Obese passengers may pay more - Flights,Travel Airport News

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 29/06/2009.

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Unless you’re lucky enough to be traveling first class, traveling long distance by airplane can be rather cramped, especially if the seat is too small for some reason.

According to a recent survey, obesity rates have grown dramatically throughout the world in the last two decades. However, the size of airplane seats has remained the same, causing discomfort to many passengers.

To try and accommodate all their passengers, airlines around the world have been experimenting with various policies. One thing that airlines have been considering to address the situation is to insist that obese passengers purchase two seats so that they don’t take up a portion of the seat belonging to the passenger next to them.

However, Peggy Howell, a spokeswoman for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance said in a CNN interview that she is against this idea: “The airlines need to be making bigger seats. It's not safe to be cramming us into two seats."

Although charging passengers for two seats may not be the ideal solution it seems that something needs to be done to rectify the situation. According to the calculations of a CDC scientist, the average weight of an American has increased by 10 pounds or more, which costs the airlines an estimated $275 million extra for fuel.

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