United airlines and obese passengers

[cottmann]

UK newspaper The Guardian is reporting that United Airlines may offload obese passengers (roughly 1/3rd of all Americans, according to the article) on full flights and require them either to upgrade to business class or buy two tickets.

I wonder if other airlines will follow this example?

[giggsy]

if the flights are full how can they buy 2 tickets?

[cottmann]

if the flights are full how can they buy 2 tickets?

According to the airline's Website on passengers requiring extra space (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52985,00.html), this policy concerns passengers who meet the following criteria on United or United Express flights:
* are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin
* are unable to properly buckle the seat belt using a single seat belt extender
* are unable to put the seat's armrests down when seated
Those who fit under any of these criteria will be relocated next to an empty seat. If there are no unused seats available, then the persion must either purchase an upgrade to a cabin with available seats or change to the next available flight and purchase a second seat. Those who meet the criteria and who don't purchase the second seat will not be allowed on the flight.

Apparently Southwest Airlines in the USA has a similar policy.

[giggsy]

as always i'm thinking of other poster on this board and will ask the question for them,,what if you are too big to fit into a bussiness class seat..
being an employee of "United" for a number of years i always get upgraded to 1st class but after my retirement (which might be in a few weeks time) i may well have to fly yorkshire airlines..ive posted their details on sgt before but it is always worth another look.

[youtube:3k04js2e]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg[/youtube:3k04js2e]

According to the airline's Website on passengers requiring extra space (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52985,00.html), this policy concerns passengers who meet the following criteria on United or United Express flights:
* are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin

Bloody excellent policy. What an enlightened company.
Any airline that puts me next to some fat sod who overflows into my seat will either have the options of giving me a free upgrade, a better seat or facing legal action afterwards.

I guess they could put in a few oversize seats & charge them more on a pro-rata basis, but I guess it may get rather close to premium economy.

[Bob]

Yes, a most excellent policy.

While I do try to be very understanding and polite to the horizontally-challenged, all bets are off if the fat fucker tries to intrude on my meager space! :cheers: