Overweight Passengers Should Not Be Charged For Two Seats When Flying - Coursework Example

Task Overweight passengers should not be charged for two seats when flying Introduction Health experts are demanding for introduction of a contentious passenger 'fat tax'. They state that this will cover the charges of carrying their excess weight. They also suggested that the cost ought to be charged per kilo, just as with the case of excess baggage fees work. It is interesting that they declare this must be introduced while obesity is a worldwide plague and fuel prices are very high. In addition to that, they are also calling for free seat-belt extensions, provided just like headphones, for each one who pays the fat tax. This is already happening in the United States. The argument is raised since this is discrimination against passengers with obesity. To be charged by the kilo is quite embarrassing for somebody with twenty kilograms above the limit. If an individual is 20kg above the limit and is a regular flyer, they will actually suffer both emotionally and financially. Having to meet the fat tax expenses will be rather embarrassing (Sullivan 6). The majority of obesity and health organizations are supporting this suggestion claiming that it is only fair since the airline will need to carry extra weight. A number of airlines as an alternative make passengers who can not fit into one seat pay for two seats, for twice the cost of the journey (Appleton). Those who require extra seatbelt extension will have to buy a new an update or purchase an extra seat. America has for a long time taxed and charged to discourage some manners. Taxes in cigarettes are increasing, taxes in liquor are rising in various states, seatbelts are now mandatory by law and some particular areas are currently charging obese workers more for health insurance. For better or worse, the tendency to transform behavior through economics is upon us. As medical expenses rises the debate over charging for obesity is indeed only going to grow. Airlines are too increasingly subject to customer grievances and even losing court cases over travelers being injured by fellow obese passengers. Using two seats uses twice the fuel. This actually sounds nice even though this may not be true. The space which a passenger takes does not affect the amount of fuel used but the weight may affect (Appleton). It sounds good even if it is not actually true. The space you take does not impact on fuel, the weight does. The question arises as to whether a weight lifter weighing more and has more mass of muscles must also be charged more. This could be just a technique used by the airlines to get more money from the passengers. There are writings seen in one of the American airlines. It said something to the effect that if you can not fit into the seat, you will have to pay for a second seat and that if the seats are not fully occupied; you will only pay a child's fare on the second seat (Kate) There are some necessities regarding the seat being a window seat or something of that sort. The airlines prerequisite is that if an individual can not fit in the seat without hanging over the arm rest then he will be charged twice and it sounded like a fair rule. The airline companies should come up with a practical means of determining who is overweight and who is not. It is even better to argue that an individual is overweight due to medical reasons other than the notion that one is lazy and overweight. The airlines must not be forced to give an individual a free extra seat since he or she can not fit in one. The person has to pay for his or her seat, likewise to overweight individuals. That is prejudice and another effort by the airlines to make more money. The airline seats are actually too small period. Tall individuals, overweight individuals and skinny individuals are all not comfortable in a flight. The airlines in their effort once more to make more money squeezed in as many seats as possible at the expense of comfort of passengers. People complain that they don not want to sit next to an overweight passenger as a trick to get bumped into first class for free just like those individuals that complain in a restaurant in hopes of securing themselves free meal. The airlines that made the seats too tiny in the first place in order to make more money are now penalizing the passengers for not being in a position to fit comfortably in the too small seats. Such complaints as I don't like sitting with ugly individuals, or individuals with screaming children, or persons with a cold hacking all over will make them fly on a different flight, next thing to happen is that the airlines will be segregated, one airplane for ugly people, one for overweight people, another for children, another for the handicapped travelers and many more. This question is just eventually discourteous. Why must airlines charge overweight people more What happens if they are important persons who want to get to someplace in hurry and they have enough cash for the flight only and suddenly they find out about the additional tax loaded onto it This will ultimately make them sad that they cannot have enough money to go see their loved ones. This will finally make them sad and possibly do anything unintelligent to cover it. Anyway put yourself in shoes of overweight people how would you feel regarding the inability to meet the expense of a flight to see your family. On the other hand the airlines usually weigh bags and charge for bags that are very heavy and while it appears stupid to argue concerning a bag that is only one pound above the limit while another is one pound below the limit, it is not just regarding the total weight in the airplane. Well, the charges are very high, and some of that go to offset fuel expenditure, but that is not all. There are luggage handlers who have to pick luggage and move it from one conveyor to another and actually place it in the cargo hold. Overweight individuals who have purchased two seats have explicit grounds to grumble if one of those purchased seats is taken away just as anybody else who paid for a seat on an oversold flight has reasons to complain if they get bumped (Sullivan 3). The only disparity is that the overweight individual will still reach his destination at the right time, although not comfortably, while the person who had only one seat but got bumped will not. The airlines are presently still mandated to do everything they can to get that individual to his destination, however while the same rules do not mandate airlines should cater to a person's comfort, they are mandated to give an individual what he paid for. Therefore if a customer didn't find a seat that he paid for and they can not make it up to him then they must give back the money he paid for the seat. It can, unfortunately, take more than just complaining at the customer service desk (Appleton). But generally, if the concern is the cost of jet fuel, then charging by weight seem sensible but if the concern is space and comfort, then that is not a question of weight, but volume. Muscles are dense and heavier, but occupy less space. If a customer's ticket price entitles him to a particular amount of space, charging by size would be sensible for the same reason. There are subdivisions called first class, business class, economy plus, and finally economy class. For the overweight person who buys two seats but constantly ends up with one seat try a first class seat. It will afford a customer the room of two seats, and they can not take away his half seat. The problem is that this is essentially working on the supposition that large bodied people will purchase the larger seats and smaller individuals will purchase the smaller seats. Obviously that is not constantly happening and each one is less comfortable because of it. Most people always wish to arrive at their destination safely and with no incident however this will not always be the case in the event that one is sitting in or the passageway of the plane is blocked by somebody big enough to have difficulty in directing the movement so the other passengers. This can also be experienced if an individual seated in the emergency door row wanted the additional space but is hard of hearing, too weak to open the emergency door, or too fearful to help in case of an urgent situation (Appleton).These are the subjects that matter. These are the things airlines must consider if they move towards controlling the seats that are used by the passengers. The end result is that, the airline travel is not the lavishness as it used to be. But look at the amount of individuals who used to be able to fly and the amount of people who are able to fly these days. In the previous years of China and lounge seats, a tiny fraction of the people could manage to pay for air travel. It was a luxury. Now it is a contemporary appropriateness that is more available to many people, but the characteristic of luxury have been surrendered in order to make it more available. That is the way it goes (Sullivan 4). This policy will be applicable to individuals who are not able to fit into one seat, are not able to buckle the seat belt properly or are not able to put down the armrest when they are seated. The airline says it came up with this policy after getting complaints from customers who were seated next to overweight individuals in economy class seat rows. Various overweight persons say that they already purchase two seats on flights to evade embarrassment. But how do we evaluate how fat is too fat What is known concerning measurements of fatness is that in fact if those same measurements are taken and applied them to a number of our elite athletes, our rugby players or our AFL players, they would all be judged to be overweight as well, which is clearly not the case (Appleton). Fifty five of Australians believes that overweight passengers ought to be forced to pay for extra seats to accommodate their girth. This reaction varies by state; 75% of Western Australians believes that overweight Aussies should shell out for two economy seats, while only 25% of people in New South Wales are not sympathetic to the plight of the obese. Younger Australians with the age of eighteen to twenty five years feel more empathetic that individuals must pull their own weight by paying for extra seat (Sullivan 7) Charging extra fee on overweight people is discrimination. Overweight individuals are just like any other people except that they are fat but they are still people and it is discriminating against these individuals to charge additional fee for them to fly. That practice would be tremendously rude and is discrimination, which is against the law. It is unfair to make obese passengers pay extra since they are still people and still usually only take up single seat (Appleton). A good number people weigh under the normal weight and their payment for a larger expected weight would compensate the cost for overweight individuals. There is a normal weight airlines expect people to have, and this is what they base their prices on. More often than not, people are below this weight and thus pay additional fee for the more weight they could have had but they do not. If most of the flight is below the normal weight, they would have paid a little bit too much. Instead of the airline making more profit, the extra payment could be passed onto the overweight passengers and this would cover the expenditure. There is no need to make these individuals pay extra charges. An overweight passenger who flies often would actually suffer. If this regulation came into place, overweight regular flyers would pay additional fare every single flight. The burden on these individuals would get too high and people would have to pay, and pay, then pay a bit more whenever they flew, as an unjust consequence to their often inherited problem. There is no relationship between a person and a travel case. People, whether overweight or not, are just people. One cannot compare an individual with a suitcase. Suitcases are non-living and they do not breathe. This law is the same with weight. Excess weight in a suitcase is not comparable with an overweight individual (Sullivan 5). Conclusion The amount of unfairness and ignorance expressed in this scenario is unbelievable. It is a fact that in the US, there is a relationship between fatness and poverty, and a new study shows a higher rate amongst African-Americans. This is not due to eating too much. Heavy individuals are mis-characterized as having a self-inflicted situation of greed and lack of control, when it is a dietary and economic crisis that keeps the healthy food the least affordable. Americans generally are also growing larger, not just heavier but also taller. The sizes of seats are too small. The public is bad enough on making heavy people feel humiliated, or at least like they ought to be in eternal shame that they even exist. Not like children, we are one human being. Therefore by considering all the aspects above it is well to stipulate that the overweight individuals should not be charged for two seats when flying. Work cited http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx Id=707711: Excess baggage: should fat passengers pay more Kate ,Appleton .Obese passengers on United flights may now need to buy a 2nd seat* http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/04 : budget travel Sullivan, B. Should overweight passengers be charged more New York: Stanford press, (2007) 2-7 Read More