Related Entries

Bicycle Diaries - I
So, How is Bangalore?
Relocation
No TV is good!
Black & White #3

« Building online communities
» Guarantee, Spam and Sorcery

Obesity and air travel

Looks like Virgin Atlantic cares a bit more about passengers.

CNN: A woman injured while squeezed next to an obese passenger on a trans-Atlantic flight has been given £13,000 ($20,000) by the airline.

Barbara Hewson, 63, was offered damages by Virgin Atlantic after suffering a blood clot, torn leg muscles and sciatica following a flight to Los Angeles in January 2001, the UK’s Press Association reported.

I’m sympathetic to obese travellers, but airlines should consider obesity like a health situation and reserve seats for passengers suffering from it.

My travel time from US to home in India is around 36 hours, including two 9-hour flights, two 3-6 waiting hours and a shorter domestic flight. The most horrible experience was when I had a very flatulent person on the next seat, on Frankfurt-Chennai flight. It was almost 10 hours long and this man was fast asleep for a good part of it - unfortunately his intestines were far less asleep. The plane was so full that my wife and I could not move elsewhere.

Doesn’t Southwest airlines have a policy like this? If a person can’t fit into one seat, s/he will have to pay for two seats.

//-->