Airline Fat Tax? How About One For Morons

Commentary by Christopher Lochhead, a former technology executive who now works as a strategy advisor.

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United Airlines has joined the chorus of airlines applying a "fat tax."

United says it created the new policy after receiving at least 700 complaints about overweight passengers. In the complaints it received, the company says that customers have complained about fat people who have "infringed on their seat." United says that it has simply "aligned" with other airlines for the "comfort and well-being of all customers" in charging the large for two seats.

How does the airline decide whether you're obese? Ask yourself the following questions: (If the answer is in the affirmative, then you're out of luck.)

Are you unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin?

Are you unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single
seatbelt extender?

Are you unable to put the seat's armrests down when seated?

Apparently, if no pair of empty seats exists, the overweight passenger would be forced to take a later flight.

I don't care how skinny or fat you are, the seats are still way too small. I'm about 6 feet and 185 pounds, and after any more than 3 hours in coach, I need a chiropractor. And U.S. carrier seats in business class are not much better.

Now, according to the US Center For Disease Control, 66 percent of Americans "are overweight or obese."

This was only a matter of time. It turns out that the average American male gained 25 pounds between 1960 and 2002 while the average woman put on 24 more pounds.

So this new policy could double the cost of travel for half the airline industries customers in this country.

Agree with this tax or not, this much is clear: we need bigger -- or at least, more comfortable -- seats, not to mention a moron tax to stop people from stupid travel behavior. So if the carriers are eager to impose new taxes on passengers, I've got a few other suggestions they might want to consider:

Crying baby tax.

Luggage that doesn't fit in the overhead bin tax.

Flatulence tax.

Puking on, or near me, tax.

Snoring with grizzly bear breath tax.

Chatty Cathy tax (ever been trapped next to someone who won't shut up from one coast to the other?)

Deodorant-free traveler tax.

Falling asleep on me tax.

You're too sick to be flying and you're going to make us all sick tax.

Taking your shoes and wet socks off tax. (Think of John Candy in "Trains, Planes & Automobiles")

Any or all of the above would make a big difference for the "comfort and well-being" of all of us.

By Christopher Lochhead ?2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved

[TressorJ]

Even when it comes to airlines, I don't think a fat tax is very practical - there are several things wrong with Pigouvian taxes in general. They are hard to calculate because it is impossible to determine the exact amount of externality caused, in this case by obesity, and they affect different people in different ways! Here is an article about why a fat tax wouldn't work: http://www.mindreign.com/en/mindshare/Global-Economics/Fat-Tax/sl35291137bp387cpp10pn1.html

[imlogical]

ABOUT TIME! If I pay for the use of my seat, what gives the person next to me the right to use it too...without my permission!??! This is simple a real estate issue. If you need more space (in other words, you can not physically fit within the perimeters of the space that you paid for...for whatever reason), you need to buy more space. If your fatness rolls over into my space, it is not only rude, but should be illegal. Like trespassing. You don't like it, find another way to get there! Wake up and stop complaining to avoid your own personal issues and problems that you and only you create for other people.

[cattlekate1]

I would really appreciate it if the flight attendants added to their spiel:

If you are sitting in an aisle or window seat, you can only use ONE arm rest - you CANNOT use the armrests being used by the middle person.

[democracy1]

The seat assignment is just a benefit for customers who want to chose where they may want to sit. Grow up, the seat isn't yours, you are not renting it, you do not own it, you didn't pay for it. You paid for the service and the travel between the destinations.
Posted by MarkKMN at 10:54 AM : Apr 24, 2009

And YOU would be the first one charged with the "moron tax"!

What possible rationale do you have for your statement that we are NOT renting the seat?

Of COURSE WE ARE!

[krzeaz]

I had one flight seated next to an MD a few yrs back. Sorry, as bright as he was, his body spilled over on my seat to the point where I was half into the aisle. He took up the arm rest the whole way. I'm sure the window passenger had the same rotten experience, if not worse. I'm glad they're charging thse big people. Maybe it will be more comfortable for the normies now.

[gold_standard]

I can see why people fly in private jets :).

[SusanStoHelit]

You pay for a seat with your airline ticket. If you want a second - to carry a precious heirloom, guitar, pet, etc. - you have to pay for it. Your ticket is not for transport in whatever contorted position your seatmate puts you into, not for transport using however much space you like - it is for ONE seat. If you need more, you do not get to steal part of my seat (especially since I am large myself, obese in fact, and while I fit into one seat, there's nothing to spare for you), just because you happen to have problems.

[MarkKMN]

Okay, look. You do NOT pay for a seat when you buy an airline ticket. You do not own a seat or rent the seat. You pay for two things, first - to get from point A to point B, and second - what level of service you want. You buy a ticket for travel between New York and Dallas in Coach service, period. You do NOT buy or rent a seat on an airplane that so happens to travel between the two cities. Coach service means the following - you pay for all of your checked luggage, you get no snacks unless you pay for them, you get to set in a really small uncomfortable seats and perhaps even have to sit next to a large person who may need a part of the seat you are sitting in - deal with it, it is what you agreed to when you bought the ticket. If you want a higher level of service - i.e. a bigger seat, then you have to pay for that in a higher class. The seat assignment is just a benefit for customers who want to chose where they may want to sit. Grow up, the seat isn't yours, you are not renting it, you do not own it, you didn't pay for it. You paid for the service and the travel between the destinations.

[optimystic]

I am overweight and I fit in a seat. Pregnant women fit in the seats. They don't use BMI so that has zero correlation with what percentage of travelers this would affect (someone else posted that over half the passengers would have to pay extra - wrong!). We have become a nation of whiners. If you want to be pampered, there are airliines that will do it. But a lot of us would rather pay as little as possible to haul our reasonably average sized posteriors from one locale to another. If they went to bench seats with movable armrests and sold seats by the inch, would that be discriminatory or just fair?

[czechtraveler]

Where's the commonsense in this country?

Common sense? the avg person is a moron and you want common sense.........unless you can stay around well educated professionals at all times your not going to find much common sense