BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Large & Lovely United Airlines Plans to Discriminate

Kate Harding appeared on CNN and really did an excellent job of explaining why this is wrong. She's posted it on her blog under.

Since I really hate to fly...well I chime in anyway...
I only take up one seat, but I'm really tall and what bothers me is I cramp up my legs to so that they do not sprawl out into the person's space next to me, but the person in the seat in front of me leans their seat all the way back taking up what little leg room I didn't have to begin with. Can I charge them for infringing upon my space?
I'm in agreement that airlines do need to consider accomodating their customers but I also understand that budgetwise, that may be hard to do.

Saying that airlines 'should make their seats bigger' is, frankly, just foolish. Airlines are in the business to make money. Fewer seats means less money, which makes no economic sense. What does make economic sense is to charge people for what they use. The fact is, this new rule will affect a percentage of people, not the majority. The airline will accommodate the majority, because that's good business practice. Making all the seats bigger so that a minority of the customers are more comfortable would be a very poor business decision.

There is completely *no* parallel between this and gay marriage. If two people of the same sex choose to get married, it has no economic impact on heterosexual couples. There is no business decision involved in supporting or not supporting gay marriage, because marriage isn't a business. The arguments for and against it are based on morality, religion, whatever you want to call it, but not on economics.

I see that many people are responding to this as if it *is* a moral issue, but it's simply not. Framing it as 'discrimination' is inaccurate. You're not being discriminated against because you are large - you are being accommodated, in fact. Let's look at it another way - you are a large person. You buy a plane ticket and are told that because you are large, you are restricted to only sitting in seats at the back of the plane, because those seats are designated for larger people. Does that 'back of the bus' scenario sound familiar? Or, how would you feel if the airline announced that from now on, larger people could only travel on certain flights, which would be undersold so that they would have more space? Or, larger people can only fly on a certain type of plane that has larger seats? You would *scream* at the discrimination. The current policy, while inconvenient, is not discriminatory. This is not a moral or ethical issue, despite how much it may feel like it to you.

And, it's not like United has a monopoly, either. You can choose to take your business elsewhere. Some of the smaller airlines actively advertise their increased seat size as a perk - fly those airlines to show your support for them.

I do get your point. I said earlier that I don't really have a good solution ... I mean, we could boycott airlines, but that's not practical for some of us who have to travel for work, so don't have any real choice but to travel. We can complain, sure. I wonder what we can do? I don't believe AT ALL that bigger people should be humiliated or embarassed. I think that wasn't clear in my last post. I really don't. I mean, really, I'm a "bigger woman" so it could easily be me! I wonder what we can do? I guess I don't have much confidence that corporations really give a rip about what we all have to say.

Interesting thread! As far as airlines making the seats bigger, over the years statistics show that people are growing larger and taller. The airlines are trying to keep seats small for economic reasons, but that does not jive with how our society is expanding, in more ways than one. Just as many movie theaters are using larger seats, airlines need to do the same to keep up with our physically expanding society.

My sister is very large and has purchased two seats at great expense because she realizes neither she nor her fellow passengers are comfortable if she only has one seat. The last time she and I flew together, we shared three seats with me on the aisle and she sat by the window.

When I fly, I have trouble with a lack of space for my legs because I am tall. My knees invariably are scrunched into the seat in front of me causing a very unpleasant trip.

With the expanding girth of Americans, and those in other countries, discrimination doesn't seem to be the best decision an airlines can make if they want to continue being a viable source of travel. They need to adjust to the needs of the population if they want to stay in business.

Edie,
I definitely feel your pain on being tall and stuck in an airline seat.

Thanks Edie.

People in our society have bigger butts and are definitely at an all time height. Seats on airlines haven't changed since the 1960s.

Here's another interesting discussion on both sides of the argument from More to Love.

Until flying is like it used to I will have zero pity for anyone who travels like that unless we are talking about animals, babies, children and people too sick to consent. I have not traveled like that since it has started (shame because i was about to start traveling like that - flying looks so fun but i sure as heck will not help a nazi system). There are many other ways to travel and these ways do not contribute to the loss of our liberties, freedoms and rights!