6 ms·

This is a good point, but surely you will agree that we can only discuss where to draw the line, not whether it should be drawn or not? As said in another post

This is a good point, but surely you will agree that we can only discuss where to draw the line, not whether it should be drawn or not? As said in another post, life is not fair. If we take your point to the extreme, society should even out the disadvantages that come from having below-average intelligence.

mjburgess 15y ago
Well there are many competing princilpes, and the way we prioritize them will affect the kind of society we end up with. I believe in this instance, the benefits of equality outweight the costs. If we believe that a "free" market would distribute prices differently so that lighter people paid less and you believe the free market price is fair. Then some small ecnomic harm is occuring, to those who pay more. The social cost of rectifying this small harm however is, i think, considerable. It makes transportation harder for poorer people and perhaps those that need transport the most. And so on. In this case, i think the $500 extra /flight can be distributed across the couple hundred passengers without much to-do.
kahawe 15y ago
> life is not fair Then the line can very well remain drawn where it already is drawn: same price for everyone. Also, see top comment with an estimation how little price difference there would be between "petite" and "overweight". It would cost the airlines a lot more to implement this and then prices for everyone would be higher plus it will add a lot humiliation on top of the shenanigans the TSA is already putting you through. This whole idea is nothing but minutiae and micro-managing, being lost in details and on top of that very unrealistic when you think about implementing it. Also, I am surprised how quickly all human rights and rights of equal treatment suddenly seem to stop existing when it is about "fat people".

6 ms·

This is a good point, but surely you will agree that we can only discuss where to draw the line, not whether it should be drawn or not? As said in another post

by kristiandupont 15y ago

mjburgess 15y ago
Well there are many competing princilpes, and the way we prioritize them will affect the kind of society we end up with. I believe in this instance, the benefits of equality outweight the costs. If we believe that a "free" market would distribute prices differently so that lighter people paid less and you believe the free market price is fair. Then some small ecnomic harm is occuring, to those who pay more. The social cost of rectifying this small harm however is, i think, considerable. It makes transportation harder for poorer people and perhaps those that need transport the most. And so on. In this case, i think the $500 extra /flight can be distributed across the couple hundred passengers without much to-do.
kahawe 15y ago
> life is not fair Then the line can very well remain drawn where it already is drawn: same price for everyone. Also, see top comment with an estimation how little price difference there would be between "petite" and "overweight". It would cost the airlines a lot more to implement this and then prices for everyone would be higher plus it will add a lot humiliation on top of the shenanigans the TSA is already putting you through. This whole idea is nothing but minutiae and micro-managing, being lost in details and on top of that very unrealistic when you think about implementing it. Also, I am surprised how quickly all human rights and rights of equal treatment suddenly seem to stop existing when it is about "fat people".