Non-U.S. airlines have similarly varied policies. Recently, while trying to find flights for a business trip to Ireland, I noticed that most airlines do not publish policies regarding the seating and treatment of fat passengers. A customer of three different international airlines. Her service employee couldn’t tell me if there was a policy. If so, the fate of fat passengers like me is at the discretion of whoever happens to be the flight attendant of our journey. You need to determine course of action when dealing with customer service and create temporary policies. Fat passengers’ travel plans, and often our dignity, are in balance. If they think they need to drop us off, they will drop us off. But I don’t know if I’ll make the cut until the flight takes off.
Notably, Canadian airline policies offer a bright spot. In 2008, a Canadian court ordered airlines to allow fat and disabled travelers to travel for the price of a single ticket. No extra chargeThe airline claimed the cost was unacceptable, but the Canadian Council on Disabilities determined that the country’s largest airline costs less than $1 Canadian per ticket. Today, Canadian airlines, like buses, boats and trains before, offer transport to obese, disabled people for the same price as thin, disabled passengers.
Airline policies vary greatly by airline and country, but they have one thing in common. It is about prioritizing the comfort and preferences of the thin person over the needs and dignity of the fat person. Fat passengers are often escorted from planes when skinny passengers complain. These complaints are sometimes filed without acknowledging the power held by the agitator. When they get their way, the fat passengers are kicked off the flight. An alternate flight may not be offered. Otherwise, no refund will be made. Skinny passengers may not know the impact of their grievances on fat passengers. But even if it’s not, it’s a cruel gesture of judgment to complain to a flight attendant about having another passenger’s body in front of you. It lends credibility, accepting skinny passenger complaints as a customer service issue and treating fat passenger needs as a nuisance. The fat passenger’s fate depends on the displeasure and prejudice of the person who happens to sit next to them. Our ability to fly is not determined by our ability to pay or how we behave on board. It is dictated by exclusive policies and insensitive complaints from passengers. Passengers are usually thinner than us.
