Posted on: Sunday, June 23, 2002

EDITORIAL
One-size-fits-all not right for flights

Over the years, the airlines have been squeezing so many of us into the coach-class cabin that the typical seat is barely wide enough for a Calvin Klein supermodel.

So it's a little disconcerting that this increasingly frugal industry is planning on charging extra for, shall we say, passengers of size.

Starting Wednesday, Southwest Airlines will enforce an old and rarely used policy that requires extra-large passengers to pay more if they require two seats — and they don't even get extra frequent-flier miles.

As you can imagine, the Council on Size & Weight Distribution is up in arms. "If a person takes up more than one seat, that's not the problem of the person, that's the problem of the seat," said the council's president, Miriam Berg.

If only it were that simple.

For starters, airplane seat space is prime real estate. Fewer seats equal fewer dollars. So one can see why the troubled airline industry would be squashing economy fliers together like sardines.

But there's also the questions of whether obesity is a handicap or a lifestyle choice, and how you differentiate between the two.

As it stands. the federal Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses to make "reasonable accommodation," for people of size, but doesn't consider giving away a second airplane seat to be "reasonable."

If we agree with that, then how should the industry set size standards?

And how do airlines judge who is obese? Do they weigh them, take their measurements or squeeze them into a size-testing contraption?

Either way, it's going to be humiliating for the customer, and juries usually are sympathetic to victims of public humiliation.

Perhaps there's a creative way to strike a compromise.

What if the airlines replaced a couple of their coach cabin rows with seats that are 25 to 50 percent larger and charged 25 or 50 percent more for those seats? Obese people would have first rights to such seats, but they could also be available to other passengers who opt to fork out a little more for more space but can't afford business class.

As it stands, there's an enormous disparity between the price of coach and business-class tickets, and little or nothing available for travelers who want business-class space but are satisfied with coach-class service.

Perhaps it's time for the airline industry to look at a new business model that doesn't try to squeeze everyone into one-size-fits-all seats. It's not just a matter of size, it's a matter of survival.