Air France-KLM to charge obese flyers almost double

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http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel- ... -mjvq.html


Obese people who are unable to squeeze into a single plane seat will have to pay nearly double to fly with Air France-KLM in future, the company says.

Extra-large flyers will have to pay 75 per cent of the cost of a second seat (the full price excluding tax and surcharges) on top of the full price for the first, spokeswoman Monique Matze said yesterday, saying the decision was made for "safety" reasons.

"We have to make sure that the backrest can move freely up and down and that all passengers are securely fastened with a safety belt," Matze said.

People who cannot fit into a single seat are fastened by slotting the belt tip of one seat into the plug of the next - stretching over both seats.

By paying for both, the overweight passenger will be assured that two seats will be available next to each other. However, they will get their money back on flights that are not fully booked, Matze said.

The new measure will apply for people who book their tickets from February 1 for all flights from April 1 this year.

The average plane seat is 43 centimetres wide - 44 centimetres for long-haul flights.

So mostly americains will have to pay double..

Hmm, can't see anything wrong with this. In fact, they provide a 25% discount, which they don't have to. Good form, Air France.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/1001 ... us_obesity

Already debunked.

Such a surcharge would clearly be illegal for tickets originating in Canada, and would likely face significant challenges in Europe (I can't speak to the state of the law in the EU on this subject).

Europe exposed!

Not shown in the picture: His American parent(s).

I think that might be a lady...

It makes sense. If you take up 2 seats you should pay for them.

Sounds reasonable. More fuel is required to lift their weight than that of a lighter person.

ruveyn

I agree.

If they can spend all the money on the food instead of drugs, they deserve this preferential treatment.

that's our problem, we don't take enough drugs...

But it does not require more crew (salaries, wages and benefits are the highest cost in travel), more spares or more maintenance. It does not increase the cost of landing fees and ground handling. Let's not forget the add-ons. It does not require extra security screening, passenger facility cost, customs and agriculture screening (for international travel).

The commodity model of pricing--suggesting that every seat is a single commodity for which a consumer should pay a fixed price--has not existed in airfare pricing for decades.

Rather, air transportation is a service which has a finite capacity. The cost of the service is based not on the cost of delivering that service (it is cheaper to fly from Chicago to L.A. than it is to fly from Chicago to Reno, even though the distance to LA is greater, and the cost of operations at LAX are more expensive than those at RNO). The cost is based on the supply of seats and the demand for those seats. It is not unheard of for airlines to offer seats on a below-cost basis in circumstances of competition, and to move to excessive fares in circumstances of monopoly.

In that situation, the passenger is merely one more demand for the exact same service as the next passenger seeking to travel between those same two points, not a passenger consuming double the commodity.

It really depends whether the flight is full or not. If the flight is full, each fat person who stops a thin person flying by taking their seat takes the price of one ticket away from the airline, which is bad for everyone, including the fat person, because the airline would need to raise ticket prices to compensate for the lost income.

If the flight isn't full, then the fuel cost could potentially be lower for a fat person taking two seats, if (fat person + luggage) is less than 2(thin person + luggage); I've no idea whether that's the case.

Air France wouldnt do that in Canada, unless they want to face tons of human rights complaints and lawsuits......such a charge would be a human rights violation in Canada.

In any case, if a disability or condition raises the costs of rendering the service then either:

1. Charge the exceptional person extra

or

2. Raise everyone's price to cover the additional cost.

No way out of that.

ruveyn

Well here's the big question.. do they give them two meals??