Now they are beginning to see the economic light. When someone takes up more than one seat they must pay for two! New policy announced last night and am sure other airlines will follow. Maybe I won't have to sit next to a 400 pounder who is mostly lopping into my side. It's Southwest for me whenever I can. It's only fair that a person pay for the space they occupy, isn't it??

Sandi,<BR><BR>Do not count your chickens yet!<BR><BR>I'm sure there is an ACLU attorney out there just begging for the chance to sue in front of some liberal judge. I'm even more certain that along with SWA, McDonalds will be named as a co-defendant since it was their Big Macs that piled on the weight!<BR><BR>US

Sandi, if the world lets you post, then larger flyers ought to get a break too. I imagine you're one of those intolerant ones with the gangly frame and thin brain.

Why should large people get a break? Smokers didn't, and sitting next to a large person in a long flight IS a health hazard. Have you heard about DVT?

It's not a new policy, it's a reinforcement of an old policy from 1980. And I agree it's fare for me, I paid for my seat and I want to occupy it, not to share with somebody who paid the same but needs more space.

Isn't this policy directed toward people who reserve two seats to begin with? How do you set policy for those who reserve one seat, and take up 1-1/2 or two on the trip? What's the flight attendant supposed to say, "Excuse me, but you have to buy another seat!"? This could get interesting. I guess they could make the seats larger. Even people who aren't overweight are squeezed in like sardines.

Could I please pay a lower fare because I'm thin?

Well, Lil, right on the money. Make the damned seats larger especially on international flights. I’m not at all fat, but I’m big, 6’2’. I only weigh 180, but my frame is big and my legs are long. My girlfriend however is not large at all; in fact shorter and less heavy than average and even at that she’s still cramped when she flies. GIVE US SOME ROOM!

We here at Trans-Atlantic Airlines will gladly make our seats larger for you, our customers. However, we will then have to charge more for tickets. Will you, our customers, be willing to pay more for these larger seats or will you desert us and fly with other airlines who have smaller, but cheaper, seats?

Larger seats are really the answer, regardless of how much you weigh. There is nothing really to stop the airlines from determining the size of their seats and, in the process, deciding who is too overweight. What if they chose to make the seats 12" wide and thus rendered 80% of the population (as opposed to let's say 15% of the population) too large to fly in one seat and everyone had to pay double? If the trend is towards larger people and smaller seats, eventually we'll all end up paying double. Yes, most people do fit in a seat, but most people are horrendously uncomfortable, fat, thin, or in the middle. So, it seems to me that the responsibility is with the airlines to make their seats more comfortable for the majority of their passengers instead of making a tiny minority even more uncomfortable in theirs.

It's our responsibility to make our seats more comfortable? <BR><BR>Fair enough.<BR><BR>Then it's your responsibility to pay more for those seats. <BR><BR>Will you be responsible if we are?<BR><BR>By the way, we already have more comfortable seats you can pay more for and we don't stop you from buying those. They're called first class seats. If you want more comfort, why aren't you willing to walk your talk and pay more for those seats?

Hey, Trans-Atlantic spokesman.<BR><BR>Using logic will get you nowhere on this board. No one wants to hear that fixed operating costs + larger seats = fewer passengers = higher ticket prices. That's too straightforward.<BR><BR>We want to hear how all groups have a moral obligation to subsidize any other group's behavioral choices, that we can all "just get along," that we're really all the victims of greedy corporations, and that the money to put all of this wishful thinking into practice will just fall from the trees. Stick to fantsy, it sells better.

So, someone tell me, when are we gonna charge those travelers who choose not to wash or wear deodorant for as many seats as it takes to get away from the smell?? Or those who have bad breath?<BR><BR>We can find something wrong with every person that can be charged extra for. Where will it end?? <BR><BR>I have always believed that airlines should have at least a couple of rows of "business class" seats in the economy cabin that those who are larger (either taller or heavier) could pay a little extra for. <BR><BR>I am large and of course I choose to be that way. Just as someone chooses to be unusually tall. It seems we have no compassion for anyone that doesn't fit the billboard image. Funny, the majority of Americans are overweight...so maybe the airlines have just found another way to suck money out of the majority of us.<BR><BR>I will never fly SWA again...nor will my thin husband or children...<BR><BR>

I'm intrigued - how do you choose to be unusually tall?

The point isn't that people don't pay for larger seats - they do. I'm an economy class flier, but from what I read and by peeking into the business class cabins, those seats are sold. So people do pay for them, and pay often and dearly for them. The point is that the public is forced to accept a standard that may or may not be fair to the majority. The original poster bragged about not having to sit next to "400 pounder", but how about if they choose to design seats for 125 pounders or people who are 5'1" tall? Besides, ticket prices affect whether people fly to a certain extent. I know I've flow in March to Europe for $400 and for $650 - people will and do fly even if it costs somewhat more or less.

I was making the point that we don't choose to be tall or fat. Of course we can all try to be healthy and get thin, but that isn't always possible. You may think that all fat people choose to be that way, but that just isn't true.<BR><BR>There are many things about us humans that we may not be able to change. Its a shame when corporations spend their time trying to find ways to make money off them.

Like many folks who heard this story on the news, I wondered what constitutes "fat" to SWA. Some clarification came in a follow-up story today, in which a spokesperson stated that if you require a seatbelt extender to fasten your seatbelt or if you cannot lower the armrest (because you "spill over" it), you will need to buy another seat, and can occupy as much of those two seats as you want or need to. While I've seen a number of folks who're overweight while flying, I haven't seen very many who actually fall into the classification outlined by SWA.<BR><BR>BC

To Trans-Atlantic Airlines <BR>Will you be responsible if we are?<BR>Yes, I would gladly pay for those 1rst class tickets if the price/quality was fair. But when you charge 6 times more than the regular ticket, I prefer to be a little uncomfortable. The last time I flew to Europe in a 767, my coach ticket was $570, while the first class ticket was $3000. The layout of the plane was 2-3-2 in coach (7 seats per row) and it was 2-1-2 in 1st class (5 seats per row), let's say 1 1st class row is equivalent to 2 coach rows, that will make 5 seats of first class equivalent to 14 seats in coach (1 ro 3 relation). So why the airline doesn't charge me $1710 (3 times more) for the 1st class sear? That's a price I might consider to pay. Are you going to tell me that the cheap champagne and the tiny "above average" food you get in 1st class is worth the extra $1300?<BR>

Thank you for your response, zzz. <BR><BR>I am intrigued that no one has yet answered whether they would be willing to pay more money for larger, more comfortable seats. We would be more than happy to provide these seats on all the planes in our fleet if we knew that people would be willing to pay more for them. <BR><BR>But we will not make our seats larger and more comfortable if people who claim to want this are not willing to pay the price, if they desert us for other airlines with smaller, less comfortable seats which cost less. <BR><BR>So, customers, what do you say? Would you be willing to pay more for tickets across-the-board if we installed larger, more comfortable seats in the planes in our fleet? Or will you desert us for other airlines who don't do this, but offer cheaper seats?

Pathetic - No one can choose whether to be tall (subject to the application of stretching devices). Whilst some people can't choose whether to be fat or not - the majority can.<BR><BR>As to the comment about Corporations trying to find ways of making money off us, well shoot, that's what they're there for and they pay our wages. Unless we start down the Thomas Moore route, I guess we're stuck with it