Who says size doesn't matter?

[ewallace]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/22/virgin.payout/index.html

I just want to state that I love Southwest Airlines. This problem would not have occured on their aircraft.

[Neurotic]

Seriously though - if I was the person who was forced to sit next to that woman, I would have sat on the floor, or spent most of the trip standing.

There is no way I would have subjected myself to that sort of situation, knowing full well how uncomfortable I would be.

The lady should take some sort of self responisibilty for staying in the seat.

It's unfortunate that people are that obese, but if you aren't comfortable with a situation, why decide to stay in it?

Neurotic

[wtinfo]

as you can read she did spend some of it standing up and some in a staff seat.

The problem is when the seatbelt lights go on you HAVE to sit down in your seat or you can be endagering the other passengers.

I think her husband should have taken her seat for her though.

[GreyMystik]

i know at one point some airlines were considering charging the price of two tickets for anyone who essentially took up two seats, does anyone know what became of this idea?

[ewallace]

Southwest Airlines does this.

[Neurotic]

Yeah but seatbelt signs (generally) are only on for about half an hour in total

15 minutes for landing, 15 minutes for take off.
(of course thats off my own memory of flying)

If she wanted, she could also have been swapping with her husband, so she only had to sit through one time period.

But I definatley would have made a larger scene before take off - if not asking to be transfered to a later flight.

Neurotic

[Leonidas]

If thats not incentive enough to go on the zone then i dont know what is. She **** near killed someone. Blood clots are dangerous and she ruined someone elses vacation.

[LEGEND]

STAPLE STOMACH SURGERY ANYONE???

[Budokan]

How would you like the job of scraping out the cheese between that fat broad's legs....?

[joedoe]

OMG Budokan. That is just too gross a mental image :eek: :eek:

I agree with charging for 2 seats if they are that obese, considering that they are often actually taking up 2 seats.

The next question is - if you had a heavily muscled body builder that also took up more than one seat, should they also be charged for 2 seats?

[David Jamieson]

Does this mean that there are an uncommonly large amount of obese people in the southwest US? (excuse the pun).

Are the pilots looking at the manual when a southwest jet takes off with a load of obese passengers?

I think they should just make bigger seats. problem solved.

as for the woman and her problem... well, unfortunately you can't legislate against stupidity.

peace

[SevenStar]

What a heavy burden to bear

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by ewallace
Southwest Airlines does this.

What if the obese person buys their ticket online?

[ewallace]

What if the obese person buys their ticket online?
The internet has eyes brother...the internet has eyes.

[Chang Style Novice]

"Sorry, ma'am, I have a medical condition where I'm unable to control the violent flailing of my elbows - I hope this doesn't inconvenience you."

WHACK!
WHACK!
WHACK!
WHACK!

"Also, please pardon my Tourette's syndrome."

WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"
WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"
WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"
WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"
WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"
WHACK! "FAT F'CKING B!TCH!"

etc.

[rubthebuddha]

shoulda sued the fat lady for undue emotion distress. having nightmares about behemoths and the scars to prove they're real just isn't good for the human psyche.

that, or she coulda just told the cow that she's gonna hit her every time a part of her touches. and if the fat one complains, just point to the aisle and say, "then get busy with the situps, thunderthighs."

[ewallace]

The whole situation could have been prevented with a box of ceran wrap, a roll of duct tape, and a little dose of good ol' southern courtesy.

[Neurotic]

... If only the obese woman had gome in the cargo hold.. this all would have been solved...

Neurotic

[ewallace]

I just remembered a funny story I saw on the news when Southwest airlines first adopted this policy. A san antonio man had bought a ticket (I think to Dallas) and was told that he would need to buy another ticket in order to board the plane. At first all you heard was his voice and he was complaining that it was embarassing and that he was not that large and was being treated unfairly. Then they showed him. If I was the ticket agent I would have made him by two more tickets. The guy was huge. About 6'3"-6'4", and probably tipping the scales at 400lbs.

I had a flight a few years ago on an airline that I won't mention by name but they are based out of America in the West part of the country. I was in the middle seat and had two very large guys on either side. Neither was overly obese, just pretty darn big. To make things worse, the air vents were not working during the flight, and I decided that it would be a great idea to have an anxiety attack at 35,000 ft. Believe me folks, this is a great policy. I am not trying to be insensitive here, but the embarassment of a few is justifyable in this case. They can do something about it, and I hear boats have plenty of room.

[rubthebuddha]

Originally posted by ewallace
They can do something about it, and I hear boats have plenty of room.

they probably won't reject the extra flotation, either.

[Buddha's Hand]

I wonder, what is going to happen the day that an airline assigns three obese passengers in a row of three adjacent seats?

[rubthebuddha]

Originally posted by Buddha's Hand
I wonder, what is going to happen the day that an airline assigns three obese passengers in a row of three adjacent seats?

the plane will be caught in a indefinite turn until either they balance the weight or they run out of fuel.

"ladies in gentlemen, in case of a water landing, your seat cushion will serve as a flotation device, as will the lardbutts in row 16."

[Budokan]

The gross hugeness of these thunder-thigh porkers is totally unacceptable in today's modern society. And no one is ever gonna make me believe that *all* the tonnage you see nowadays rumbling down the sidewalk is due to "hormones" or "medical" problems.

It's fat slobs who don't know when to stop eating. Period. That's the real problem.

[PHILBERT]

Some of them might be hormones/medical crap, I have a coworker who, while not obese, is not skinny either. She has been fat her whole life due to a medical condition. Im sure there are *some* who are fat because of the way there body is. Im skinny by the way my body is, I can eat anything and not gain weight. However I think the majority of obese people are just plain lazy and fear a Stairmaster.

[joedoe]

I am carrying a little extra weight, and have done for my whole life. For it it is partly genetic I think. However I would be a whole lot worse if I didn't exercise and try to watch what I eat (not to mention the effect it would have on my asthma).

For some people there are medical reasons for it. But for the majority I think it is bad diet and plain laziness.

[straight blast]

Chang Style Novice...

Couldn't have said it better myself. :D

"WASHINGTON, DC--According to a report released Monday by the Surgeon General's office, 67 percent of U.S. citizens have gigantic fat asses, with that number projected to climb significantly in the next decade.
The report is the latest in a string of dire findings from Surgeon General David Satcher concerning the high percentage of Americans who suffer from fatness of ass.

"The state of the American derriere has reached crisis proportions," Satcher said. "Without immediate steps to rectify this problem, we can only foresee even more hideously huge backsides as we continue to blimp out into the 21st century."
The strongly worded report, in which Americans are alternately described as "porkers," "wide loads," and "friggin' whales," attributes the fat asses primarily to poor eating habits, with diets heavy on sugar, starches, and saturated fats. It also cites Americans' lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyles as factors in the trend toward "huge bucket-butts."

In addition, the report found that roughly 185 million Americans are "flab-ass flabbos who couldn't say no to a candy bar if their fat, stupid lives depended on it." It went on to warn that those with "gargantuan, sun-blocking rear ends" stand at greater risk of conditions ranging from heart disease to hideousness.
The Surgeon General said the solution to the national health crisis lies in obese citizens "somehow dredging up the shred of dignity needed to drag their rotund, repellent posteriors to a gym, for Christ's sake." He also encouraged those with American Fat-Ass Syndrome, or AFAS, to "lay off the sour-cream-and-chive Ruffles."

The report has provoked outrage among the public at large.
"Okay, so we could all stand to lose a few pounds, but I don't see the need for such insulting language," said Nancy Goode, 48, a morbidly obese St. Cloud, MN, housewife with diabetes, knee problems, and an ass so ludicrously huge it looks like some sort of mutant, land-bound dugong. "Besides, lots of people in this country are very slim and attractive. I see them on TV every day."
Experts say Goode's response is symptomatic of the severe denial inherent in most Americans' self-images.

"Because of what they see on television and in advertising, many Americans are convinced that the nation is largely populated with hot, hard-bodied models who consume nothing but Pepsi and Chee-tos," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. "This notion, however, couldn't be further from the truth. All you need to do is look around to see that we are, in the main, grotesque, repulsive fat f*cks who have long ago given up maintaining a mote of basic pride."

Though the alarmist tone of the report may come as a shock to Americans accustomed to the enormous asses of themselves and their neighbors, the rest of the world has long been aware of Americans' ovoid lower halves. This is apparent in the translations of various languages' popular slang terms for Americans, such as "two-sacks-of-suet-in-skirts," from Swedish; "bloated round-eye balloon-buttocks," from Mandarin Chinese; and "hideous, hellbound hippo-humans," from Swahili.

"The time has come for Americans to face the truth about our collective fat ass," Satcher said. "For too long, we have sat on our massive rump, mindlessly consuming 90 percent of the world's resources and growing steadily bigger by the decade. It's time to get off that fat ass and face the harsh reality of our enormous, distended, disgusting hind ends."

With thanks to theonion.com for the above article :D