Legal decision may lead to fat tax for chubby fliers
Posted on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 19:34 in Health
(Daily Telegraph): A court ruling could pave the way for the introduction of a “fat tax” for obese fliers, a leading barrister has claimed. The judgement, made by the Court of Appeal, could also prevent passengers with a disability from seeking compensation from their airline if they receive unsatisfactory or inconsistent treatment during a flight. The ruling confirms that disabled passengers have no right to dignity once the wheels leave the runway,” said Daniel Barnett, a barrister at Outer Temple Chambers. “It also means that airlines are immune if they choose to embarrass overweight passengers by demanding a fat tax.”
Judges decided that key elements of Britain’s disability and discrimination laws do not apply once passengers have boarded an aircraft. They made the judgement after considering two cases involving wheelchair users who sued their airlines after they were unable to sit next to their carers on board a flight. Both subsequently suffered “embarrassing” incidents.
But both cases were dismissed after the court ruled that the Montreal Convention, a framework of international rules and regulations on air travel, should take precedence over British law.
Barnett, says the ruling would give airlines “laissez-faire to disregard seat allocation promises” made prior to boarding, and meant that passengers could not sue airlines for “hurt feelings” or emotional distress.
The introduction of a “fat tax” has been mooted by Ryanair in the past, following a survey conducted by the airline which suggested around a third of passengers supported it. A number of carriers already insist that obese customers buy an extra seat if they are unable to comfortably fit into one.
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I have nothing
I have nothing against overweight people but have you ever sat on a 9 hour flight where the person next to you is also occupying some of your seat? Highly uncomfortable! I also don't see thinner people trying to sue others though for invasion of personal space or something equally as ridiculous as being offended. Most of the time being overweight comes down to personal choices one has made about their eating habits, so why on earth do people become so offended when something is said?
I do agree that in somecases out of common courtesy to others and for safetly reasons, another seat should be purchased. I don't however think they should have to pay a whole extra ticket fare for this extra seat. It should come as a discount or some sort of extra charge added to one's current ticket price.
In the end I just don't see why it's such a big deal especially when it's a life choice that you yourself have made.
My favourite is in Japan
My favourite is in Japan where corporations will be taxed more if their employees are unhealthier/have BMIs over a specific limit for men and women. It encourages people to be healthier and look out for themselves more. What would you like to hear, those who are offended? We have a huge population problem and necessary resources are beginning to dwindle. The world would be healthier (environmetally, which is the most important part) if alot of people were to just die. Frankly. Bigger bodies means adjusting to accomadate. More cloth. More space. More food. More water. More land.More fuel. All at a great cost. Tie that in with healthcare costs, and it just begins to look really selfish for those who are obese due to poor diet and exercise (the VAST majority of obese people). If not selfish, it is just suicidal.
If you don't want to look after yourself for your own sake, do it for your friends and family and the rest of people around you. If you say you don't care regardless, why should others really be concerned what inconveniences you? That being said, I know people with weight problems who legitimately struggle, but they put a great effort in because they want to be able to be around longer for those they love. It's not just aesthetics, and it may not seem like alot to some, but in the larger picture it really adds up
As the pictured gentleman
As the pictured gentleman appears only to be half-seated, surely he should receive a 50% discount on his ticket? Just trying to clarify matters.
You mean he is occupying more
You mean he is occupying more than one seat and blocking the aisle.
If we are going to
If we are going to discriminate, we might as well go all out...
The "annoying couple on the plane with your annoying/crying child", tax.
The men/women who become hysterical and cry out 'Jesus, don't take me now' during turbulence", tax.
The "idiots with no voice control 10 aisles away, and I can hear every damn word you say", tax.
The "guy next to you trying to get his girlfriend to join the mile high club", tax
The "disgusting I just smoked half a pack of reds", tax
The "blinding baldness", tax
The "I like to get my exercise by walking back/forth the aisle", tax
The "I'm half drunk from the airport bar, so pick up my sloth like slack", tax
The "I am going to cut in line with my friends I just made 3 seconds ago", tax
The "we need to sit together so find another seat", tax
The "I plane on stuffing my 100 pound bag in the upper compartment", tax
And the infamous "If your not attracted to me, I will spend every waking minute trying to pin an imaginary smell on you", tax.
I'm sure there are many, many ,many more ways we can make a profit off ambiguously defined pet peeves....so lets get to work and let our humanitarian lights shine... this is a gold mine....said sarcastically for those who we can a apply a "I haven't a clue", tax.
I find a few of the comments
I find a few of the comments here pathetically typical of a minority of narcissistic health nuts. If being heathy is a goal in and of itself, I by all means support that person, but I would never support some vain and shallow attempt to make a buck or for self-promotion at the expense of the humiliation of another with health issues...sick...minded.
...and the seats behind that
...and the seats behind that row are empty.If the case that the plane is the air already.
Skinny people should get
Skinny people should get rebates or be allowed a heavier luggage allowance....just to be fair!
Go on youtube and search FOOD
Go on youtube and search FOOD INC. You will see the poison that the FDA approves to feed us.
1) Isn't it funny how
1) Isn't it funny how killers, child molesters and other criminal have more rights than fat people?
2) Fat tax? I would like to remind you, muscle weighs more than fat. Are we going to have a tax for body builders and football player on steroids as well?
This is so stupd. If you can't fit in the seat just pay for an additional seat and forget the tax.
There is a perfectly logical
There is a perfectly logical connection with an extra fee for morbidly obese people (100 lbs over ideal body weight, not "chubby"). They weigh a lot more (and we know that this is it how it works with luggage) and take up far more room sometimes making difficult if not impossible for anyone to sit in the seat next to them.
This is coming from a country
This is coming from a country that supposedly considers itself to be tolerant of all people. It's just more evidence of British hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy would be someone
Hypocrisy would be someone who made the above comment and currently holds a British Passport!
Interesting point 12:47. So
Interesting point 12:47. So is it your contention that nowadays a UK citizen has no right to criticize what the UK does? Should someone be giving last rites to freedom of speech and democracy in the UK?
You are stupid. If you read
You are stupid. If you read the article and understood it, you would have realised that the reason the UK statutes did not apply was because the jursidiction of the statute was ousted by the international conventions applicable to air travel.
To all the people who go on
To all the people who go on about how this is discriminating against obsese people, I think you need to really take a stand back and snap to reality.
I recently just returned from a trip to the US and I notice that from year to year the amount of very obese people ( I mean 150+ pounds overweight) you see around keeps increasing. You can't tell me that the majority of these people are overweight due to underlying health issues - it is a life style choice. Even more scary, a lot of these people pass their poor eating habits on to their children (who should be able to rely on their parents to make the best choices for them).
I find it discriminating that the health care cost continues to rise for EVERYONE which is to a certain extend directly linked to people who make poor life style choices over and over again.
If you are indeed mortaly obese because you have an underlying health issue, bring a letter from the doctor to confirm that that what it is. I bet at least 75% of those doctors out there have told their very obese people that in order to improve their health they need to loose weight!
I saw a study a few years
I saw a study a few years back that said obese people actually cost soceity less in the long run because they die sooner at younger ages and don't incur long-term medical costs due to old age. Hmmm...perhaps a solution to ballooning health care costs - offer obese people more free meals at fast food restaurants?
This is a article about fat
This is a article about fat people flying not the health insurance issue. Two different matters.
But if you want to make it about health insurance, what about alcohol and drug addicts? Should we tax them for flying too? or what about people who have sex more than 7 times a week or stink people who eat too much garlic or people who fart while flying? The fart tax perhaps?
Hell, I'd love to see a "stupid tax"!!
Oh so now, someone would
Oh so now, someone would have to tell a stranger about their health issues?
I, for one, am throughly
I, for one, am throughly disgusted with all of your comments, I wouldn't want to sit next to any of you morons!! That is why I travel First Class.
Problem for you, as no
Problem for you, as no flights out of Cayman have First Class seats.
Guess fat people can't fit in
Guess fat people can't fit in first class. Now who discriminating agains who now?
Thats because you can't fit
Thats because you can't fit in a regular coach seat and you get a full meal in "first class" you big fat fatty you!
Air freight is charged by the
Air freight is charged by the pound, and that relates somewhat to the fuel used. I find it unfair that I should pay a huge surcharge for a few pounds of luggage over the limit when the person next to me weighs over a 100 lbs more than me. How about giving everyone a body weight plus luggage allowance, then charging for any excess?
If fat people are already
If fat people are already paying for an extra seat how in the hell can you charge them for extra weight? That really would be out of order.
In fact the fat guy or gal should now be allow twice the luggage, if they are paying for a second seat!! HA!
So now you are comparing a
So now you are comparing a human being to your luggage?
I don't think the fuel
I don't think the fuel economy for the plane distinguishes between the two. Weight is weight.
Here is my plan - and it is
Here is my plan - and it is one that is fair to all: the airlines should change their ticketing methods and charge for airfare like they charge for cargo, by the pound.
How It Works: You state your weight when you buy a ticket, and you pay accordingly. Before you put your bags on the scale, you hop on the scale. If your weight it is more than the weight you stated when your bought the ticket, you get charged an overweight penalty. If it is less, you get a rebate - or an upgrade to first class, or a free Jack Daniels, or two, whatever is fair. (I'll take the Jack, by the way). If you break the scale, they will fine you, refuse to board you and will confiscate your bag of Double Cheese Whoppers and Snickers bars.
Under my plan, I pay my fair share according to my weight. A pathetic anorexic, celery-eating bag-of-bones gym-rat with no breasts and no butt, but thinks she looks good anyway, will pay a lot less than me; and heavy wide folks who need more space and take up more fuel per air mile - and those who break the scales - will pay more. It would be an incentive for frequent flyers to loose weight. Can anyone argue that this would be unfair? Good. I am done.
Well..maybe not..one more thing...
If I were disabled and they refused to seat me next to my care-giver, I would take great pride and pleasure in doodying and/or wetting up their nice seats and smelling up their plane. My philosophy in life is: "You doody on me, I doody on you."
And another thing...
Indeed airlines should not be sued over "hurt feelings". Hell, I would own one particular airline if I could have sued everytime a hot stewardess turned down my invitation to make her next "layover" a real party. The same holds true for "emotional distress". Anyone who can overcome the shock of the cost of an airline ticket should be able to shrug off anything else the airline can dish out, so what's there to sue over?
I agree with you in principle
I agree with you in principle but you were too derogatory how you wrote it.
You have mistaken
You have mistaken "derogatory" for "reductio ad absurdem"
Gee...derogatory? Moi?
Gee...derogatory? Moi? Really?? Nah!
Well...Ok... if you say so. But I am equal-opportunity derogatory, so don't get your nickers in too tight a knot.
I though I was relatively subdued on this one. I actually cut wayyy back on my original draught. I was trying to roll out the new gentler Just Commentin' and all I get is slapped for it. Oh well.
Hmmm...??? So...what part did you find derogatory anyway? The part about the Whoppers? Snickers? The part about the flat-posterior anorexics? The celery? The scale-breaking? Ok. Maybe some apologies are in order. So here goes...
I am sorry if I offended any Whopper-lovers and Snicker lovers out there by giving the impression that they are scarfed down only by fat people. A lot of semi-fat and wannabe-fat people gorge on 'em too.
And I am sorry if I offended any celery-lovers out there by giving the impression that celery is eaten only by vain, air-head, anorexic, flat-bottomed, mammary-deficient gym-rats. A lot of guys work out and eat celery so they can maintain their Auschwitz alumni look. They are usually air-heads, too.
And I am sorry if I offended any airline-scale aficionados out there by giving the impression that the scales are flimsy and that only big wide passengers might break 'em. I think those scales have been known to break by people placing like ton's of bags on 'em at one time. Same essential effect though.
There. I think I covered it all. Satisfied?
wOW!! Real I totally agree
wOW!! Real I totally agree with this. This will encourage people to loose weight, and Stop making the Plane lean to one side in bad weather. Lol
Fat tax is a great idea.
Fat tax is a great idea. Maybe these greedy excuse ridden people will start to take control over their lives and stop making society suffer for their greed. And don't give me medical problem bs. Politicians should take heed!
About frikin time!
About frikin time!
I have just realized that
I have just realized that there is an opportunity for a good business here. Based on the number of bloggers here in favour of an obese tax and their bashing of people who are considered obese, that a business that specializes in scales, measuring tapes and mirrors would do well because I can just see how you feel so bad about yourself and your own size that you want to discriminate against others without looking at yourselves. As I said before that I am just a normal sized person and I am so confident in myself that I have no need to be discriminating against any one.
Go ahead and post your thumbs down, you fat slob, and if you doubt that you are fat, just look in the mirror or step on a scale if you have the nerve to. Be careful when you get to the airport and told that you are obesed and you have to pay the fat tax that you so much want, that you don't get a heart attack.
First of all obesity is not a
First of all obesity is not a disability, in well over 95% of cases it's a lifestyle choice.
Secondly, carrying someone the size of the person in that photo on a scheduled flight is a health and safety issue. They are not properly seated for take off and landing nor are they capable of exiting the aircraft in an emergency without putting the lives of other passengers at risk.
There has to be a cut off point beyond which the risks outweigh any other considerations. If a passenger cannot comfortably negotiate the aisle of an aircraft (and I've seem more than few who couldn't) or exit through an overwing escape hatch they shouldn't be on the aircraft.
A number of carriers already exclude very obese passengers from exit rows, it's only a matter of time before that becomes an outright ban.
Flying isn't a God-given right, if it was we'd all have wings.
What if the passenger is only
What if the passenger is only skin and bones? wouldn't that seat be a wasted space, couldn't two other skin and bones person join the other s&b person in that one seat ? why should they not pay a skinny tax?................discrimination will never stop untill all is equal and everyone is treated fairly....................yours truly Fat Albert
By your logic, the skin and
By your logic, the skin and bones people sharing a seat should only pay HALF fare. They hardly qualify to have to pay MORE!
Kurt, stop ya squawkin' and
Kurt, stop ya squawkin' and come on over hea fer sum crispy deep-fried chicken fat. Yum yum fer the chicken fat of those awesome Cayman road chickens.
I cannot believe that the
I cannot believe that the flight crew and the passenger of a plane would not work together to ensure that a handicapped person can sit (somewhat comfortably) next to their caregiver. What has happened to human kind? How utterly disgusting!
Wow!!!How ignorant and
Wow!!!How ignorant and unconciderate.Do they not know that a lot of obseity and handicapp is caused thru Glands and other ailments which is NOT easily controlled.or curable.Please do not put all cases as something that can be helped.Very few if any desires to be obese.
Is there a special meaning of
Is there a special meaning of the word "glands" that include cake, fries and burgers?
WRONG--Almost ALL obesity is
WRONG--Almost ALL obesity is caused by eating more calories than you burn. FACT. Eat less fat (which is very high in calories, but low in nutrition) and move your body more by walking or whatever you enjoy, and you WILL NOT BE FAT. FACT!!! There are a lot more details to consider, but virtually none of them have to do with glands. That is just a myth to justify being fat.
The point of the article is, why should MY airfare go up to compensate for the increased fuel cost due to people allowing themselves to get fatter and fatter. Why should MY insurance rates go up to pay for people with disease of affluence--obesity, diabetes, heart disease and many cancers which are all self induced???
If you choose to be fat, pay your own way.
Can we just not eat what we
Can we just not eat what we want, drive everywhere, do no exercise and blame our glands?
Dick weeps at the tragedy of
Dick weeps at the tragedy of this post and consoles himself with a Jaffa Cake. Or two. Or three.
Sure.....as you order another
Sure.....as you order another Popeye's Full Moon 8 piece bucket topped off with a large soda and a slice o' your momma's heavy cake
Wrong the vast majority of
Wrong the vast majority of obesity is caused bybgluttony and laziness.....face facts!
.... and Cake.
.... and Cake.
Offam edant! God bless the
Offam edant!
God bless the jussive subjunctive!
Lets also add a "bald" tax,
Lets also add a "bald" tax, I'm so sick of dealing with bald-headed baby faced losers that get promoted and are perpetually going though a middle age crises.
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