OT: overweight-man-kicked-off-southwest-flight

[iglehart]

"In other words, thin does not necessarily equal healthy. Overweight does not necessarily equal unhealthy."

Not sure where you get your facts or conclusions, but the first part is 100% correct thin does not equal healthy. The 2nd part is the opposite, you are 100% wrong.
There is so much scientific evidence that being overweight increases your risk for so many diseases. No way you can argue that being overweight is healthy.
Now please understand I am NOT saying this is the persons fault. There are so many reasons to be overweight and it is no where as simple as telling people to stop eating,
but the conclusions you reached are just not logical.

As for what SouthWest did I am in the middle somewhere. I think its wrong morally what they did, that is the part of embarassing the guy, but on the other hand if you don't fit in the seat I think
that infringes on the passenger next to you. Also the seats are small and what is the norm? Like one guys said should a 6'7" person pay more because of his height?
This is a tricky issue, but I will state one thing I firmly believe in. This is still America, although barely, capitalism rules. If you don't like a companies business practices take your money elsewhere.

[SMenasco]

I am overweight, but it's not my fault. The devil makes me eat more than I need. However, I'm not too fat, I'm just not tall enough.

[chunkyfrog]

Since I am short of stature, my feet dangle. This affects the circulation in my legs. {{{OMG! THE PAIN!}}}
When I have flown, I have secured a seat next to the window, so I can rest my feet on the heater housing.
Most others want the aisle seat, so this is very doable.

[ChicagoGranny]

There is so much scientific evidence that being overweight increases your risk for so many diseases.

Makes no sense without defining "overweight".

[iglehart]

so overweight, I should have said Obese. There are definitions of percentage over the normal for body build, height and sex what average range of weights are. So if you are X percent over that you are obese. Now this works for most people but not all, but here we are talking statistics so its applies.

[ChicagoGranny]

Makes no sense without defining "obese".

[iglehart]

Umm, tring to be understanding. Did you not read my above post. It defines what it is. I don't the exact percentage you can easily do a google search and find out the exact percentage for obese. <- not sure if I spelled that correctly.

Otherwise I take it your just being a smart ass.

[DeadlySleep]

Did you not read my above post. It defines what it is.

Well no, your post does not define "obese". But let me help.

I think you are stumbling on the circular reasoning behind the definition of "obese". Let's look at what medical researchers studying weight and disease have done recently to define "obese".

They did large statistical studies of populations matching up BMI, age and disease prevalence. They followed age-adjusted BMIs and noticed at some point as the weight increased there was a large increase in certain types of diseases. These were mainly hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder failure, osteoarthritis, respiratory problems and some cancers (colon, breast and endometrial).

So they defined "obese" as anything at or above BMI levels where populations show significant increases in the aforementioned health problems.

Now the definition of "obese" applies to populations and may be different for any individual within a population. But that is another discussion.

Personally, I say watch out for your belly fat. This is the most dangerous fat as far as serious health problems are concerned.

[DeadlySleep]

I remembered having seen photos of weigh stations at airports in the 50s and 60s.... here's one:

Photograph of Dionne Warwick being weighed before boarding aircraft at airport in south of France in 1964, with Josephine Baker

Interesting photo. Thanks for sharing it RandyJ.

I believe the weighing was for the purpose of balancing the weight on the two sides of the plane and was not having to do with fares. Does anyone know about this for sure?

[NightSky]

I'm a bit overweight and I sympathize with the fact that it can be difficult to lose weight, but I agree completely with Captain Midnight that if one is obese or otherwise large enough that one is taking up space of the person next to them then it is time to buy two seats, or a first class ticket, or don't fly. That's not discrimination it is facing reality and taking responsibility for ones place therein. It is fine to complain all you want about the seats being too small, but don't take it out on fellow passengers.

[Hose_Head]

I'm a bit overweight and I sympathize with the fact that it can be difficult to lose weight, but I agree completely with Captain Midnight that if one is obese or otherwise large enough that one is taking up space of the person next to them then it is time to buy two seats, or a first class ticket, or don't fly. That's not discrimination it is facing reality and taking responsibility for ones place therein. It is fine to complain all you want about the seats being too small, but don't take it out on fellow passengers.

Whoa! I have to disagree here. And by disagreeing, I'm NOT saying that it's just too bad for those affected by spillover by an obese person seated next to them.

The problem as I see it is that this is an issue that has been created by the airline industry. They are the ones who have continued to downsize seat space, despite the fact that the populace has tended to be larger (both weight and height) over the years. As airlines have reduced seat sizes they have caused an ever increasing percentage of the population to be too large for what they offer. And for that reason, it's unfair that the wrath of those affected by "spillover" be directed at the "spillee".

We all should be screaming at the airlines because they are the ones who have created the problem.

If airline practices continue, it won't be too far into the future that we find aircraft that are designed to accommodate only those who represent the smallest 60%, 50%, 40%, 30% ... of the populace. The lower limit is going to be controlled only by there no longer being enough people that fit the demographic to allow the company to continue to be profitable.

As an adult, have you ever tried to sit in those schoolbus seats that are designed for your kids? Except maybe for ChunkyFrog, few of us will fit in those seats.

[NightSky]

We all should be screaming at the airlines because they are the ones who have created the problem.

I doubt that will work because it is actually a combination of the laws of physics, math, and economics that cause the problem. More weight means more fuel consumption and increased ticket expense. Bigger seats mean fewer seats which then means fewer paying passengers and higher ticket prices. Higher ticket prices means the airline competitors that don't make bigger seats will get most of your customers. The idea that this is discrimination because some people are haters is not correct.

If you want to pass legislation to make a minimum seat size mandatory, write your congress-people (and be aware that that will increase ticket prices for everyone. And even then, there will still be some people that are too large to fit in that mandated minimum.) But until that happens, there is something that an overweight person can do about it, while there is nothing that someone forced to sit next to them can do.

[DeadlySleep]

We all should be screaming at the airlines because they are the ones who have created the problem.

I doubt that will work because it is actually a combination of the laws of physics, math, and economics that cause the problem. More weight means more fuel consumption and increased ticket expense. Bigger seats mean fewer seats which then means fewer paying passengers and higher ticket prices. Higher ticket prices means the airline competitors that don't make bigger seats will get most of your customers. The idea that this is discrimination because some people are haters is not correct.

If you want to pass legislation to make a minimum seat size mandatory, write your congress-people (and be aware that that will increase ticket prices for everyone. And even then, there will still be some people that are too large to fit in that mandated minimum.) But until that happens, there is something that an overweight person can do about it, while there is nothing that someone forced to sit next to them can do.

Well said. Of course the airlines use small seats because the customer has sent clear price signals that he favors smaller seats/lower prices over larger seats/higher prices.

I see in the lightning thread they are talking about what you are not taught in school. Looks like economics and consumer behavior are not taught either.

[Todzo]

could you choose a less disgusting avatar please

[RandyJ]

Interesting photo. Thanks for sharing it RandyJ.

I believe the weighing was for the purpose of balancing the weight on the two sides of the plane and was not having to do with fares. Does anyone know about this for sure?

You are correct, as well as computing total weight of passengers plus cargo/baggage. Now they use an average weight to calculate.

I remember flying from Rome to New York on Alitalia shortly after the 9/11/01 attacks and the plane was almost empty. A 767 I think and we were less than 20 passengers. The seating program staggered us throughout the plane, so that some were on the left and others on the right.