fat people and planes

phatbear

Id rather sit beside a chunk munky on a flight than sit on a plane with a screaming kid. After all the munky only effects the person sitting beside them, which is often the person they are travelling with anyway, however the shrill screeching of some little brat on a flight naffs everyone off.

On our last flight back from NY I had some little brat kicking the back of my seat for the 1st hour of the flight until I finally lost my rag and had a word with their father who was sitting beside them and the kicking soon stopped.

Heliflyguy

malkie76 wrote: »

I was thinking about BA, but having double-checked I was mistaken. Seems the 10% fare is for an under 2 on your lap (no luggage allowance). Apparently 2 to 12 year olds can fly on specially discounted tickets, however there was no definite information other than to call BA for specifics. 2 to 12 year olds on the discounted fares get full checked and hand luggage allowances.

Sorry for the confusions :A

On BA infants (under 2 years) used to get 10 kg allowance, now BA is mainly piece system they get 1 piece, cant see any info on how much that should weigh, dont know about the low cost carriers.
As a rule of thumb infants pay 10% of the adult fare, children 2-12 years pay 66%, infants also pay a reduced fuel surcharge.
Certain heavily discounted fare types children may pay the adult fare.

tasha-debt

What about people who have medical reasons for being over wieght like an overactive thyroid?

Plus I guess there is a health and safety issue is the passenger can not:
A- Do their seatbelt up
B- Adopt a brace position
C- Fit into the airplanes toilets
D -If the overweight passenger was to become ill and need to be taken out on a stretcher would their be room to carry them between the aisles?

Interesting debate.

I had a night flight once with a VERY tall man sitting behind me, as his legs were pushed right into the back of my seat, I could not recline the seat so did not sleep at all during the flight plus he must have been very uncomfortable. I could see empty seats in Prem Ecc and asked if I could move and I was told only if I upgraded my ticket!!!!!!

wallbash

Hyperthyroidism ( overactive thyroid) I believe can cause a increase in feeling hungry, but its the food that causes the fat .

malkie76

wallbash wrote: »

Hyperthyroidism ( overactive thyroid) I believe can cause a increase in feeling hungry, but its the food that causes the fat .

Exactly.

There is no medical cause for obesity - there are numerous conditions which cause altered metabolism and increased appetite, but the only way your weight can increase is if you have an inappropriate diet.

People with conditions which alter metabolism and appetite need to be on strictly controlled diets to avoid weight gain, but still the underlying cause of weight gain is your diet.

Similarly there are certain medications which alter metabolism and appetite, and when prescribed they always come with advice on how to alter your diet to avoid the weight gain.

As a result I struggle to have sympathy with the severely overweight on planes - ie I do agree they should be paying for the additional space they occupy.

I'm far more sympathetic towards tall people (myself being 6foot4), however as no one is forcing you to travel you shouldn't get any special treatment on board.

jeanniebeanie_2

wallbash wrote: »

Hyperthyroidism ( overactive thyroid) I believe can cause a increase in feeling hungry, but its the food that causes the fat .

It is HyPOthyroidism - UNDER active thyroid that causes weight gain. The metabolism slows and cannot cope with the appetite level the brain chemistry dictates. The sufferer also feels unnaturally weary, so doesn't have the energy to burn off calories. I accept though, that treatment is usually succesful so unless undiagnosed there should only be a very small minority of obese people falling into this category

malkie76

....but you do conceed that it isn't the thyroid which causes the weight gain, correct ?

jeanniebeanie_2

Don't want to get too far off topic, but just to answer your point.

Well...... I concede that if someone with hypothyroidism hardly ate at all then they would not gain weight, but few people would manage off the low level of food required for this to be the case. As I said, treatment is normaly successful though.

BTW, I DO agree that if someone takes up more than one seat space for whatever reason, then they should pay for that space.

phatbear

Hell yeah and if someone tall wants to sit behind me thats their problem not mine if I want to recline my seat as far as it will go.

Mr_Lahey

phatbear wrote: »

Hell yeah and if someone tall wants to sit behind me thats their problem not mine if I want to recline my seat as far as it will go.

Make them all sit next to each other and see how long it is before they choose to willingly purchase another seat.