3 ms·

I think the real story here the airlines would like us to ignore is that seats should be large enough to comfortably accommodate all body types. Having the che

I think the real story here the airlines would like us to ignore is that seats should be large enough to comfortably accommodate all body types. Having the cheapest possible flights is not a civilization goal we should be aspiring to, especially in light of climate impacts.

josephcsible 3y ago
> seats should be large enough to comfortably accommodate all body types. No they shouldn't be. That would mean way fewer seats would fit on any given plane, which would send ticket prices through the roof for everyone. People who aren't fat shouldn't have to pay extra to accommodate those who are, when the options of buying two seats or a first-class seat are available. > Having the cheapest possible flights is not a civilization goal we should be aspiring to, especially in light of climate impacts. Climate impact is even more of a reason to not do what you want! We'd need more planes and bigger planes for the same amount of air travel, and so the carbon footprint of any given plane ticket would be much higher.
- frumper 3y ago
  It's not just fat. It's large and tall people that struggle as well. Your knees hitting the back of the seat isn't a good way to travel either.
  - josephcsible 3y ago
    Since you don't have control over your height (and to a lesser extent, since you can't get more legroom by buying an additional seat), I don't have a problem with adding more space between rows to accommodate tall people. It's wider seats that I have an issue with.
    - frumper 3y ago
      Some people are large. Certainly there is variation. You still have to decide what width to set as reasonable.
      - josephcsible 3y ago
        How about 3 standard deviations above the mean of the non-overweight subset of the population?
injb 3y ago
>>> Having the cheapest possible flights is not a civilization goal we should be aspiring to But everyone does have the same body type. They are just not all the same size. What you're saying is basically that people who are disadvantaged by their size should be given priority over those who are disadvantaged by being poor. I would like to live in a world where people who are unusually big because of genetics or a genuine disability or medical condition or whatever can have the same experience as everyone else at the same price. And if that was truly the cause, we wouldn't be hearing about this. Airlines would just eat the cost and avoid the controversy. We're hearing about this because it's a massive epidemic in the West, brought on by lifestyle, and the airlines can't afford to assume that overweightness is an anomaly any longer.

josephcsible 3y ago

> seats should be large enough to comfortably accommodate all body types. No they shouldn't be. That would mean way fewer seats would fit on any given plane, which would send ticket prices through the roof for everyone. People who aren't fat shouldn't have to pay extra to accommodate those who are, when the options of buying two seats or a first-class seat are available. > Having the cheapest possible flights is not a civilization goal we should be aspiring to, especially in light of climate impacts. Climate impact is even more of a reason to not do what you want! We'd need more planes and bigger planes for the same amount of air travel, and so the carbon footprint of any given plane ticket would be much higher.

frumper 3y ago
It's not just fat. It's large and tall people that struggle as well. Your knees hitting the back of the seat isn't a good way to travel either.
- josephcsible 3y ago
  Since you don't have control over your height (and to a lesser extent, since you can't get more legroom by buying an additional seat), I don't have a problem with adding more space between rows to accommodate tall people. It's wider seats that I have an issue with.
  - frumper 3y ago
    Some people are large. Certainly there is variation. You still have to decide what width to set as reasonable.
    - josephcsible 3y ago
      How about 3 standard deviations above the mean of the non-overweight subset of the population?

injb 3y ago

>>> Having the cheapest possible flights is not a civilization goal we should be aspiring to But everyone does have the same body type. They are just not all the same size. What you're saying is basically that people who are disadvantaged by their size should be given priority over those who are disadvantaged by being poor. I would like to live in a world where people who are unusually big because of genetics or a genuine disability or medical condition or whatever can have the same experience as everyone else at the same price. And if that was truly the cause, we wouldn't be hearing about this. Airlines would just eat the cost and avoid the controversy. We're hearing about this because it's a massive epidemic in the West, brought on by lifestyle, and the airlines can't afford to assume that overweightness is an anomaly any longer.