself the life you want to live. The "pursuit of happiness" means nothing if it means only the right to pursue happiness in the way that you or the medical institutions or a particular church decides constitutes happiness. If tomorrow it were demonstrated that gays choose to be gay, would that mean that they have any less of a right to pursue happiness in the way they want?

[gwhizz]

I have no problem with that. As long as they also choose to pursue PURCHASING their extra seat.

[mzonic]

Pursuit of happiness is not free.

You can pursue all you want but there's always a cost- whether education, career, faith, etc.

If being fat makes them happy, fine. But there's a cost to being fat- aside from the risks of being fat. Those that are obese are way more likely to have shorter lifespans. When they eat irresponsibly, they are doing harm to themselves. Still, there's no law prohibiting them from being fat.

However, being obese and trying to live costs-free is ridiculous. That's like saying I want to smoke but I don't want lung cancer. With obesity comes risks of many diseases and many inconveniences. What's more absurd is when they push for conveniences that results in others paying their costs. When an airline can only sell 99 seats instead of 100 seats, they will raise the price(s) of those 99 seats in order to match the revenue of 100 seats. The 98 "fit" passengers will pay more than they originally did for the conveniences of the obese person.

Whether you argue for people that are born obese or choose to be obese is irrelevant. Both types can choose not to be obese and be 'cured' by simple discipline, workout, or other surgical means.

cont.

[mzonic]

Now because of freedom we can't impose an obese person to eat healthy. It is their responsibility to choose to be healthy or not. If they lack that will of choose then they might have another medical condition and should be in care instead of traveling (If a criminal cannot stop himself from committing crimes, he should be locked-up because he is no longer in control of himself.).

[Alvarask]

I am disgusted at the number of inhuman pathetic pigs on this thread attacking others for the mortal sin of being obese. You sound mostly American. No wonder the world hates you.

[Topfeeder]

beachykeen02,
You have a good heart and I'm sure you are a great nurse. Don't let these haters get you down. We'll never know why some find it easier to revile and criticize than show compassion and care. Karma counts.

[beachykeen02]

Thank you...SO MUCH! I take things personally, sometimes. People often don't know how they hurt others... one thing that sticks in my mind...I had a heavy patient once, who was suffering horribly...and I had the responsibility for him. There were times I didn't have help, and he was very heavy. Anyway, there was a day that I was trying to "shift him"..he was overweight, diabetic, etc., and I hurt myself trying to move him up in the bed. I didn't say much, but when I had to move him the next day, I happened to have some help...and he overheard me telling the person helping me...when we shifted him..that I had pulled my back..and it hurt..they day before, when I tried to move him by myself. This patient, whom I thought couldn't hear anything..­..........­......tear­s ran down his face, and he whispered the words, "I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you"...and I cried..tears just ran down my face because I hurt this man..that was so sick..and he was more concerned about ME than he was himself.

I guess that stuck with me...and I cried because he cried...due to his weight...it stuck with me.

Thank you..I am soft-hearted, and I do CARE about everyone. I hate to see anyone mocked, or hurt. I hate it.

Mary

[benne]

Mary: This is very, very moving. Thank you for writing it. So many people dehumanize the fat. In fact, reports like this one with the headless fattie tacitly encourage it. We need more medical practitioners like you.

[tokesan]

I totally disagree with the Canadian court ruling. If you are obese enough to need two seats to fly, you have to pay the premium. Ok, let me make this simple, this is akin to having to pay for your extra luggage, and I meant before the fuel surcharge. Airlines allow 2 luggage to be checked, the third one has to be paid for because of the added weight. Obese people have additional weight so they should pay for 2 seats if they need them.
Lets make this interesing. I am 6' 2" and weigh 185 pounds, but my legs are noticeable long. When I seat in couch of airlines (that's all I can afford) I get so uncomfortable that I wish they give me a better seat or better yet, they can remove the seat in front of me so I can stretch and be comfortable!!! If it were possible for them to do that I should pay the seat they removed! What's fair is fair.
Yesterday I had three square meals and felt bloated this morning. Guess what, today I had a banana for breakfast + coffee, a health bar for lunch + coffee, plenty of water and enjoyed dinner with family.
If you are obese, don't blame your genes, exercise, drive less, and stop gouging yourself with food. Every one of us pays for the illnesses resulting from obesity.

[Stilts9]

If I'm underweight do I get a discount?

[tmacspeaks]

This is so ridiculous. Flying is a service, not a right. If you're fat enough to take up two seats, you should have to pay for them. You're unfairly punishing responsible people who aren't obese but would like the extra room as much as anyone else! Costs are based on weight anyway, so they should charge based on weight. Get up on that scale with your baggage, lardass!

[beachykeen02]

I think I started something, based upon comments to MY comment, that I did NOT mean to start. Weight is a big issue these days. I gave a calculation that we use, in the hospital, and it really means NOTHING. It's just a guideline for weight. People have different bone structures, and different health issues. I didn't mean to be insulting to ANYONE. You can look on the internet, at different sites, or pull up a BMI calculator...but the standards.­..today..a­re as such: Females 100 lbs for the first 60 inches, and 5 lbs per inch thereafter, for ideal weight. Males: 100 lbs for the first 60 inches, and 6 lbs per inch thereafter. Now...don't pick on ME! I, personally, don't find 6 feet males, at 220 lbs, obese, nor do I find 5 feet 1 females, at 135 lbs, obese! NOT AT ALL. I'm just giving you the basic formula that we figure for obesity! Everyone is different! Some are muscular, some are big boned, and it isn't a JUDGEMENT call...it's just a NUMBER.

PLEASE...I'm defending people.....I'm overweight, too! I just made a comment...not a judgement.

[luvobama]

Most over weight people, especially obese people suffer denial and are rightfully defensive. Like all of the other addictions the first step is accepting the facts of your disease. I think the defensiveness is because they are ridiculed daily by the media and public. As i said before, every other self medicating is not necessarily worn 24 / 7. It's a terrible condition and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

[PSM42]

If you don't find 6 ft males at 220 lbs obese, you are deluded. Ask me how I know. The solution? John McDougall and Caldwell Esselstyn. Or the pine box. Your choice.

[beachykeen02]

Well, I guess I am, because I have seen 6 foot males, 200 lbs, be more buff and tight-muscled, that they would put 5'10 males, with no muslces to complete shame.

I stand corrected by everyone.

[beachykeen02]

Furthermore, I relinquish my obligation to treat you cardiac patients. I will surrender that right to the posters on this blog, who obviously have more education (in my field) than do I, and who are obviously more capable of helping the obese, and the diabetic, and the cardiac-impaired than me. I only THOUGHT I was capable, as a Sigma Theta Tau, Phi Beta Kappa, etc. I was wrong. Please...forgive me.

[RatgurlSD]

6ft, 220lbs, heavy maybe, but not obese. In fact, a muscular person with these attributes would look perfectly normal, but maybe a tad stocky.

[beachykeen02]

Ok..how do you know?

[luvobama]

eat less move more.

[luvobama]

Eating too much is the same thing as drinking too much, smoking too much, gambling too much etc. It is self medicating. the only difference is that you don't have to wear your addictions other than the over eating. i know people who gamble too much. No one would ever guess. You can't smoke on a plane. Most people don't object to people drinking while flying. We make a lot of assumptions about fat people that are not true. They are one of the last groups of people that we are not only allowed to make fun of, we are encouraged to do so.

[peggyleg]

Are you a doctor now?

hahaha

[4akinderworld]

Why do you end so many of your posts with hahaha? I can remember passing notes like that in junior high school. Your remark wasn't especially clever in the first place. It didn't show you to be smarter than the poster you were responding to. It was the kind of remark that, when I hear people actually interject them in an intelligent conversation, I always want to turn to them and say, "Were we talking to you?"

And darn it, I just fed a tr0ll again.

[TimeGrid]

I guess the ad on the right of this page ("drop 43 lbs in 10 weeks") is paid by airlines... huh?

[weatherwaxx]

Fuel prices are going up. This means airplane costs and prices will go up.

One way to deal with some transportation issues would be to rebuild a functional rail system that can be used to for shorter trips. It's ludicrous to spend two hours in an airport in Chicago, get on a plane, and fly one hour to get to Detroit. If we had high-speed rail, you'd be in Detroit by train before the plane took off from O'Hare.

Make plane seats big enough for the average 6', 200-lb man. I'm a medium-size woman and the only people I've seen in airplane seats who look comfortable were kinds under 10. This means tickets will cost more and people will not fly as often... but if they can get there by rail, with much lower risk of accidents and no risk whatever of teh vehical being forced off its route, this is not a bad thing.

In terms of fuel efficiency and carbon footprints, trains are a much cleaner, cheaper means of transportation. Trains are a system where new technology could be used with extraordinary effect--mount a solar panel mounted on each car.

I don't fly any more unless I absolutely must. Security gauntlets, sardine seats, cancellations.. It's a shame that the emphasis on this story is obesity, because it should be about the way airline passengers are treated like packages. Congratulations, Canada!

[beachykeen02]

As a nurse, I was going to make a comment, but I changed my mind. (Obesity creates a host of problems within the body that carries it). Obese people don't WANT to be obsese, and they struggle...just like we all do. We all struggle with something, don't we? Have a little mercy on your brothers and sisters. When you start to feel annoyed...keep in mind...it could be you in a few years. That's my liberal opinion for tonight. Peace out. (p.s....I'm not obese, but could stand to lose a few myself).