Flying Fat

A few days ago, I came across something on the Facebook page of a blogger that I follow. It was a conversation about overweight people on airplanes. This is a sore subject for a lot of people, overweight people in particular. I'll be 100 % honest and say that I'm overweight myself. And not just a little bit. I'm not going to get into numbers this early on, but suffice it to say that it wouldn't be out of turn for me to talk about this subject.


With that said, I personally feel that if a person is so overweight that they need to put up the armrest and they need a seat belt extender, then all airlines should charge them for two seats. This isn't discriminatory in the least. I don't feel discriminated against by airlines who require that passengers over a certain weight pay for two seats. If I want to fly, I understand that airplane seats are made for certain sizes. Anything above that size, and you're spilling over into your fellow passenger's personal space. Space on airplanes is cramped to begin with, let alone having a person two or three times your size hanging half their body into your seat that you paid for.


Someone on that Facebook page made a very good point. Most airlines charge you for bags that are over the weight or size limit. You're only allowed a certain size carry-on and a certain number of them before you have to check your bags and pay for that. The same rule should apply to passengers. If you're going to carry on more weight or a bigger size than what the seats and seat belts generally allow, you should have to pay for it. Everyone has the right to their personal space. Everyone. However, when your personal space must include half the personal space of someone else, then you're encroaching on their right to their personal space. You're invading it without their permission. They paid for a full seat. So did you. But, you're using part of the seat they paid for because you can't fit fully into the one that you paid for. How is that fair? In short, it isn't. Granted, some people have health problems that prevent them from losing weight or they take medications that cause weight gain. While I sympathize with their plight, it still doesn't give them the right to invade someone else's seat.

Put it this way: I have to pay more for clothes in a larger size because there is extra material that goes into making it. I used to bitch and moan about that. “What the fuck? As if being fat and being looked down on by society isn't bad enough, now we have to pay more for our clothing, too?!” Well, yeah. We do. If my one shirt takes as much material as two shirts of a smaller size, how would it be fair for me to pay the same price as someone who fits into the smaller size? What I don't think is fair is that most plus-size clothing is reminiscent of grandma's sofa circa 1970. I personally don't like looking like upholstery. I'm not one of the von Trapp kids and I would prefer not to look like my outfit was made from heavy drapery. That, however, is an entirely different blog post for another day.

How would we go about this? Just entering your weight isn't sufficient because what if your weight is in proportion to your height? Then you have to pay extra, even though you're not overweight? Perhaps a BMI calculator? Who knows?

My point in this whole thing is that we have to pay more to get more if we need more. We can't expect 100% equal treatment across the board. Things aren't equal. The proverbial (and literal) scales are not balanced. If we as overweight people want to be able to pay the prices thin people do, then we have one choice. Anything else just wouldn't be fair and, in my opinion, would be asking too much.