'Petite' woman thrown off plane to make way for obese teenager who needed two seats

Originally posted by Unity_99
No one should be charged extra based on weight

No, but they should be charged for space. You see, if an obese person takes up 2 seats, that is a financial loss for the airline...one less ticket sold. I suppose that cost is passed on to the future ticket purchasers. Now that is not fair!

Is it bad that I find this very funny. It’s probably not true or rather the article has exaggerated it either way i still find it very funny. I would have thought it would have made more sense for the fat person to stay on the plane, that way they can use he/she to plug any holes in the fuselage.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by LadySkadi]

One thing that is funny about the article is that they were flying to Sacramento. There are numerous obese teenagers here. Back on subject. You guys got to remember the obese teen is a teen. Which means teens flying alone have a chance to take the last seat from an adult.

Heres a pic of a fat kid do you think its his fault?




[edit on 28-7-2010 by JBA2848]

Originally posted by JBA2848
Heres a pic of a fat kid do you think its his fault?

What does that kids have to do with the one we're talking about? Is that the girl that needed the extra seat? If so the reporters really screwed the pooch. Wrong sex. You're not really good with this "debate" thing are you? You've got to work on your Google skills too.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
One thing that is funny about the article is that they were flying to Sacramento. There are numerous obese teenagers here. Back on subject. You guys got to remember the obese teen is a teen. Which means teens flying alone have a chance to take the last seat from an adult.

The last seat, not seatS. If she had not been overweight, she could simply have taken the seat next to the thin woman and there would not have been an issue.

reply to post by intrepid


I still say don't by a standby ticket if you want on the flight, Because a fat kid might kick you off. By a regular ticket show up on time and all is well folks. And don't think your so special and deserve something because someone else in your eyes is underserving. Theres the debate for you.

I've written about this myself, similar stories. .

I'm a smoker (not heavy, only 10 a day). We are taxed more, pay more for insurance, and more & more are excluded from restaurants, bars, and any other place. Our rights are trampled upon. We are highly discriminated against.

BUT

Some would argue, it's our choice, yet scientists claim cigarettes are more addictive than heroin. Food, on the other hand, is not as addictive, and people CAN cut own on their eating.

How many Amish do you see over-weight? 99.9% of obese are fat by their own choice, lifestyle + diet combined.

As a smoker I am healthy, thin, and active. I don't blow smoke in people's faces or act like a jerk about my smoking in any way.

Fat people, in most people's opinions, are disgusting. Fat porn sites are not very popular, to give an example.

Also, it's actually unhealthy to even be around fat people. It's not just visual pollution, but ACTUAL contamination of the air. Obese have stored up toxins in their fat that they exhale out of their pores and breath.

"The International Breath Institute, Colorado, has found that 70 per cent of your body's natural toxins are released during exhalation."

www.internationalbreathinstitute.com...
internationalbreathinstitute.com...

I think I wrote a thread on demanding a non-obese section at public places.

Why are you still jumping up and down on the kid. Yes the kid is fat, yes the women was really inconvinenced by moving. If anything you should be wondering why the kid was fat the irreputable damage that would be done if things went your way. If you haven't noticed people with weight issues also tend to have low self esteem. So your solution is to tell them what you think of them and shame them all the time. It is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline, that only increases the problem. They go back to food to eat and unhealthy relationship and eat. Great solution you should be so proud. You have taken a problem and escalated it. If you treat everyone who is fat like this then you should be ashamed of yourself. Consider what the medical problems of the child, self confidence, and what happens to these kids when they are bullied. Open your thoughts free your mind. Show some empathy take a little thought, not everyone is the same stop treating them like it

Sometimes there are situations where people have to think about what there doing.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Hmmm I can be tolerant, but when it comes to fat people I am rather intolerant and agree with most of the people who find this ridiculous. Yes you can have a genetic trend to being fatter, but the fat is there ONLY because youve eaten more calories than your body/genes and lifestyle is capable of handling, and as such regardless of genetic conditions its still all about what you shove past your gums... so only one person can really take the blame for that (or the parents in the case of a child, but the kid knows they are fat and in this day and age should understand something about diet.)

The thing to me is, these overweight passengers are not only taking up seats but are also a server flight risk... in any sort of emergency imagine being stuck near a window with a overweight passenger who just barely fits in the seat next to you... fill a plane with a number of these and your looking at a complete disaster if you suddenly have to escape a burning plane or get to the exits asap.

It might sound harsh, and im normally a nice guy, but I would change it so that large passengers would have to be weighed and those over a set limit disallowed to fly. period.

We have to get realistic here, and drop some of this 'lets try not to offend' malarky in certain situations.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by BigfootNZ]

Originally posted by bettermakings
I've written about this myself, similar stories. .

I'm a smoker (not heavy, only 10 a day). We are taxed more, pay more for insurance, and more & more are excluded from restaurants, bars, and any other place. Our rights are trampled upon. We are highly discriminated against.

BUT

Some would argue, it's our choice, yet scientists claim cigarettes are more addictive than heroin. Food, on the other hand, is not as addictive, and people CAN cut own on their eating.

How many Amish do you see over-weight? 99.9% of obese are fat by their own choice, lifestyle + diet combined.

As a smoker I am healthy, thin, and active. I don't blow smoke in people's faces or act like a jerk about my smoking in any way.

Fat people, in most people's opinions, are disgusting. Fat porn sites are not very popular, to give an example.

Also, it's actually unhealthy to even be around fat people. It's not just visual pollution, but ACTUAL contamination of the air. Obese have stored up toxins in their fat that they exhale out of their pores and breath.

"The International Breath Institute, Colorado, has found that 70 per cent of your body's natural toxins are released during exhalation."

www.internationalbreathinstitute.com...
internationalbreathinstitute.com...

I think I wrote a thread on demanding a non-obese section at public places.

If it was a 'health problem' as some are saying, then why are there no fat Africans & people in the third world? The conditions must surely effect people equally? It is 99.9.9% related to food consumption, and eating the wrong foods, and not getting enough excersise.

The majority of overweight people reside in the UK, the US and countries where food is plentiful and political correctness keeps them safe from criticism.

The reasons the child is overweight matters not.

The long and short of the airline's perspective is that an unattended minor child in an airport can be a liability. Either that, or they would need to use their own manpower to supervise her. Obviously they can't have that.

They made the right decision, although I can see it would be annoying to the person who was bumped. But when you purchase a "stand-by" ticket, "bumped and wait" is part of it, yes?

I don't think the woman was singled out because she is thin. Any two seats would have done. She just happened to be in the one that had the vacant seat next to hers....or so it seems.

Originally posted by BigfootNZ
Hmmm I can be tolerant, but when it comes to fat people I am rather intolerant and agree with most of the people who find this ridiculous. Yes you can have a genetic trend to being fatter, but the fat is there ONLY because youve eaten more calories than your body/genes and lifestyle is capable of handling, and as such regardless of genetic conditions its still all about what you shove past your gums... so only one person can really take the blame for that (or the parents in the case of a child, but the kid knows they are fat and in this day and age should understand something about diet.)

The thing to me is, these overweight passengers are not only taking up seats but are also a server flight risk... in any sort of emergency imagine being stuck near a window with a overweight passenger who just barely fits in the seat next to you... fill a plane with a number of these and your looking at a complete disaster if you suddenly have to escape a burning plane or get to the exits asap.

It might sound harsh, and im normally a nice guy, but I would change it so that large passengers would have to be weighed and those over a set limit disallowed to fly. period.

We have to get realistic here, and drop some of this 'lets try not to offend' malarky in certain situations.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by BigfootNZ]

What you say is harsh, but it is TRUE. You cannot deny that risk. If an overweight person were to fall on top of you as you tried to escape, that's you done for also.

If any such genetic condition exists, then so will a diet and eating plan to counter it's effects so you don't end up a 30 stone walking heart attack. If the genetic condition predisposes you to needing less calories, then you eat less calories, simple.

haha this is messed up. the girls parent knew they would make them buy their daughter another ticket so they went first and left the poor girl to go alone so they wouldn't have to buy her another ticket. well planned and it worked.

I read through this thread and didn't see anyone consider an issue that I've come across for myself and wanted to bring this up.

First off I want to say I'm not really sympathetic to super fat people's plight. I think it's understandable that an airline charge them for an extra seat in certain cases. I think it is cheap and greedy but I understand it.

What none of you have mentioned though is the fact that the area you are given as a passenger has steadily gotten much, much smaller so that they can squeeze more passengers on each plane. I don't think that this is a great idea to make more money for these airlines considering the ever expanding size of people these days.

Also, it's not always fat people either that have a problem. I have a problem and I am NOT fat. I used to fit in coach seats and now I can't fit at all because of the shrinking size. I AM big but I have very little fat on my body. I am former football player (American football) and I'm 6'5" and 300lbs. but you cannot "pinch an inch" as they say.

I fly first class now or I just drive instead. I think the security measures today are ludicrous anyways. It's just more food for thought. The passenger's alotted areas are getting much smaller so they can save a buck..

[edit on 28-7-2010 by Redwookieaz]

reply to post by Redwookieaz


I always ask for seats on the emergency exit row. Plenty of leg room AND I will be the 1st one off in the event of a crash landing. But first class is nice, if you can afford it.

Originally posted by DOADOA
haha this is messed up. the girls parent knew they would make them buy their daughter another ticket so they went first and left the poor girl to go alone so they wouldn't have to buy her another ticket. well planned and it worked.

Actualy this wouldn't supprise me either, or the parents didn't want all the scowls for allowing their daughter to get so big she needed two seats.

reply to post by Aggie Man


Ah yes, I forgot about the exit rows. I try to grab those as well. Yeah believe me I don't like paying for first class because of the price but I really can't fit anymore. The width is bad for me, not at my waste but my shoulders. I have to turn sideways to not have my shoulder hit the person next to me in the face. And my legs don't fit either. My knees hit so high up on the back of the next chair, my feet don't touch the ground.

I used to fit just fine. Now I don't. I don't need the articles to tell me the seats have shrunk, but nonetheless there are articles talking about the shrinking room so they can squeeze more people on their tin cans..

[edit on 28-7-2010 by Redwookieaz]